During that time, Lennon recorded three LPs "Mind Games," "Walls and Bridges," and "Rock 'n' Roll" and numerous singles, including "Whatever Gets You Through the Night," Lennon's biggest hit as a solo artist. Pang's is the voice whispering Lennon's name on "#9 Dream". That hit single fueled Lennons chart-topping album Walls & Bridges, and Lennon made first live concert appearance in years at Madison Square Garden to perform the new song with his friend and co-writer. Once they were together, Yoko would phone her incessantly, wanting to know what was happening. Speaking recently to The Journal News at her Pomona home, Pang showed photos of Lennon, and a gold record for his 1974 album "Walls and Bridges," where Pang can be heard singing backup on "#9 Dream.". May Pang, John Lennon's Lover During "The Lost Weekend", Shares Rock 'n When May Pang's relationship with John Lennon ended in 1975 after a whirlwind 18 months, she didn't know at the time how difficult it would be to love again but the late Beatle did.. Pang, 72, tells PEOPLE in this week's issue that after her "lost weekend" with the musician ended and he went back to wife Yoko Ono, Lennon shared a warning about her future romances that rang true in the . ", "I'm not even gonna say what happened, some of it was ridiculous," he says. The Lost Weekend: A Love Story | 2022 Tribeca Festival | Tribeca Despite her love of the Beatles music, Pang says she had no fantasies about Lennon at that time. [1] Pang's mother had a laundry business in the area. Journalist Larry Kane, who befriended Lennon in 1964, wrote a comprehensive biography of Lennon which detailed the "Lost Weekend" period. Who better to tell the story than me? "I think he'd be all over the internet," Pang said. (In the early 70s, hed become a real political scold; after the drubbing received by 1972s Some Time in New York City, that was part of what he was letting go of.). Published on April 5, 2023 10:00 AM As a lifelong fan of the Beatles, May Pang was, in 1973, living what many would consider the dream. On August 23, Lennon and Pang claimed to have seen a UFO from their terrace, which had a panoramic view of Queens. Everything to him was barmy Whats wrong with everyone? I miss those conversations.. They looked like they hadnt taken a bath in months, she said. I loved this woman (Pang)" Pang claims after he met up with Ono for a hypnotherapy session to quit smoking, he ended the relationship and went back to Ono. [9] Ono later confirmed this conversation in an interview.[10]. In March 1974, Lennon began producing Harry Nilsson's Pussy Cats album,[13] thus named to counter the "bad boy" image the pair had earned in the media with two drinking incidents at The Troubadour. John loved movie stars. He and Ono had not divorced, only temporarily. She wasnt used to that, she said. '", The documentary features interview with Lennon's son Julian Lennon, plus old footage of the former Beatle, including an interview in which he calls his time with Pang "ridiculous. Stevie Wonder was there. He wasnt jumping for joy, she said. Her tale begins in NYC, continues in LA, and then ends more than 18 months later in Manhattan. Pang also arranged for Julian Lennon to visit his father for the first time in almost four years. The Lost Weekend: A Love Story (2022) - IMDb He grew up on American films.. [32] It was edited down to 300 pages, concentrating mostly on the sensational aspects of their relationship. [2] Pang's early jobs included being a song-plugger, which meant encouraging artists to record songs written by songwriters. And what is she doing with all those mementos Lennon left behind, the doodles, drawings and photographs? Pang, 72, was just 19 years old when she landed a job at Apple Records, and before long, she was working as the personal assistant to Lennon and Ono, 90. Pang replied that she could never start a relationship with Lennon, as he was her employer and married. "He loved the city," she said. We found out together. The movie, directed by Eve Brandstein, Richard Kaufman, and Stuart Samuels, is told entirely from her point of view. Half a century ago, the former Beatle was living apart from his wife Yoko Ono in a relationship with the couple's assistant, May Pang. "George and him had to mend fences. Quickly the pair began what the singer would call his "Lost Weekend," an 18-month-long whirlwind romance that took the two to the center of the madness of L.A.'s music scene, reunited a newly sober Lennon with his long-estranged