JOHN: “Well, you see, it depends on what way you’re looking at it at the time. If it’s not getting on your nerves, it’s ‘Oh, what a happy fellow.’ It depends how you feel when you look at him.”
JG: “I had him on the show, and he just giggled and giggled the whole time. I figured there was something, maybe my tie was loose. Who was the first one that met the Yogi?”
JOHN: “We all met him at the same time.”
JG: “Can you tell us the circumstances?”
JOHN: “Well, he was just doing a lecture in London at the Hilton. So we all went and we thought, ‘What a nice man.’ And we were looking for that. You know, everybody’s looking for it, but we were looking for it ‘that day’ as well. And then we met him and he was good, you know. He’s got a good thing in him. And we went along with it.”
JG: “But now, you just got off the train, huh?”
JOHN: “Right. Nice trip thank you very much.”
(laughter)
JG: “Do you think that your own careers have kind of switched? Not that you lose a group, but you seem to be changing your audience.”
JOHN: “See, everything changes. So we change as well. And our audience changes, too, all the time. We don’t sort of put our finger on ‘What age group or why.’ But we know– everything changes, and us too.”
PAUL: “When we first started we had leather jackets on, you know. Little caps and big cowboy boots. But then we changed to suits, you know.”
JOHN: “We thought, ‘That’ll get ’em.'”
(laughter)
PAUL: “And we lost a whole lot of fans. They all said, ‘You’ve gone ponched.’ They didn’t like it, you know, because we were all clean.”
(laughter)
PAUL: “So we lost that crowd, but we gained all the ones that liked suits. It happens like that. That’s what keeps happening. And we lost alot of people with ‘Sgt Pepper,’ but I think we gained more.”
(crowd applauds in agreement)
JG: “Do you think you’re going to be able to top ‘Sgt. Pepper’?”
JOHN: “Well, you know, it’s the next move, and I can’t say ‘yes or no,’ but I think so. Why not? ‘Cuz it’s only another LP really… it’s not that important.”
JG: “Well, you have to be the most imitated group.”
JOHN: “Well maybe. Yeah.”
(laughter)
JG: “When you talk about Lennon/McCartney songs, do you work together, or one writes one, or…”
JOHN: “It’s all those combinations you can think of. Every combination of two people writing a song… inasmuch as we can both write them completely separately, and together, and not together. But we obviously influence each other, like groups and people do.”
JG: “I can think of my favorite– ‘Yesterday.'”
(crowd applauds)
JG: “What are the circumstances behind that, Paul? How does that happen?”
PAUL: “I don’t know. I woke up one morning…”
JOHN: (singing as blues) “‘I Woke Up One Morning…'”
(laughter)
PAUL: (pauses, then continues, rhythmically) “‘Piano By My Bed…'”
JOHN: (sings blues lick) “‘duh-dut duh dut-a-la-dut!'”
(laughter)
PAUL: “‘Went To The Piano…'”
JOHN: “Yeah?”
PAUL: (rhythmically) “And This- Is What- I Said!'”
(laughter)
PAUL: “You know, I just started playing it and this tune came. ‘Cuz that’s what happens. They just, sort of– they COME, you know. It just came and I couldn’t think of any words to it, so originally it was just, ‘Scrambled Egg.’ It was called ‘Scrambled Egg’ for a couple of months…”
(laughter)
PAUL: “…until I thought of ‘Yesterday.’ And that’s it.”
JG: (pause) “Are you putting me on?”
PAUL: “No, that’s true.”
JG: “‘Scrambled Eggs’? You write a song about scrambled eggs?”
PAUL: “True story.”
JOHN: “‘Scrambled Egg’ was over here as an instrumental first.”
PAUL: “That’s true, you know.”
JOHN: “Didn’t do so well with that title, you know.”
(laughter)
JG: “How long are you gonna stay here?”
JOHN: “Uhh, It could be any minute now.”
(laughter)
JG: “I know we’ve probably kept you out here longer than we should have, but I’m going to take a…”
(members of audience groan, realizing the interview is almost over)
JG: “I have a reverse question I’m going to ask you, and feel free not to answer it. What is the one question that bugs you the most. About your hair?”
JOHN: “No. We’re past being bugged by questions, unless they’re very personal. I mean, you just get normal human reactions to a question. You know, but there used to be one about, ‘What are you going to do when the bubble bursts?’ and we thought we’d have hysterics because somebody always asked it.”
JG: “Let’s go down the list of the questions. What are you going to do when the bubble bursts?”
JOHN: “I haven’t a clue, you know. I’m still looking for the bubble.”
(laughter)
JG: (to Paul) “I’ve heard you on interviews, you have fun with reporters! You stay right with him.”
PAUL: “No, no. I’m serious. Serious.”
JG: “You are? I think you’re the kind of a guy that would say, ‘Here’s a match– I wonder how much gas is in the tank.’ Would you be that kind of a guy?”
PAUL: “Yeah, sure.”
(laughter)
JG: “Paul, John, I know that you’ve got a busy, busy schedule.”
(groans from the audience)
JOHN: (comically, to the crowd) “That’s the way it goes, folks!”
(laughter)
JG: “We have to say goodbye. Does that make you sad to have to leave me, John?”
JOHN: “All goodbyes are sad aren’t they, Joe.”
JG: “Why don’t you write a song. Call it, ‘Say Goodbye To Joe.'”
JOHN: “‘Goodbye Joe. See You In The Morning.’ …oh, that’s some other line.”
(laughter)
JG: “Paul, you got any ideas?”
PAUL: “Uhh… no… Joe…”
(laughter)
PAUL: “Ok, umm… No, I can’t think of a song.”
JG: “When you get home and you start to write ‘Scrambled Eggs Number Two’ will you think about me?”
PAUL: “OK.”
JOHN: “And I’ll join you somehow.”
JG: “Thank you very much.”
(applause and screams)
Source: Transcribed by www.beatlesinterviews.org from audio recording of the TV interview. Photos captured and enhanced by the Beatles Ultimate Experience website from video copy of 8mm film.
