Dan Richter book: John Lennon and Yoko Ono's live-in assistant describes the last dark days of The Beatles
The Mail online | 4 August 2012
...‘In the end, I was just John’s butler.’
I lived with Yoko and Lennon for four years; an insider witnessing their love affair and the break-up of The Beatles. I can still see the vivid cast that surrounded them: the stars, charlatans, groupies, politicians, sycophants, lawyers and hippies...
...John had discovered that Yoko was willing to be his foil: his lover, attendant, teacher, and prime minister. Imagine how effective it was for his purpose of breaking up The Beatles to always have her present at recordings and meetings. This, of course, increased the howls of derision directed at her.
Meanwhile, she was trying to transform herself into a rock star, but her singing was not going well. She had a way of wailing when she sang that belongs in a Japanese temple, not on a rock stage. The word ‘yowl’ was used to describe it. John would not hear a word of criticism, but the more she sang, the more the people at Apple couldn’t stand her. To them, she was not only an interloper but a terrible singer to boot.
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I was walking in the estate grounds with John and Yoko when they had their first meeting with head gardener Frank.
‘We only want white and black flowers,’ Yoko told Frank, who was the classic English gardener: tweed jacket, wellington boots and a tie, quite proper and completely confused.
‘Pardon, ma’am, did you say only white and black flowers?’
‘Yes, we don’t want any colour at all, just pure white and black.’ Yoko was quite firm.
I was amused as I watched Frank struggle.
‘Uh . . . I’m sure we can find some lovely white flowers, but black might be difficult.’
‘There are some very dark tulips that look black. I’m sure you can find some other kinds, too,’ said Yoko.
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