son Julian, and reconnect the former Beatle to his love for rock & roll, and all as the new couple fell ever . I took him on bus rides. John Lennon's Ex May Pang Says He Warned Her She'd Have 'Problems You just dont want to get in the middle of that.. In that regard, Pang believes that Lennons characterization of his last few years with Ono as a time of domestic bliss was a fabrication he used to promote his reunion album with her, Double Fantasy. Lennon drank to excess, though Pang said, he didnt do heavy drugs, as has often been reported. "We had a lot of fun, laughed a lot and had a great time in general when he was with May Pang. But John spontaneously decided to go to L.A. on his own and asked me to go with him. At various times, Lennon, Ono and Pang have given their versions of the story to the press. We see Pangs photograph of Bob Gruen snapping his famous photograph of Lennon in a New York City T-shirt. A fond look at Lennon's 'Lost Weekend'. It was over nothing. Pang was present during a jam session on March 28, 1974, that would be the last time Lennon would record with McCartney. Pang told her side of the story in a 1983 memoir, "Loving John," and "Instamatic Karma," a 140-page collection of private photos she took during her time with Lennon. They lived together in Los Angeles and New York from 1973 to early 1975, before the ex-Beatle reunited with wife Yoko Ono. On October 28, 2002, I had a candid conversation with May, in which she . Even when John Lennon and Pang were thousands of miles away from Ono, Pang says that Ono was a constant presence in their lives, because Ono . One morning, Pang said, Ono came into her office and told her that she and Lennon were "not getting along." To say that she was in over her head would be an understatement. [26][27] After the meeting, he failed to return home or call Pang. ", Before long, Pang and Lennon moved in together in New York City, with Pang saying in a voiceover that she "was 23 and my first boyfriend was John Lennon.". Ono ignored Pang's protests and said that she would arrange everything. Though Ono and Lennon married in 1969, they went through something of a rough patch in the early 1970s, prompting Ono to see if Pang would be willing to keep her husband company. Dismissed by her stern father, who imagined he was still king of the roost back in China, May found herself subject to the ancient cultural tradition of sons being superior to daughters. In 1973, she moved into The Dakota in New York City, where the couple lived. Theres amazing archival material throughout, and it gives you an unusually rich sense of what Lennon was like away from the limelight. May Pang In Beatles lore, it's known as John Lennon's "Lost Weekend" the 18-month period starting in 1973 where Lennon and Yoko Ono separated, and Lennon lived with May Pang, the. Pang moved to Rockland County in 1991. The dark side is very much there. But with the encouragement of her mother, who basically supported the family with her cleaning business, Pang got herself a job working for the Beatles company. The Lost Weekend is a compelling movie and a valuable puzzle piece, but its only pretending to be the whole puzzle. Its been covered by everything from E! Pang was born to an industrious mother who opened her own business, OK Laundry, at the corner of 124th Street and Amsterdam, not far from where they lived before being forced to leave their tenement housing for the newly built George Washington projects at 97th Street and Third Ave. Lennon and Ono reunited in 1975, although he and Pang remained close up until his death. bwakawa pouss, pouss" - which he claimed had come to him in a dream. In January 2011 May Pang agreed to be interviewed for The Beatles Bible. Moving into a penthouse apartment, both May and John claimed later to have seen a UFO, hovering around their block. After a bit of time, however, she said Lennon warmed to her and made a pass. [2] Pang was then asked to be Lennon and Ono's secretary and factotum/gofer in New York and Britain, which led to a permanent position as their personal assistant when the Lennons moved from London to New York in 1971. "It was nice, believe me. Lennon later referred to this time as his "Lost Weekend". Variety and the Flying V logos are trademarks of Variety Media, LLC. Lets put it this way. The so-called Lost Weekend, when John Lennon, from late 1973 through 74, separated from Yoko Ono and relocated to Los Angeles, where he became a hard-drinking rock-club night owl while