GE 1998-9 Season 5 Episode 17: John and Yoko
Note: this is not a transcript, but a working draft of the script, so there may be differences in the aired version.
PAUL:	May of `69 in Newfoundland. 

Idle, curious, living a hand-to-mouth existence during extended 
investigations at Memorial University, sharing a small 3-bedroom 
apartment on the watorfront with seven other people - I was one 
of the Olde Town hippies.

Little did I know what the next 8 months held in store for me.

The occupation of the weight room at the university had been going 
well; my leadership as the secretary general of the provisional wing 
of the Viet MUN was unquestioned; but we needed cash.

So, a trade mission to Montreal was in order.
 
 
With the financial backing of several hundred denizens of the MUN 
students' union building, I flew first class to the city of lights, 
Canada-style, and booked in to the Queen Elizabeth, room 1741, 
ready for business.

Donning the tie-dye in preparation of difficult cash negotiations, 
I left my suite.

And whom did I see in the hallway, entering the room directly across 
from me ?

Japanese performance artist Yoko Ono, and her boyfriend ot the time, 
John Lennon.

By the time I returned to the hotel later that evening, the bed-in 
had begun.

And what a time.

I knocked on the door of 1742 - it opened under my knuckles.
The happening was, well, in full swing.  And what a happening it was.  
I was welcomed, introduced myself, sat next to Allen Ginsberg and 
started twisting up numbers.

Before the week was out, I'd met Petula Clark, Timothy Leary, Tom and 
Dick Smothers, and made connections in England for music, New York 
for acid, and California for the television industry.  Connections 
that would alter my entire life.

By the time it had all ended and we'd recorded "Give Peace A Chance" 
in that storied bedroom - that's me on spoon in the left channel - 
I had almost run out of the front money from the dime-bag dopies of 
St. John's. 

A couple of days later, I used what funds were left to purchase a 
ticket on Trans World Airways and followed John and Yoko to London, 
to a hot-wired jam session with the Rolling Stones, a late evening 
splash with Brian Jones at his place, and, well, that's another story. 

I didn't see John or Yoko for a couple of years after that.  But we 
exchanged seasonal messages every year at Yule, and still when 
Christmas rolls around, I think of them.

JOHN LENNON	"HAPPY XMAS"  3:30