A day in the life of Phil and John

 

Lennon’s other good line.:”Phil Spector is the only person who’s ever walked across the Atlantic Ocean.” During this particular flight in 1964 — the Beatles coming to America for the first time — Spector was so nervous (“fear of flying” being one of his countless neurosis) he spent the entire flight pacing up and down the aisle.

My favorite Phil Spector story. When John Lennon was going through his “Lost Weekend” period around 1974 and regularly going berserk in violent drug and alcohol-fueled rages while trying to record an oldies album with Phil Spector, Lennon went particularly nuts one night. And got in a physical tussle with Spector and his bodyguard. In the course of the fight they had to physically tie Lennon down to his bed in an attempt to restrain Lennon’s violent outbursts.

The next day in the recording studio Phil Spector showed up with a big black eye and his face covered with welts and bruises. Lennon spent a long time apologizing to Spector for the damage he had inflicted. Lennon had been so fucked-up he barely even remembered what he had done.

Finally, after Lennon had sufficiently prostated himself to Spector, Spector admitted he had gone to a Hollywood make-up artist to have the fake wounds put on his face for a joke. Ha ha.