Talk about your 15 minutes, here is an entire book based on what was probably a 30-minute interview with John Lennon and wife Yoko Ono. The writer, at the time of this meeting back in 1969, was a 14-year-old kid who snuck into the ex-Beatle's hotel and given a brief audience. John and Lady Ono were staging their infamous "Bed-In" in Canada when Levitan managed to scoot past security and land a face-to-face with the great one.
Truly, the story of the author's fascination with John and how he managed to arrange this interview is infinitely more intriguing the conversation itself. Granted, the writer was just 14, so you couldn't exactly expect an insightful exchange.
Here is one excerpt:
Jerry: Everyone seems to think the best album of yours was
Sgt. Pepper. I disagree. I think you better yourselves all the time. For
example, the double LP, I was wondering ... I never try to think of you ...
start studying with a microscope ...
John: Yeah.
That's pretty much indicative of the entire conversation. The remainder of the book is filled out with the author's memories of Lennon's return to Canada in 1969 for the Toronto Rock and Roll Revival show; the release of
Let It Be and the Beatles' breakup; and the epilogue that is centered on John's assassination. Levitan was devastated with his death and talks about spending his 41st birthday in a psychiatric ward.
This is a charming book and just another in the litany of Beatles titles out there. Anyone with any connection to one of the Fab Four has written about the experience. Though Levitan went on to become a musician and lawyer, what surfaces after reading I Met the Walrus is that nothing would ever again compare to this experience. Maybe that's why he went a little bit psychotic - though his mother passed away and his marriage fell apart around this same time - following the meeting.
Regardless, you can be sure that Levitan wouldn't have traded that moment for anything - including his own sanity.