– Newsfront Interview with Lennon and McCartney – May 11, 1968 – Gordon Skene Sound Collection. –
Unlike the Billie Holiday interview I ran some time back, this interview with John Lennon and Paul McCartney has been discovered recently and has been around. Sadly, no video is thought to exist, since the actual whereabouts of videos from NET (the precursor to PBS) aren’t quite known, although it’s more than likely they were destroyed. Only the audio reference tapes from this series of programs from the nightly Newsfront series survive.
The interviewer is the legendary broadcast journalist Mitchell Krauss, and this interview is a departure from the usual fan-oriented series of soundbites and asides so prevalent with other conversations from this period. Lennon and McCartney are asked serious questions about the Vietnam War, protest, the race issue in Britain, Meditation, misconceptions about them, misinterpretations about who they are as people. As McCarney remarks, it’s a refreshing change from what they’re used to, and it’s a refreshing insight into two of the most influential individuals in Pop Music history.
If you aren’t familiar with this interview, it’s a pleasant surprise. I haven’t heard the other copies of this interview; the one I have came directly from the studio in 1968 and it’s been in the archive since the 1970s, so the quality may be different.
But in any event, its an important interview and one that adds another dimension to an iconic band during a pivotal period of time.
Here is that interview, from the NET Program Newsfront, complete, and as broadcast on May 11, 1968.
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