In 1974, John Lennon was still off on what he called his "lost weekend." It was a period in the early '70s when the ex-Beatle split from Yoko Ono, took up with girlfriend Mary Pang, and terrorized Los Angeles nightlife on mad benders. One legendary night in March of that year found Lennon and buddy Harry Nilsson getting tossed from L.A. venue the Troubadour after disrupting a Smothers Brothers comedy show.
By December 1974, however, Lennon had begun to calm down and sober up. He would reconcile with Ono early the next year. On the night of December 9, he found himself at the Los Angeles Coliseum to watch the Rams play the Washington Redskins. Being that he was John Lennon in 1974, it wasn't long before he was hustled into the broadcast booth for a quick halftime interview with sportscasting legend, Howard Cosell.
It's a beautiful train-wreck of an interview, with Lennon openly puzzled about the rules of American football, comparing it to rugby. The high point of the conversation comes when Cosell suddenly asks Lennon if the Beatles will ever reunite.
"You never know," Lennon said. "It's always in the wind. If it looked like this, it might be worth doing," he noted, pointing to the stadium crowd. When Cosell mentions that Lennon had been hanging out with Ringo Starr, Lennon used the opportunity to promote Starr's then-current album, Goodnight Vienna, coyly adding that he, too, had a new album out in stores: Walls and Bridges.
Watch the interview below.
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