When people remember John Lennon’s love life, they think about Yoko Ono. But for 18 months, starting from late 1973 through 1975, there was a different woman in Lennon’s life.
May Pang met Lennon and Ono when she worked for the couple as an assistant. But when Lennon and Ono separated in 1973, Lennon and the then 22-year-old Pang began a romantic relationship that would come to be known as “the lost weekend.”
Their relationship was recently memorialized in a documentary called “The Lost Weekend: A Love Story,” and in March, the Ann Jackson Gallery will present an exhibition of photos that Pang took of Lennon during that period at the Computer Museum of America in Roswell.
Pang is expected to be at the museum during the weekend, and before the release of the documentary in 2022 had published a few books about her time with Lennon (“Loving John” in 1983 and a photography book called “Instamatic Karma” in 2008). She recently spoke candidly with Rough Draft Atlanta about that time in her life and why she’s felt the need to tell her side of the story.
“It’s a lot of years, and the stories have taken on a life of their own,” Pang said. “You know, you hear [people] say, oh I know this about you. And I say, that’s not true. That’s not what happened. You know how it goes – the lies that went out have now become the truth, and that’s not the way it happened. So I had to do something about it.”
One of the major aspects of the documentary is how the relationship between Pang and Lennon began. Perhaps as a way to try and control Lennon’s liaisons outside of their marriage, Ono was the one who suggested that the pair come together – a suggestion that Pang found to be “insane.” At this point, Pang had been working for the couple for three years, and had no romantic interest in Lennon. It was only when Lennon began pursuing her – in part, at Ono’s suggestion – that things changed.
“The thing that really made it the turnaround, is in the end when John realized that Yoko was serious … There comes a point when you’re telling somebody something – go do it, go do it – finally, you say, you know what? Okay. Alright. I’m going,” Pang said. “Because she insisted on him doing the same thing as me – you know, go out. Finally, he was pursuing me. And I’m looking at him, like – can you stay in the corner? [Laughs] I just didn’t want that, you know?”
Credit: May Pang
Credit: May Pang
The name “lost weekend” – coined by Lennon and a reference to a 1945 Billy Wilder film about an alcoholic on a bender – doesn’t exactly inspire thoughts of love and serenity. But even though Ono may have played a strong role in bringing the couple together, real love and affection did grow between them during the 18 months they spent together, both in Los Angeles and in New York.
During that time, Lennon made albums such as “Rock ‘n’ Roll” with Phil Spector and “Walls and Bridges,” which featured Pang’s voice on the track “#9 Dream.” Pang would also play a role in reuniting Lennon with his son from his first marriage, Julian, and would witness his reunion with Paul McCartney.
“They hadn’t seen each other in years! It was quite interesting,” she said of the reunion between the former bandmates. “They just fell back into old times, just the way it was. I was glad there was no animosity … it was like they had just seen each other a few weeks earlier.”
The documentary features commentary from the likes of Julian Lennon and Apple Records A&R head Tony King about the effect the relationship appeared to have on Lennon’s personality and creativity. The photos in the exhibit, taken by Pang, capture a sense of calm in Lennon that he isn’t exactly known for by the general public.
“I never thought when I was taking these pictures of him that they would be hanging in the gallery years later. They were just for our home,” Pang said. “It’s really a different side of John. It’s a very intimate side of John. And he loved it. He loved what I saw in him when I took the picture. So how you’re seeing him is how I saw him.”
The relationship between Pang and Lennon ended just as it began – with some prompting from Ono. The documentary features Ono as a sort of looming specter over the relationship, and is not quite willing to reckon with the fact that it’s possible that Lennon and Ono had been in contact behind the scenes during those 18 months more than Pang knew. But whatever the truth, it doesn’t change the fact that when Lennon moved back in with Ono, Pang felt blindsided.
Lennon was shot and killed five years after his relationship with Pang ended. While the two had some contact during those intervening five years, Pang was never able to fully close the door on that chapter in her life.
“I don’t have that complete closure that I was able to give everybody else,” Pang said. “Because we talked, and we talked even up until the last year of his life. He would call me. There was always that openness, that we were going to see each other again. So, I don’t have it.”
For more information on the exhibit, visit the Ann Jackson Gallery’s website.
Credit: Rough Draft Atlanta
Credit: Rough Draft Atlanta
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