Yoko Ono & Jody Denberg in New York City in September 1998 following the art gallery recording of The John Lennon Anthology Interview with Yoko Ono Promotional Disc for Capitol Records.

KGSR Program Director has had the opportunity to talk with Yoko Ono on seven separate occasions since 1984. Below we present a conversation from 1998 that was released as a promotional compact disc that Yoko entitled "howitis." It coincided with the release of the John Lennon Anthology box set and covers all facets of his solo career. The rest of Jody's interviews with Yoko Ono are archived on the "Approximately Infinite Universe" website - the definitive website on all things Yoko.

Q: Yoko, The John Lennon Anthology box is being released now in 1998. This is 18 years after John Lennon's death. Why did you wait so long to release this box set and why is now the time for it?

A: So it's 18 years. That's a long time. Well, I was just doing my best, you know. And with this one, it was a bit hard. Well, I'm used to listening to John's catalogue of songs. Everyday I listen to them and say, "Oh, we have to do this", or "Somebody wants to cover it, could you listen to it?" That kind of thing. But this was more to do with John in private kind of thing. And I heard John making a kind of comment about this and that, etcetera. And it was almost like John was in the same room. And so whenever I go back to listening to them, you know, it's just -- I couldn't handle it. And there were times when I tried to really set the time to kind of listen to it. And then I had to give up, because, finally, my ears were hurting. It never happened before. You know, like I can just keep on listening to music for 24 hours and it doesn't hurt me. I was -- in that sense I'm a bit macho about it. But then, this was strange. I just couldn't -- like, the ears kind of shot off, you know. And I'm thinking, what's happening. So then I had to take time to sort of rest my ears or something for a week or something and then I'd go back. So this was the best I could do. Now, it's here.

Q: This project is called The John Lennon Anthology, and a few years ago, there was the Beatles' Anthology. It seems that they're similar in format. Did you base John's Anthology on the Beatles?

A: Well, yes. The Beatle Anthology came out first. But I was already doing this project before the Beatle Anthology came out. And then it was nice the Beatle Anthology came out, because I said, "I see, that's how we did the Beatle Anthology." And I felt that Lennon's Anthology should be slightly different. And so I started thinking in that terms. You know, it was like a dialogue. "Oh, okay. Well, they're like this and John is a different story," because this is like John's post-Beatle stuff. So it was kind of like a good experience doing the Beatle Anthology. And so I knew what not to do and what to do.

Q: There's four discs that make up The John Lennon Anthology. Seems to me there must have been tapes from many different places. Did you know where most of these tapes were over the years?

A: No. Well, all right. So there's some tapes, like Goodnight Vienna, I'm the Greatest, Only You, it was very hard to find them. And we got help from a lot of people and thank you, thank you, thank you. We're thanking them a special thanks to these people who helped us. But also, Rob had a lot to do with it, Rob Stevens. Basically, (he) went to all those places to look for it and make the right phone calls and -- he really worked on that. And he was really brilliant about that. He would make the right phone calls. In some cases, he had to go physically to those places, by foot, by plane, that kind of thing. And, also, he was very adamant, determined to get them. And we found I'm The Greatest, Only You, Good Night Vienna. And those were the tapes which were especially very difficult to find.

Q: What were some of the cities that he visited trying to find these tapes?

A: Well, L.A. to begin with. But -- and there's some in New Jersey, I think, etcetera. But I have to say that, there were so many people who were so kind, so many angles, shall we say, who helped to find these tapes. And -- but without Rob Stevens‚ determination, we couldn't have gotten them.

Jody Denberg & Yoko Ono in the Dakota in New York City in 1997 following an interview about the Rykodisc reissue series of her solo albums.

Q: Now, Rob, who was your co-producer, and yourself, I'd imagine you spent many, many, many hours listening through these tapes. Was it over the course of months? Did this take you years?

A: We took years to listen to all these tapes. And -- well, first of all, Rob Stevens, he was with me doing all the John Lennon stuff since John Lennon Live In New York City, which was '86, I think. So he was here for 12 years, just working on John Lennon stuff with me. So he knows every note, every beat. And what we have in, say, my storage. That kind of thing. So it was very important to get his cooperation. And so that was -- I think I chose the right person. I know that there were several other people who thought that they were experts and they should be doing it, etcetera, but you‚ll see that this was really the right way to go with Rob and me. It was just a very good combination.

Q: In the course of looking through these audio tapes, did you also come upon reels of films and videos?

