‘Rolling Stone’ Releases John Lennon’s Final Interview

John Lennon photographed in New York on December 8th, 1980. Photograph Rolling Stone by Annie Leibovitz

(HMG Celebrity News) - John Lennon’s final interview was released to The AP by Rolling Stone on Wednesday, the 30th anniversary of the musician’s death.   Some might take offense at releasing the interview but for me I am excited to read something fresh and see where he was at in his life, 3 days before his untimely senseless murder.  The Rolling Stone issue with Lennon on the cover and  the full interview will be on magazine stands on Friday.  Brief excerpts of Jonathan Cott’s interview with Lennon at his apartment and at his record studio were previously released for a 1980 Rolling Stone cover story days after Lennon’s death.  Also in the issue is an article by Yoko Ono titled “John’s Last Days.” Photos in the issue are by Annie Liebovitz, who photographed the iconic photo of a nude Lennon lying with Yoko Ono.  The interview was originally planned for a cover story for Lennon and Ono’s upcoming album “Double Fantasy,” but in the rush to put out a story after Lennon was shot to death by Mark David Chapman, only snippets were used.  Cott said he never went back to the three hours worth of tapes until a few months ago when he was cleaning out his closet.

“On a strip of magnetic tape, it was sort of a miracle that first of all, the tape had not degraded after 30 years,” he said. “All of this sudden, this guy’s voice, totally alive … just made me feel so inspired that I felt that I should really transcribe the whole thing.”

Cott said he was struck by how much he was thinking about his life and mortality.

“There were a lot of strange consideration of where he was and what he felt like sort of in the middle of his journey,” Cott said. “I think it was like a mid-life meditation, I was struck by that.”

Source: HuffPost