About the Book
Jonathan Cott’s story begins one day in 1968 when he went to interview John Lennon and Yoko Ono in their London flat. Later that evening Lennon invited Cott — then the London correspondent for fledgling music magazine Rolling Stone — to sit in on a recording session at Abbey Road Studios.
From this professional introduction a friendship was born — one that continued even as Lennon and Ono moved to New York. It was Cott who interviewed the couple on December 5, 1980, about their album “Double Fantasy.” This would turn out to be Lennon’s last major interview. He was murdered three days later.
A celebration of two remarkable lives that touched Cott’s own in countless ways, Days That I’ll Remember is an insider’s memoir of a seismic musical, cultural and political time.
About the Author :
JONATHAN COTT is a contributing editor at "Rolling Stone" and has written for the "The New York Times" and "The New Yorker." He is the author of more than sixteen books including "Dylan" (a biography), "Conversations with Glenn Gould," "Stockhausen: Conversations with the Composer," and "Back to a Shadow in the Night: Music Writings and Interviews--1968-2001" and is the co-editor of "The Ballad of John and Yoko." He lives in New York City.
Review :
Advance Praise for DAYS THAT I'LL REMEMBER:
"This is a lovingly assembled and beautifully written collection of conversations, observations, and memories of music, friendship, and days gone by. It's good to be back again with John Lennon, his beloved Yoko Ono, and his trusted chronicler and friend Jonathan Cott."
-- Martin Scorsese
"Jonathan Cott is in that rarified group of writers who have elevated the very idea of the interview. His conversations with the wise, the brilliant, and the necessary are treasures. He has that special ability to humanize people without destroying their magic. Here he's done it again with John and Yoko. Their humor, genius, eccentricities, and freely acknowledged flaws break through most of the cliches we have come to accept about them. Cott has done them and us a very great favor."
--Richard Gere
"Rangy and revealing interview/conversations between "Rolling Stone" journalist Cott ("Bob Dylan: The Essential Interviews," 2006, etc.) and John Lennon and Yoko Ono.... The pleasure is in hearing their voices, for it seems that the material is verbatim from recordings. It starts during that fraught period when the Beatles were breaking up but still producing game-changing music, and Lennon and Ono were coming in for much more than their share of grief: for their naive and ludic ways, the experimental nature of their music, the dissolution of the band and the passing of a brilliant cultural moment. Cott engages with Ono's art, which could be challenging, and embraces its spirit of mindfulness and mirth while exploring how she managed to turn the vitriol spewed her way into a positive energy. But it is Lennon who commands the stage here, holding forth on the music he and Ono were making, bridling at the disservice of the press, explaining the bed-ins, the nude album cover, the deportation battles, the struggles with writing songs ("I always think there's nothing there, it's shit, it's not good, it's n
Advance Praise for DAYS THAT I'LL REMEMBER:
"Jonathan Cott is in that rarified group of writers who have elevated the very idea of the interview. His conversations with the wise, the brilliant, and the necessary are treasures. He has that special ability to humanize people without destroying their magic. Here he's done it again with John and Yoko. Their humor, genius, eccentricities, and freely acknowledged flaws break through most of the cliches we have come to accept about them. Cott has done them and us a very great favor."
--Richard Gere
"Rangy and revealing interview/conversations between "Rolling Stone" journalist Cott ("Bob Dylan: The Essential Interviews," 2006, etc.) and John Lennon and Yoko Ono.... The pleasure is in hearing their voices, for it seems that the material is verbatim from recordings. It starts during that fraught period when the Beatles were breaking up but still producing game-changing music, and Lennon and Ono were coming in for much more than their share of grief: for their naive and ludic ways, the experimental nature of their music, the dissolution of the band and the passing of a brilliant cultural moment. Cott engages with Ono's art, which could be challenging, and embraces its spirit of mindfulness and mirth while exploring how she managed to turn the vitriol spewed her way into a positive energy. But it is Lennon who commands the stage here, holding forth on the music he and Ono were making, bridling at the disservice of the press, explaining the bed-ins, the nude album cover, the deportation battles, the struggles with writing songs ("I always think there's nothing there, it's shit, it's not good, it's not coming out, it's garbage...") and the troubles of fame ("Do they want me and Yoko to kill ourselves onstage? What would make the little turds happy?"). Cott keeps the proceedings fluid and conversational...provides rare, raw and insightful comments from two colorful art personalities. Lennon and On
