The John Lennon track that secretly features May Pang: “One of John’s favourite songs”
When thinking back at the great loves of John Lennon’s life, Yoko Ono comes up first. Together, the couple were a global obsession from the second they got together, through their marriage and various artistic collaborations, and still now, decades after Lennon’s death. They’re one of the culture’s favourite pairings, as their art and love go hand in hand. But in this instance, Lennon collaborated with someone else – the lover from his lost weekend, May Pang.
Though always referred to as his ‘Lost Weekend’, the label is inaccurate. That wasn’t a weekend at all; it had been several years. It started in 1973. During a period of strain on their relationship, Yoko Ono hatched an unusual plan to try to help Lennon blow off steam but also keep him close. She turned to their personal assistant, May Pang, and was encouraged to start a fling with her husband, telling her, “He likes you a lot.”
In Ono’s eyes, this would be a way for Lennon to, I guess, scratch an itch. With the stress of the Beatles’ split, the launch of his solo career and other issues in their marriage, Ono clearly feared that Lennon was about to blow his top and leave. He felt trapped and stuck, and while most wives would never, and should never, have to endure bad treatment or infidelity as a sacrifice to that, Ono did. She watched her husband start up this affair with Pang, partly with her encouragement, thinking it would be brief, and eventually, she saw him come back home, happier than ever. It didn’t really work like that.
Suddenly, Lennon and Pang were in love. They moved to Los Angeles, far away from Ono in New York, and started this 18-month-long whirlwind known as the lost weekend.
But it wasn’t lost. Really, that period saved Lennon. Pang seemed to have this way of opening Lennon back up. She encouraged him to rekindle friendships with the Beatles. She helped him reconnect with his son, Julien Lennon, even making sure there was a room for him at the apartment the couple eventually bought together, moving back to New York in 1974. In addition to his personal life, this period was also incredibly creatively re-energising as Pang seemed to inspire a spark back in Lennon.
That’s heard on ‘#9 Dream’, a track that sees Lennon get experimental again in this hazy, spiralling love song. Pang is heard on it too as it’s her voice seductively whispering “John” in between the verse and the bridge.
“This was one of John’s favorite songs, because it literally came to him in a dream,” Pang said of the track, “He woke up and wrote down those words along with the melody. He had no idea what it meant, but he thought it sounded beautiful.” As for her involvement, there was no greater plan there. It was simply that the backing singer booked for the session didn’t show, and so she stepped in – though no doubt having Pang’s voice on Lennon’s work stung Ono, given that collaboration had always been a core part of their love.