carrying on an affair with the 22-year-old May Pang (who had been John and Yokos assistant), has long been part of rock mythology. The relationship began while Pang was working for the couple in their apartment at the Dakota. Born and raised in Spanish Harlem, Pang has the accent, wit and confidence of a classic New Yorker. She pointed out that Lennon had said he found Pang sexually attractive. Before she became an important part of John Lennon's later years, May Pang was born to a Chinese family and spent much of her early childhood in New York City's Spanish Harlem, as stated in Salon. The movie is also a portrait of Pangs romantic passion, which as she portrays it was both innocent and deeply serious. Ono ignored Pang's protests and said that she would arrange everything. She pointed out that Lennon had said he found Pang sexually attractive. His blue eyes, she laughs. The words had no meaning, but summed up the ethereal atmosphere Lennon conjured up in the lyrics and production. And it worked. It was, by any standard, a decision of seriously kinky manipulation. "The two talking nothing about business, just as friends.". I said: Congratulations. All rights reserved. [22] On the night in question, a naked Lennon excitedly called Pang to join him on the deck outside and they both watched a circular object silently floating less than 100 feet away. "But he kept trying.". What doesnt seem convincing, at least as the film presents it, is the final twist in this extraordinary rock n roll soap opera. May Pang interview (January 2011) | The Beatles Bible ft. apartment on East 52nd Street in Manhattan. Cynthia Lennon, who died of cancer in 2015, at the age of 75. For a person who is not supposed to be in his life, I was in his life, she said. "At first I said, 'No, I'm not interested,'" Pang said. "It's like, 'Wow, what happened?". Her particular experience with it could be seen as an HR departments worst nightmare. It was just the mecca at that point. But I liked Rockland. Ono had told Lennon she knew a way to get him to stop smoking through hypnosis. "Close, but not quite.". Once they started to sing She Loves You, I was smitten, says Pang. Yoko wasnt even aware we had gone until after we left.. Thirty years ago, Pang wrote a book, Loving John, that detailed hers, asserting her relationship with Lennon wasnt just a passing fling or fluke, as characterized by some, but a deep and abiding love. Perhaps Ill pass them on to my kids, but I cherish all of it. After John, seemingly out of nowhere, goes back to Yoko, and Pang confronts him about it, he says, quite simply: Shes letting me come back. In the photos that we saw at the time of her and John, she always had a waifish beauty, and a certain mystery behind those tinted hexagon glasses. Theyve read about it by other people. Send it to Eyewitness News using the form below. Lennon later referred to their time together as his "Lost Weekend." Actress: Heartburn. He cut the RocknRoll album, which featured cover versions of rock songs that had influenced him, in the process bringing him a nostalgic joy and relieving the pressure of having to write new material. Pang was born in New York, New York to Chinese parents.. Pang was a secretary at ABKCO, a management company started by Allen Klein, in New York City. She was a schmoozer, and when she began to work for John and Yoko, doing every makeshift task available avant-garde film production assistant, costume designer she had an ebullient smile and an easy-to-be-with vivacity. By that time Lennon had settled on the title '#9 Dream', and had a chorus refrain - "Ah! Im just tired of being pushed around. [38] The Lost Weekend will appear in theaters internationally for a limited run April 13th and 14th 2023. May Pang and Julian you're wonderful! a line of stainless-steel feng shui jewelry, Your California Privacy Rights / Privacy Policy. She was fun but circumspect (she didnt drink or do drugs). I would answer the phones for him. Lennon would complete his oldies album, which would be called Rock 'n' Roll, with the same musicians he used on Walls and Bridges. She was a real warrior, Pang said. It was all a lark; Pang was just going with the flow. Lennon told her the view reminded him of The Mersey River in his native Liverpool. Ive been told by men that Ive gone out with that Im stronger than most women. And ya know what? Because of her youth and position, many saw Pang as a particularly weak target for Onos agenda. But Pang remembers the period differently. No one experienced it like I did. My memories of that time with Dad and May are very clearthey were the happiest time I can remember with them. She never imagined that she would be the other person until, she says, Ono asked her: You dont have a boyfriend, right? I said: Yes, but please go to someone else with this. Then she said: Youre nice and you dont want him to go out with somebody thats not going to be nice to him, right? I said: Of course not. So, she said: Youre perfect. I said no and she kept saying yes. The first guy I ever lived with turned out to be John Lennon Imagine that.. 