EXCLUSIVE: The director of Borrowed Time: Lennon's Last Decade refused to feature one key thing in the film.

John Lennon's final ten years are forensically examined in director Alan G. Parker's new documetary Borrowed Time: Lennon's Last Decade. With contributions from musicians, journalists, and close friends of John the film promises to set the record straight on the truth behind many famous Lennon moments, including when Yoko Ono first came on the scene. However, one thing that doesn't get a mention is the name of the man who murdered the former Beatle on December 8, 1980. Speaking exclusively to Express.co.uk in advance of the movie's release on May 2, Alan explained his reasoning.

“There's two things we had right from the get go. Number one was…if anybody mentions his name, they're not going in the movie. His name is not mentioned in the movie, because my belief is that part of the reason that killing took place was for a bit of the fame to rub off on the man himself," he said.

"He won't be getting any of it (fame) from me, because I won't put his name anywhere. The plan was, if any interviewees mentioned him we'd suddenly say 'sorry, camera off, there's your money, goodbye!'"

John's death shook the world and is a huge part of his legend but Alan also felt there had been enough focus on it in the decades since.

Source: Fran Winston/express.co.uk

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Many Americans learned that John Lennon had been gunned down when sportscaster Howard Cosell broke the news during a Monday Night Football broadcast on Dec. 8, 1980. But painter Robert Morgan knew much sooner. He heard the shots outside his apartment on Manhattan’s Upper West Side just before 11 p.m. that night. After running to his window, he peered down and saw his famous neighbor splayed on the sidewalk.

Sensing that he was witnessing history, Morgan instinctively reached for his camera. As his finger hovered over the shutter, he stopped.

Morgan tells his story in the new documentary Borrowed Time: Lennon’s Last Decade, which premieres in U.K. cinemas and on the Icon Film Channel on May 2. Directed by Alan G. Parker — who previously covered the Beatles in the 2017 documentary It Was Fifty Years Ago Today... Sgt. Pepper and Beyond — the film captures the flurry of activity in Lennon’s final months as he emerged from his self-imposed exile from the music industry and returned to the recording studio.

Borrowed Time, named for one of the last songs the rock legend would ever record, details sessions for Lennon’s comeback album, Double Fantasy, as well as plans for a proposed world tour — his first since his days in the Beatles. Parker interviews set designers and lighting technicians who describe the innovative stage production that Lennon had in mind, one that was intended to (in Lennon’s words) “give Mick [Jagger] and Elton [John] f---ing ulcers!” The elaborate plans are a poignant glimpse of a future that would never be.

Source: people.com/Jordan Runtagh

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By the end of the Beatles‘ tenure, John Lennon and Yoko Ono were inseparable. Despite the band working on their final albums together, Ono was a fairly constant presence in the studio. That is, until the band recorded their send-off song, “The End”. Find out why Lennon didn’t want Ono in the studio for this particular session, below.

“The End” is sparse lyrically. The majority of the song is made up of impressive playing from each member on their respective instruments. The jam session feel to this song, brought Lennon back to his roots as a musician, according to engineer Geoff Emerick.

In fact, he felt so thrilled to be playing around in the studio with his bandmates that Lennon asked Ono to stay out of the room–which was against the norm at the time. From Emerick’s point of view, Lennon seemed to want a pure moment with the band before they fully fractured into pieces.

“Yoko was about to go into the studio with John–this was commonplace by now–and he actually told her, ‘No, not now. Let me just do this. It’ll just take a minute,’” Emerick once said of the recording session for “The End”. “That surprised me a bit. Maybe he felt like he was returning to his roots with the boys.”

Source: Alex Hopper/American Songwriter

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Ringo Starr has opened up about the one Beatles song he believes 'ruined his career' - and it's all down to a track written by John Lennon for his son Julian.

Ringo Starr has confessed there's one Beatles song that's always made him nervous - John Lennon's track Good Night.

The song, written for John's five year old son Julian, was the closing track on the 1968 album, The Beatles, and featured Ringo on vocals.

However, the drummer wasn't thrilled with the song, recalling, "They ruined my whole career when they gave me Good Night. I wanted to be a rocker. A lot of it was John or whoever wrote it saying, 'Well, you do this one Ringo.'"

Despite his reservations, Ringo acknowledged that his fellow Beatles thought he could bring something special to the song, saying, "They'd written it and they felt I could present that in a great way which was a nice feeling."

He also credited Paul McCartney with helping his career.   "I thank Paul you know because I'm on tour because I do A Little Help from My Friend.

Source: the-express.com/Scarlett O'Toole

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On This Day, May 1, 1966 …

The Beatles performed a 15-minute set at the New Musical Express Annual Poll-Winners All-Star Concert at the Empire Pool in London.

The performance, which took place in front of about 10,000 people, wound up being the band’s final scheduled live performance in Britain. Their actual final live show was the 1969 concert on the roof of Apple Studios, but that was a surprise.

The Beatles performed a five-song set at the NME show, with performances of “I Feel Fine,” “Nowhere Man,” “Day Tripper,” “If I Needed Someone” and “I’m Down.”

Other artists on the bill that night included The Rolling Stones, The Who, The Yardbirds, The Spencer Davis Group, Herman’s Hermits and Roy Orbison.

Source: KSHE 95

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The Beatles had to keep a bruising schedule in the early years of their recording career. In addition to their constant touring and live appearances, they were generally expected to crank out a pair of albums and a couple of singles per calendar year.

This itinerary helped them develop as writers, especially John Lennon and Paul McCartney. The duo handled pretty much all the group’s original compositions at that time. It explains how fascinatingly offbeat tracks like “I’ll Be Back”, which appeared on A Hard Day’s Night in 1964, came into existence.

If you’re looking for a turning point in The Beatles’ career in terms of their writing skills, A Hard Day’s Night is a great choice. Their third album also represented the first time that Lennon and McCartney wrote every single one of the tracks.

It was an extremely atypical feat in the rock and roll world. Cover songs still loomed as a huge part of the average band’s recording repertoire. Lennon and McCartney were essentially getting songwriting reps that their peers lacked. You can understand why their writing was vastly improving.

John Lennon came up with the idea for “I’ll Be Back”, and likely did the bulk of the writing. Keep in mind, however, that this was an era where McCartney would often add his two cents to Lennon’s compositions (and vice versa). Thus, it’s likely that there was some collaboration in the finished product.

Source: Jim Beviglia/American Songwriter

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