A: Yes, while we were looking for the tapes, we did come up with many interesting things, including video tapes and that sort of thing. But it's really very strange, but -- because John was such a genius. And so I found that there were many more tapes and stuff that really were very presentable. And actually, it wasn't trying to scratch the bottom of the barrel. On the contrary, there was sort of like three takes from which we had to choose. And all three takes were brilliant. And so in the beginning, I was thinking that this was going to be the ultimate John Lennon box. And I thought, no, we shouldn't call it ultimate cause there's so much more there. And it's such a pity that people don't hear those good ones. But in the end -- well, not in the end, from the beginning, I just didn't want the idea of cramming it up too much. I wanted each CD to be a kind of independent CD, that you can listen to it as a CD, not like, well, I'm giving you this too, this too, that too. And so each CD maximum time, in a way, but not really. It's more to do with how it's listenable as a CD.

Q: You mentioned that you went through so many songs. And obviously, there are songs on The John Lennon Anthology that none of us have heard before. Serve Yourself, Life Begins at Forty, Long Lost John. But fans of The Lost Lennon Tapes (radio) show are familiar with songs like Tennessee, She's a Friend of Dorothy's, Sally and Billy. How did you decide which unreleased songs to include?

A: That's what I'm saying. I mean, there are still more beautiful songs, but I couldn't fit them all there. And I just thought that if there are too many just plunking on the piano kind of thing, it's not interesting for some people. I just wanted the whole thing to really work well as a CD as music. So that was one of the considerations. But also, I think that the tracks that I've put in there represent John in a much better way.

Q: So would it be fair to say this is probably not the last release from John's archives?

A: It's possible that this is not the last presentation of John's work. It's possible.

Q: What was Sean Lennon's role in assembling The John Lennon Anthology?

A: Well, Sean was very busy with his own album, as you know, the first album and the concert tours. But still, he really was there for me, encouraging me and a lot of good comments that I got from him.

Q: On the first disc, Yoko, John's vocals are so raw and naked, just unbelievable. Why do you think that John was so open during the Plastic Ono Band period? It had to be more than just the Primal Therapy.

A: The first disc -- I think that, yes, there's a lot of raw stuff, but in a good way, in a funky way. And even the first take of Imagine, for instance. It's the first take, but it sounds presentable. It sounds, almost, sometimes better than the catalogue stuff. I mean, in some ways, you know, it sounds funkier and more powerful maybe. The catalogue stuff is kind of cleaned-up version. Working Class Hero...that was almost like the take before the first take. It was really when he was saying, "Okay. Let me just try this." And I think he's singing brilliantly. He was like that. And sometimes, because he has to sing 20 times before you can put it on the track in the studio. And that first initial energy, gets lost. So in a way, especially in the first disc, I feel that it's like the cream of the cream, kind of. Beautiful stuff with John's energy really shining through. You know, the catalogue songs are all beautifully done, finished, beautifully done, polished and everything. But this is the only disc that you can see that in. Meaning, these are the only discs, shall we say, but especially the first one is incredible, I think.

Q: The first disc is entitled Ascot. Give us a sense of what Ascot was like. Was the recording studio in your house?

A: Yes. The recording studio in Ascot was in our house, yeah.

Q: And how did that affect the music, how did it affect your relationship having the work right there in the home?

A: Well, our relationship was very, very strange. Well, unique is the word, probably. But -- or maybe not. Maybe, you know, a lot of couples are doing this. But we were always together. And it didn't bother us, really. And so this was one more kind of convenience that we set up a studio right in our home.

Q: You had said, I think it was on the liner notes to the Ascot period, you said that, "Sometimes we had to separate from each other in order to protect our love."

A: Okay. "Sometimes we had to separate from each other in order to protect our love." Give each other space, maybe. All right. So I don't think I said in Ascot. I think that was the introduction.

Q: Okay.

A: And the reason why I said that is because I was thinking -- when I was writing that, I was thinking about the separation period.

Q: You mentioned earlier that on the first take of Imagine the vocals are incredible. Did John have a sense of what this song meant to the world before he died?

A: I think, at one point, John realized, that John sensed that Imagine was going to be just an incredible thing for the world, the song Imagine. That was why it was written, in a way, and recording that's when, I think, he really felt that this is it. This is going to really kind of change the world around. But then, I think Imagine became No. 2 and America was it or something like that. And then while we were going on, doing other things, he probably forgot that concept, maybe. But it was always there. Always that feeling. And when I went to Japan to do a concert by myself while we were separated, John just said, "Just sing Imagine." And I said, "uh-huh, like am I going to sing that song?" At that point, I just wanted to kind of not do it. And I didn't. But after John passed away, I thought, okay, I'll do that. I mean, it was that thing about independence, you know, and you didn't want to sort of get an applause (for) John's songs or anything like that. But I realized what he meant. And in Starpeace World Tour I sang Imagine.