On Sunday, December 18, 2005 at 1:39:15 PM UTC-8, Godzilla wrote:
> That's actually bullshit. Lennon wavered. In '77, he
> clearly stated that a reunion was possible. Search for the quote.
> Lennon wasn't as "anti-Beatles" as he tried to make himself
> sound at times. As for having to answer the question "When are you
> going to get back together" everywhere he went, of course he would
> get flip and give a clever comeback, as above.
> _______________________________________________________________
> Just watch Imagine:John Lennon, Elliot Mintz asks him the question on a
> beach, and Lennon seems like he wants it to happen at some point in the
> future. Also in the same movie, some dude asks him the question and
> Lennon says "tomorrow". And in the 1980 Playboy interview, he seems
> angry when asked about a Beatles reunion. He always gave different
> answers to the question.

I included an excerpt of John Lennon's 1980 Playboy interview in the epilogue for my commentary on their debut album in my book "The Comedy Of Eros" (published 21 December 2009) - it is quite a distortion to present his attitude as angry, which is more like the reaction of a fan to being denied what they want. The actual emotion was more like frustration, considering the futility of participating in a restart of the Beatle Franchise for a fanbase that was oblivious to the point of their collective efforts, likely to take whatever was done as some macho ego trip, when it would actually have to again be about something bigger than themselves (a stretch for any fan to conceive).

"Why should The Beatles give more?
Didn't they give everything on God's Earth for ten years?
Didn't they give THEMSELVES?
You're like the typical sort of love-hate fan who says, 'Thank you for everything you did for us in the 'Sixties --
Would you give me another shot?
Just one more miracle?'...

If they didn't understand The Beatles and The 'Sixties THEN, what the {expletive} could we do for them NOW?
Do we have to divide the fish and the loaves for the multitudes AGAIN?
Do we have to get Crucified again?
Do we have to do the walking on water AGAIN because a whole pile of dummies didn't see it the first time, or didn't BELIEVE it WHEN they saw it?
You know, that's what they're asking:

'Get off The Cross.
I didn't understand the FIRST bit yet.
Can you do that AGAIN?'

NO WAY.
You can never go 'Home' -
It doesn't exist."

As I understand it, the planning of a reunion established The Beatles as an ongoing enterprise so that litigation could be pursued against the Beatlemania stage production.

John Lennon was quoted as saying he was making his guitar talk, informed Tom Snyder "All our music is subliminal," and mused about how what flowed from his intellect in such a form would be very difficult for someone else to consciously unravel. Having focused their entire collective career on The Life of Jesus Christ, diluting it with a muddled rehash would have destroyed what was already too subtle for the average listener to appreciate.

Their music was taken as straightforward by the public, but the instrumental arrangements, combined with lyrical vocal confirming tricks to the ear, created a dreamlike right-brain experience. Where fans now think 'drum fill,' they should notice those percussive moments consist of technically-articulated encapsulated comments, working in tandem with other material as in guitar or piano solos. The conscious mind rejects ascribing verbal meaning to non-vocal tonal information, while the subconscious receives a jolt of profound communication built into the otherwise inexplicably emotive musical hooks. The initial reaction of hysterical mania, enthusiastically shouting down whatever they would play live, could have been a manifestation induced by profound perplexity. Reporters would marvel at how the screaming was so loud that not only could that half-hour concert scarcely be heard, but it would be another half-hour before anyone's hearing returned to normal.

Much of John Lennon's songwriting even before the end of touring reflected domestic boredom, as in "Nowhere Man" (further example in "Good Morning Good Morning"). Pressing the hidden religion issue in the Maureen Cleave interview tragically backfired, with the British audience crying 'holier than thou,' and the Americans demanding an apology for a misperception of blasphemy. If people had gotten the real message, that "Help!" into "Rubber Soul" was regressing from the Fourteen Stations of The Cross into the Agony in the Garden of Gethsemane, perhaps there could have been no end to touring - but since that illumination of awareness did not occur that early in the overall history, John felt no obligation to incessantly pander to a devoted yet unenlightened fanbase.