'The Lost Weekend' tells love story between John Lennon and assistant at the age of 40, John was murdered by obsessed fan Mark Chapman . The movies story is told, in part, through animation and a period soundtrack put together by veteran music supervisor Howard Paar with the images created to resemble Lennons own artful squiggles, seen on any number of handwritten notes from him to May that also appear in the film. "She looks at me and says, 'I know he likes you," Pang recalls. According to May Pang, she totally did, walking into Pangs office at the fortress-like Dakota, where John and Yoko had moved to feel more secure (Lennon, at that point, was being seriously harassed by the FBI, since President Nixon wanted him deported), and basically giving her an executive order: Youre going to have a relationship with John. Running time: 104 minutes. The original 500-page Loving John book focused mainly on Pang's role on Lennon's albums and sessions. May Pang on Affair With John Lennon Explored in Tribeca - Variety She encouraged him. Not so much Ringo, but with George.". Sign in to rate and Watchlist for personalized recommendations. 2023 www.lohud.com. "There's always going to be a tie there.". . Even so, she believes that many people remain unaware of the extent of her involvement. ", Lennon sang at The Garden with Elton John after losing a bet to his fellow rocker. I needed a rest." And she said, 'I think it's time. ABC7 New York 24/7 Eyewitness News Stream, Download the abc7NY app for breaking news alerts. But talking to her by Zoom from her home in Queens and understanding her background complicates that view. It just flowed out of him on that level. [42] She was an invited guest at The Concert for George in 2002 and remained close to Cynthia Lennon and Lennon's first son, Julian. An old interview clip of Ono featured in the trailer sees the artist call Pang "a very good assistant," and Pang explains that her job was "taking care of everything, working in the studio, doing clothes, doing the publicity.". May Pang - Biography - IMDb The multiple meanings in the title mirror the sparring narratives that have long clouded this era in the ex-Beatles life. She told me, 'I'm thinking of taking John back.' Less well known is the period that followed when he and Pang returned to NYC. Ono suggested to Pang that she become Lennon's companion. "Well are you kidding? Pang readily admits that, in that era and afterwards, Ono endured a great degree of sexism and racism from the public, which fueled that cruel view of her. He understood what to do to make it work in the media, she said. "She thought it would be two weeks, gone, goodbye. Pang tells her version of what happened in "The Lost Weekend," which is billed as a love story. Pang also worked on albums by Nilsson, Starr, Elton John and David Bowie. (Photo by Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images) In February 1975, Pang and Lennon were together in Long Island when Ono called her husband and asked him to come and see "a therapist who could break his nicotine habit through hypnosis. Once we got together, I no longer worked for him. But she relates, with a dailiness thats convincing, how she and John became convivial and erotic companions, their affair rooted in a genuine affection and in Lennons discovery that he didnt have to live in a way that was always so chained to his legend. Yoko Ono Wikipdia According to May Pang, she totally did, walking into Pang's office at the fortress-like Dakota, where John and Yoko had moved to feel more secure (Lennon, at that point, was being. She would soon become famous for a much more intimate tie to the group than that, as her very public 18-month affair with John Lennon in the mid-70s is still a subject of great fascination to his fans, 50 years later. All Rights Reserved. I was there when he jammed with Paul for the last time I played tambourines