Q: Each disc in The John Lennon Anthology has some essays from you. Did you keep a diary over the years?

A: Well, did I keep a diary? I kept a diary once, very briefly. And it was mainly to do with musical ideas or something like that. But when we were in San Francisco and we just went for lunch or something like that, somebody stole my diary. I mean, that was the only thing they stole. And then it was in a thieves' auction or something, I was told. And from then on, I thought, no way, I'm not going to keep a diary.

Q: Now that The John Lennon Anthology is complete, do you ever intend to put your thoughts into a book?

A: Well, yes, I think that one day I would like to write something about my life. And I don't know where that would go. And, of course, many people tell me it's my responsibility to write about what happened beginning those years with John. I don't feel that I have that kind of responsibility, except to my son, maybe. I feel that he should know what really went on. But -- so maybe I'll write some day. But these things come out in kind of -- it trickles out like this. And that's the most natural way, in a way. So maybe that's what I'm going to be doing.

Q: When you and John first moved to New York together in the early '70s was it really just as soon as you arrived that you became acquainted with all the city's political activists?

A: Right, we just jumped right into it. - The New York activists scene was going on. And John and I, when we came to New York, we jumped right into it. But before that, already, in London -- not London, Ascot, we were watching TV of Chicago Seven, that trial. I said, "Wow, cool." So we knew that if we went to New York, those are the people that we're kind of drawn to, probably. So New York; John loved New York, because it was like Liverpool. You know, port city, boats. And he liked the kind of gritty side, slumming, that kind of thing.

Q: Didn't take very long.

A: No, they came to us.

Q: You and John immediately began playing benefits for various causes along the East Coast. Ann Arbor, at the Apollo, at Madison Square Garden. You were on the Jerry Lewis Telethon. Why, at this point in your lives, were you so committed to your roles as leaders and activists? You didn't have to be.

A: Well when we came to New York City, right away, we started to get busy, busy that way, you know, politically or whatever you call it. But I'd like to remind you that we started with Two Virgins, Bed-In -- all that was all there in England. So it was like a tradition already by then. It's the family tradition of John and Yoko. And so we just went on doing things. But, of course, in America, there's a lot of like TV exposure and charity shows, etcetera, etcetera. It's bigger. The media's bigger. And so that's what reflects in that New York City Disc 2. And I think it's very interesting because it's different from Disc 1, the Ascot, that kind of life. We were getting into that media life.

Q: The album that you and John did Sometime In New York City, even John said it was a time when he thought his music became almost a form of journalism. Does that music from the period hold up for you?

A: Sure. A lot of it, the music in New York City, the kind of political stuff and it was getting to be like we're just sending it out like newspaper articles. I think that was kind of one way of expressing art. And very much like Fluxus or -- the later sort of artists, you know, contemporary artists who is always involving politics or politics is part of the expression, very much so. And that's what was going on.

Q: And then, political battles landed right on your doorstep in terms of the immigration battle. How did the immigration battle, John's struggle to stay in America - how did that affect your relationship and your music -- and John's music?

A: When the United States' government hit us with the immigration case, it was frightening. It was totally scary. But we felt that justice would prevail. And it took a long time, but it did. And we kept doing things while that was going on. I'm looking at all these video of Madison Square Garden where we're singing, you know, Give Peace a Chance and all that, right in the middle of the time when they were trying to kick us out. I mean, we had gall or nerve or whatever. But we felt that we were doing the right thing. And I think that was fine.

Q: Another thing that John and Yoko did during this time period was record a song called Happy Xmas, which is on The John Lennon Anthology in a slightly different version. You tell the story in the book, but (tell) just a little bit about the writing and recording of Happy Xmas, because it's turned out to be one of the biggest songs of both of your careers.

A: It's true that Happy Xmas is really very big now. But at the time that we wrote Happy Xmas -- it was like just after we wrote Happy Xmas, and this was like over breakfast in a hotel room. And we were just -- well, you can't write a song together unless you're really like feeling good about each other. We just wrote it. And then we had a big fight. Big argument. And so then we forgot about the song. And then it was getting to be like November. You know, Christmas is approaching. And then suddenly John remembered the song. He said, "What happened to Happy Xmas? We have to put it out." And we put it out. But, of course, it bombed because it was too near Christmas and didn't have the time to -- the record company didn't have the time to really put it in the right slot and all that. But when we wrote it, John -- just like when he wrote Imagine, he said, "It's going to be big." You know, that instinct. And John was saying, "Happy Xmas is going to be really big. It's going to bigger than White Christmas." And I was laughing. But I don't think it's big as White Christmas yet, but it's kind of big for our generation, in a way, I think.

Q: Some of the sweetest moments on The John Lennon Anthology are John's versions of the songs that he wrote for Ringo, like I'm the Greatest, Only You.

A: Well, he did a guide vocal for that, but it was not his song.

Q: Right. And there was one -- oh, Goodnight Vienna. Would you say that John's relationship with Ringo was different than with the other Beatles?

A: Well, John did (a) guide vocal for Only You, which was not his song, but he did a great one, a great vocal, and also Goodnight Vienna and I'm the Greatest. He wrote those songs for Ringo. Especially I'm the Greatest, you notice that he was writing for Ringo and so he was more, kind of, relaxed about certain lines, you know, that he would never write for himself kind of thing. And I think they're lovely songs. I think that John was always caring about Ringo and always making sure that Ringo would be all right. So there's a lot of love there.

