"The Lives of John Lennon"
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Oh. My. Goddess. This was the only Lennon bio in the library. By nefarious notorious Albert Goldman who also did a hatchet job on Elvis, they say. But there's a problem. If some really terrible things he writes about John and Yoko aren't true, then why didn't Yoko sue? Appears that Goldman extensively interviewed some very close gay friends of Yoko's who gave eye witness accounts and all that...Yoko had already kicked them out of her life...this torrid tome came out in '88. If this is true, man did Yoko go on a wild crazy tear, on a rampage. And John rather matched her. Much of it fueled by drink and drugs. And if Yoko in her businesswoman mode used superstitions--astrology, numerology, witchcraft (even black magic!), psychic medium readings, the Tarot, etc., to conduct all their business, then why did their business concerns make so much money? Really a staggering amount of wealth. So--John was bi-sexual, had a long affair with Brian Epstein? He suffered from multiple-personality disorders, among other handicaps? Goldman's charge that Lennon was indirectly responsible for his best friend's death (Stu Suttcliffe's) and may have also beaten another man to death seem especially over the top. Paul Mc. said he never saw any indication of being gay (not that that's bad) from Lennon. This tome is pretty shocking. I think I read it back then, I just recently picked it up again. I wonder what I thought of the book then. Probably that much of it's malicious malarkey.
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Why didn't Yoko sue? Simple, under U.S. law it's really, really, REALLY hard to prove libel. You have to show not just that something was false, but essentially that it was knowingly false. This is why there are very few successful libel suits in the U.S., even though the tabloids regularly print stuff that's bogus. This is not to say that everything in Goldman's book is made up -- of that I have no clue. But you can't take the lack of a lawsuit as an indication either way.
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Plus, John was already dead and would be unable to defend himself. Yoko's testimony would have been considered hearsay.
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From God Part II written by Bono of U2: "Don't believe the Devil I don't believe his book But the truth is not the same Without the lies he made up... Don't believe in Goldman His type like a curse Instant karma's gonna get him If I don't get him first..." That book is full of lies.
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beatlesfanrandy:
From God Part II written by Bono of U2: "Don't believe the Devil I don't believe his book But the truth is not the same Without the lies he made up... Don't believe in Goldman His type like a curse Instant karma's gonna get him If I don't get him first..." That book is full of lies.
Right on! And what kind of person befriends you or does research on you and writes a bunch of crap to make money? People like Goldman only are out to make a buck on a person's life because they have no life to write about. Karma will catch up. I don't read faerytale "biographies."
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From the New York Times 9/12/1988: "...it has also generated considerable controversy and has been denounced as ''trash'' by two of the people who knew the former Beatle best - his widow, Yoko Ono, and his former bandmate and collaborator, Paul McCartney, both of whom have urged a boycott of the book...Many who are familiar with the history of the Beatles are finding that the book contains factual errors, internal contradictions, quotations from published interviews that are excerpted out of context and assertions that are either unattributed or come from sources whose credibility is suspect." And from Goldman himself, in the article:'There are contradictory statements I couldn't resolve,'' Mr. Goldman said, ''so I simply presented them. I don't know which version is right, so what was I supposed to do? People often say, 'Why don't you just present the facts?' Well, I've presented the facts, but that's not good enough, you want the facts to agree. So there's a contradiction - what does that prove?'' http://www.nytimes.com/1988/09/12/books/an-embattled-albert-goldman-defends-his-book-on-john-lennon.html?src=pm&pagewanted=2
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John wanted a funeral and had a horror of cremation--Yoko denied him a funeral and had him cremated
So says Goldman. I do remember John's body being hauled to Hartsdale for cremation. I lived in New York at that time and thought how sadly ironic that's the closest I ever got to John, I was in White Plains 
I hope the worst stuff in this book is all lies. It probably is. -
SusyLuvsPaul:
Probably that much of it's malicious malarkey.
There's no "probably" about it - it is malicious malarkey. During the 80's, in the wake of John's death, a flood of dreadful Lennon/Beatles books came out - each trying to out-sensationalise all the others. Much of the content of these books was utter rubbish - either hearsay, distortion or downright fabrication. Goldman's book was the nadir of the bunch - calculatedly so. The man was notorious for character-assassination; not only John, but Elvis, Lenny Bruce and at the time of his passing was preparing a book on Jim Morrisson. I would advise all against touching this book with a 50-ft pole.
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His books on Elvis and Lenny Bruce also claim that those people were gay. I think maybe Albert Goldman had some unresolved issues.
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Goldman lists a lot of "sources" at the back of his book on Lennon. Who is to say who was telling the or some truth, and who downright lied, fabricated their stories--they could have said anything about John as he was no longer here to defend himself. Yoko appeared more above it all and classy not to lash out and/or sue. The book ends on a ludicrous note--Yoko has finally found true happiness with Sam Havidtoy, according to her friend Marnie Hair--coming across as if Lennon had never existed. It's too bad this is the only Lennon biography in our local library. I noticed somebody wrote "Yoko should have been shot instead" on several pages.
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HaileyMcComet:
His books on Elvis and Lenny Bruce also claim that those people were gay. I think maybe Albert Goldman had some unresolved issues.
I was thinking the same thing.
