December 16, 1971 - The David Frost Show

Taped: Thursday 16 December 1971
Aired: Thursday 13 January 1972

In New York, John and Yoko record an appearance on the Westinghouse Group's programme The David Frost Show. They appear at the very start of the show backing Apple artist David Peel as he sings 'The Ballad Of New York', with John happily plucking on a tea-chest bass. The Lennons reappear in the show backed by members of the group David Peel and The Lower East Side, performing 'Attica State', 'Luck Of The Irish' (short version), 'Sisters 0 Sisters' and 'John Sinclair'. Other highlights of the show, first transmitted in America on January 13,1972, include a screening of a silent home movie of John and Yoko recently visiting the American Indian Chief Lion and his tribe. The Lennons, who first met the Chief during Yoko's Syracuse exhibition in October, are now actively involved in his campaign to stop the construction of a freeway through his tribe's reservation. The Chief himself also guests on the show. Another most memorable sequence occurs when John and Yoko get involved in a heated discussion with two members of the studio audience, who accuse the Lennons of "making it sound as if the only worthwhile people in this world are people who have committed crimes". This was, in fact, John and Yoko's second US TV appearance with David Frost. (The first was transmitted in America on July 10, 1969.) It is clear that John does not enjoy this further encounter. He refuses to take a bow to the audience at the end of part one of the programme, and reappears later only to perform. This leaves Yoko to face questions from Frost on her own. During the Lennons' appearance on The Dick Cavett Show, John had sarcastically referred to David Frost as "Fravid Drost".