April 7, 1975 - Un jour futur

Taped: Monday 7 April 1975
Aired: Saturday 28 June 1975

At the Dakota, John records his second interview with the journalist Jean-Francois Vallee (his first being on December 14, 1971), this time for inclusion in the French television programme Un jour futur. His piece, entitled Il Etait Une Fois John Lennon (Once Upon A Time There Was John Lennon), is produced by Michael Lancelot and features John, besides speaking on the telephone, being interviewed while sitting on the floor. Among many topics of conversation, he discusses Paul's drug taking admission to ITN news in 1967, The Beatles as "world leaders", his visit to Paris in 1961 and the trademark Beatle haircut and collarless jacket. He also reveals how he incorporated reggae into the 1964 Beatles tune 'I Call Your Name'. At one stage, he goes out onto the balcony and performs a mock magical trick with a handkerchief, which appears from the bottom of his trousers. Inside his apartment again, this time solo on the piano, John performs a unique version of Labelle's hit 'Voulez Vous Coucher Avec Moi, Ce Soir (Lady Marmalade)'. (John appears in the interview wearing a T-shirt that has that logo stamped on to it.) For its first television broadcast, on Saturday June 28, and for the benefit of the non-English speaking French viewers, Lancelot strangely dubs John's answers with two separate male/female French voices. Sections of the interview where John speaks frankly about sex and drugs are deemed too risky for transmission and are never screened.