Q: Let's move on to the third disc, which is called The Lost Weekend. It was so hard for many of us to understand when John Lennon and Yoko Ono separated. Two people who loved each other so much and they were suddenly apart. When you separated, did you feel that someday you and John would eventually be reunited?

A: I don't know. I felt -- personally, I felt, oh, the fans are going to love this, you know, because they hated the fact that we were together. I was the dragon lady, remember? But when we came back together again, surprise, surprise, the fans were all very happy that we came back together again. We were like Daddy and Mommy. Oh, they came back together. Good. You know, that kind of thing. So the fans were changing a little, maybe, I don't know, in the course of years. But, yeah, we separated and there was a good reason for it. And I think that it was the best move that I/we made.

Q: Did The Lost Weekend ultimately strengthen your relationship?

A: The Lost Weekend ultimately strengthened our relationship, totally, but I wasn't sure that we were going to stay together or not. I really thought that if I said, "Okay. Go to L.A., see you later." I thought that maybe that would be the end. But I had to take that chance, because, well, it's just I had to take that chance, that's all.

Q: And then you started seeing newspaper reports of John having some evenings out where things got out of control.

A: Yeah, things were getting out of control. But that's when people said things like -- you know, when he was in L.A., things were getting a bit out of control. And people out there, the music people, they would call me and say, "Come and pick him up," something like that. And I'm saying, "Well, all this time, you thought that you wanted me to be out of it, so why don't you just take care of him." And it was really strange, you know. I think that's when they said -- they realized actually - it wasn't so bad that I was around. Well, you know, it was a very, very difficult scene. So it went the other way, I thought I could survive, too. I don't know. It was just that kind of thing. And then we came back and it was great. But also, even during The Lost Weekend, we weren't totally separated. And to the point that he gave me credit to Walls and Bridges as Plastic Ono Band kind of thing. He still used the Plastic Ono Band kind of label, just because he was picking my brain, still, I suppose. You know, it's that kind of thing.

Q: And during that period was when John was in L.A. recording the Rock And Roll sessions with Phil Spector. And on The John Lennon Anthology, Yoko, you've included some very revealing studio chatter between John and Mr. Phil Spector --

A: Yes, I included some raw stuff that was going on in the studio between Phil Spector and John Lennon. The two geniuses. I told John, when John was saying, "I think I'm going to go into the studio with Phil Spector," I said -- not because I had anything against Phil, but I said, "Don't do it." And later, he said, "Well, you were right." Because, the two geniuses, they were so big-headed and everything, you know. And when we did Imagine, I was there. So I was like the kind of -- I don't know, calming quality, maybe. I don't know. Maybe I wasn't that calming quality, but there's a difference, you know. And here John and Phil, I didn't think it was going to go well. But there's a big legend -- no myth, about how terrible it was. And when you listen to it, Phil was very, kind of, sensitive. John was sensitive, too. It's just two very sensitive, talented people didn't know how to, sort of like, get on with the thing. And I thought it was history. I thought it was a piece of very important history there. So I wanted to put that in there.

Q: You weren't worried that Phil would be offended by that?

A: I think there (was) really bad talk about that period and how arrogant Phil was or something like that. This shows that maybe John was being a kid and Phil was trying to kind of calm him down or something. So it shows that -- it just gives more credit to Phil, I think, than anything else.

Q: That segment of The John Lennon Anthology and all the spoken bits throughout the four discs, they show a different side of John than we've ever seen. No one's ever shown it to us before. And it almost demystifies John in some sense.

A: I wasn't trying to demystify John in these four discs. Also, you know, it's damn if you will, damn if you don't. I'm trying to sort of show John in a kind of four-dimensional way. This is John, instead of, okay, just let's show the best foot forward kind of thing. And I was always doing that. I was never trying to show John just in the best foot forward kind of situation. But a lot of people are saying, "Oh, she wants to depict him as a saint." So I get flack for that and now I'm going to get flack for demystifying John? I think he was human. But also, I think he was incredibly talented. I mean, he was a genius. And you see that, even when he's doing these very, sort of like, black humor stuff. Off the cuff. And he comes up with it, it's not just a regular black humor. It's brilliant, brilliant. You couldn't do that. Nobody could do that. And that's what is so unique about John. And I wanted people to see that, too. But the only time that -- well, the only thing that I didn't want to do was to put some musically tacky stuff in there, musically. Meaning, the sound quality was so bad that you have to listen to it because it's scratchy and everything and just sort of, "oh, well, this is John Lennon, so I'm going to listen to it." That kind of fan stuff. I don't want that. John was a musician, John was an artist. And I think that John would have liked the fact that whether it was a scathing remark or whether it was a black humor song, something that was musically tops.

And that's what I aimed for. So if there was a track that was kind of too foggy to listen to or something like that, yes, we cleaned it. We made sure to clean it up so it sounds good. That was my aim. To show John at his best, but not by kind of suppressing the sides that maybe might offend people. You know, if I'm going to offend people, I'm going to offend people just by putting a song with love in it. Like, was he that soppy or something like that. You don't know what is going to offend people.