Tony Levin is known for playing on countless records across various genres, from Peter Gabriel to Liquid Tension Experiment. Among his vast work, two albums he recorded were with John Lennon and Yoko Ono. In an interview for Ultimate Guitar’s On the Record podcast, Levin talked about his experience working with Lennon and Ono and Lennon’s son also hit back at insults towards his father in the past.
When Levin first arrived at the studio, Lennon approached him directly and warned him not to play too many notes. This advice stuck with Levin, as he understood that Lennon hadn’t heard him play before and was probably concerned that he might overcomplicate the songs. Levin found it amusing because he’s known for his subtle, minimalist approach to the bass.
Levin felt honored to be part of the project, realizing there were plenty of other talented bass players who could have been in his position. At one point, Levin instinctively played a bass line that felt somewhat Beatles-like but decided to go with it since it suited the music, and it was John Lennon, after all.
The sessions lasted only two weeks, resulting in two albums. Tragically, plans for a world tour were cut short by Lennon’s untimely death. Levin’s one regret was not capturing a photo of John and Yoko. He had asked for permission but was told no, and he wishes now that he had taken the shot before asking, just for the memory.
“It’s an interesting question. It didn’t have anything to do with it. It was right at the same time frame, the end of 1980, I think. It was a terrific opportunity. It was sweet. It was great. I’ve told this many times. Sometimes, we don’t remember what happened, we remember ourselves telling the story of what happened. But I have been asked so many times.”
“I remember when I first came into the studio, the Hit Factory on 48th Street, I think, in Manhattan. John came up to me and said — in a very confrontational way and a very New York way — ‘They tell me you’re good, just don’t play too many notes.’ That’s what he said. And I smiled thinking, yeah, I’m comfortable with that kind of like, ‘Boom, just don’t play too many notes. They tell me you’re good.'”
“And of course, I understand that he was told, he didn’t know my playing. He was told by someone else that I’m good. And he thought, ‘Well, maybe he’s one of those guys who’s going to make a mess of my song.’ And I had a smile because I know that I’m pretty sparse about notes.”
“It was a great opportunity. My thoughts was, he would sing a new song and play guitar where there must be thousands of bass players who could be the one here who could play and do a very good job on this. I’m just one of them and how lucky am I that I’m the one who was called to be here. And okay, enough of that. Let me just play.”
“And maybe there was one point where I reacted… The bass part I played was a little Beatles-ish. It was just in two seconds. Even as I started to do that, my instinctive brain said, ‘Don’t do that, that’s Beatles-ish.’ And then I thought, ‘This is not Beatles-ish, this is John. And if that’s the way that’s appropriate for John’s song, then it’s OK.'”
“I don’t mean I was copying a Paul line, but was just kind of stylistically… I thought, ‘Yeah, this one time I can let myself do that without taking it somewhere else.’ It’s kind of where it was, to begin with. So there was that. It was only two weeks of sessions really that we did and we did two albums out of it.”
“And then there was the tragedy of the way things ended. We were going to do a world tour. He was talking about the tour starting in maybe February.”
“You know, the one regret I have about that session… I’m a photographer also, and I released a few photo books of some studio sessions, but mostly on the road with King Crimson and Peter Gabriel. And I had my camera, as I always do at the session. I had one break when John and Yoko were listening to a playback in the control room. I came in with my camera and I looked at the two of them and I said, ‘Do you guys mind if I take a photo?’ And John said, ‘I’d rather you didn’t.'”
“And that’s my one regret. I wish I had taken the picture and then asked. I don’t think he would have sent me home in anger. I think he would have said, ‘Please don’t take any pictures,’ and I would have that one picture, even if it was blurry, to remind myself of that. So I regret that. That was my one misstep.”