with Mal Evans. [12] Then Spector, who claimed to have been in a car accident, took the session tapes and became unreachable. Variety is a part of Penske Media Corporation. The young woman who won John Lennon's heart, to Yoko Ono's disgust - MEAWW [1] They had two children. He understood better than anybody. He was such a magnificent writer. Interviewing John Lennon's Lost Weekend Girlfriend. May Pang - IMDb Pang said that the last time she spoke with Ono was a call she made to her after Lennon had returned to her. May Fung Yee Pang (born October 24, 1950) is an American former music executive. Pangs parents, who had an arranged and unhappy marriage, were Chinese immigrants who, before coming to America, endured the Japanese invasion of their country that killed millions. The women who shaped, seduced and scarred John Lennon He had his first No. The idea that one of the greatest artists of all time was highly depressed and suffering from alcaholism at the height of his youth and fame fascinates me to no end, as it proves that some truly gifted people's struggle to find happiness can span throughout their lifetimes, however long or short. Pang replied that she could never start a relationship with Lennon, as he was her employer and married. (modern). Parts of Pangs story dovetail perfectly with todays sensitivity to the consequences of workplace sexual harassment. This beautifully done documentary brought me TOTALLY in to the life of John, his breakup with Yoko, his relationship with Julian, and his life saving love story with May Pang. John Lennon and May Pang enjoyed swapping clothes. That appearance shook the rafters and became famous, but what's less well known is how the former Beatle had re-connected with his bandmates, Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney. We hear Pangs stories about how Lennon, in a drunken fit of confronting his demons, smashed up their place in L.A., and how he would hit her sometimes. John had also begun visiting Yoko, for "business matters" and to possibly arrange a divorce. What do you think I said?. [24][25] In the same month, Lennon and Pang were also planning on visiting Paul and Linda McCartney in New Orleans, where Wings were recording the Venus and Mars album, but Lennon reconciled with Ono the day before the planned visit, after Ono said she had a new cure for Lennon's smoking habit. I loved this woman (Pang), I made some beautiful music and I got so fucked up with booze and shit and whatever."[30][31]. [11] While there, Lennon was inspired to embark on two recording projects: to make an album of the old rock 'n' roll songs that inspired him to become a musician, and to produce another artist. I want you to go out with him,'" she said. 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I just wanted to treat him as a regular person. On Sunday, April 23, Kenyon will be with May Pang for a conversation following the 6:50 p.m. showing of "The Lost Weekend" at the Angelika Cinema, and she will be answering questions from those in attendance. He came from a lower middle class background, says Pang, "so he appreciated people. Sex between them sealed the deal. It was Dec. 29, 1974, when Lennon picked up his pen and signed a stack of documents brought down by one of Apple's lawyers to Disney World, where Pang, John and Julian were vacationing. He reconnected with Julian Lennon, his son by his first wife, Cynthia, and his fellow ex-Beatles, at one point living with Ringo Starr in a Santa Monica beach house. Pang stayed close to Cynthia Lennon, who died on April 1 of cancer, but doesn't talk to Ono, she said. American former music executive May Pang worked for John Lennon and Yoko Ono as a personal assistant and production coordinator, and when Lennon and Ono separated in 1973, Pang and Lennon began a relationship that lasted more than 18 months. John Lennon: #9 Dream - song facts, recording info and more! | The Starr had left for the night, Pang recalled, and McCartney sat in on drums and sang harmony while Lennon played guitar and sang lead. Ono was in Iceland to unveil a sculpture in Reykjavk and was staying in the same hotel. For the record, she said, her favorite Beatle was Ringo. Ono told Pang he would start seeing someone new and suggested the two get together, she said. In 1970 you joined Allen Klein's ABKCO Records as a receptionist. Its no coincidence that he reconciled with Paul during this period. May Pang - Wikipedia Through him, she declined to comment. 2023 Variety Media, LLC.