The Beatles Apple Corps Press Conference: Full Transcript – 14 May 1968
Americana Hotel, 155 West 47th Street, New York City | Tuesday 14 May 1968
On 14 May 1968, John Lennon and Paul McCartney held a press conference at the Americana Hotel in Midtown Manhattan to announce the launch of Apple Corps in the United States. The conference was managed by their press officer Derek Taylor. Among those present was photographer Linda Eastman, who afterwards gave McCartney her telephone number written on an unused cheque.
What follows is the complete transcript of the press conference — one of the most entertaining and revealing documents of the Apple era, and a masterclass in Lennon's ability to deflect, disarm, and occasionally wrong-foot an entire room of professional journalists.
For the full narrative account of the day — including the context of Apple Corps, McCartney's ‘personal paranoia’, the Linda Eastman encounter, and The Tonight Show appearance — read our companion piece: Lennon & McCartney Promote Apple Corps in New York – 14 May 1968 →
The Full Transcript
Note: Paul McCartney later acknowledged he was suffering from a “personal paranoia” throughout the conference, possibly caused by substances he had taken. As a result, John Lennon did the majority of the talking.
On the Maharishi
Q: What are your feelings about the Maharishi?
John Lennon: I think the Maharishi was a mistake. His teachings have some truth in them, but I think that we made a mistake.
Q: Do you think that other people who see the Maharishi are making a mistake?
John Lennon: That’s up to them.
Paul McCartney: He’s human, that’s all. We thought that there was more to him than what there was, but he’s human. For a while, we thought he wasn’t, you know.
On New Philosophical Leaders
Q: Do you have any new philosophical leaders?
Paul McCartney: No.
John Lennon: Me!
On Yellow Submarine
Q: What was there about the screenplay for the Yellow Submarine that made you favour it over the screenplays you rejected?
John Lennon: We never saw it. But the drawings are nice.
On Public Appearances
Q: Will you be making any more public appearances?
John Lennon: I don’t know.
Paul McCartney: We may be.
On Why They Are There
Q: Why are you here today?
John Lennon: To do this.
Q: What is ‘this’?
John Lennon: What’s it look like? Well, you know, what are you doing here?
On Apple Corps
Q: What is this Apple Corps that you’ve initiated?
John Lennon: It’s a business concerning records, films, electronics, and – as a sideline – manufacturing, or whatever it’s called. We just want to set up a system whereby people who just want to make a film about anything don’t have to go on their knees in somebody’s office – probably yours!
Q: Could you be a little more specific…
John Lennon: No.
Q: …about the profits of Apple Corps and where they will go? And where did you get the name?
John Lennon: Well, it’s just – what can you call it? – Apple. It’s to do what I said, you know, in a business-like way, but business and pleasure might be feasible.
On Their Popularity
Q: This is your first trip to New York in four years. Would you say that your popularity is waning somewhat?
John Lennon: We don’t really think about it in those terms.
On Planning
Q: Do you plan to come back as a group?
John Lennon: We don’t plan. We just came suddenly. We look after our own affairs and we don’t plan. Now, we haven’t a manager, and there’s no planning at all.
Paul McCartney: This is chaos.
On the Airport Hysteria
Q: Did you find the same kind of hysteria there to greet you when you came into New York this time as was there on previous occasions?
John Lennon: Well, I saw something going on at the airport. You could see as well as me that I was being hustled along there. It feels the same whether it was five kids or five thousand. The same atmosphere is there.
On A Spaniard in the Works
Q: John, it said in the press release that you plan to make a film of A Spaniard In The Works.
John Lennon: Yeah. That’s a rough book to read at times. It depends on how you feel.
Q: How do you plan the film?
John Lennon: Yeah, well, I really can’t explain it. I’ll just have to make the film out of the two books. How I’ll do it, I don’t know, but I’ll do it. I can’t really say how I’m going to do it. I haven’t got it on paper, you know.
On Student Protests
Q: Mr Lennon, there seems to be a ferment going on among students in Germany, France, and the United States, but not in England.
John Lennon: Yes, there’s something going on, but we’re just a bit more tweedy there.
Paul McCartney: It’s going on, but they just do it in an English way, whatever that is.
Q: Do you have any idea why that is?
John Lennon: No, but there’s some clue they’re giving us. I’m not sure. Something’s going on, but ‘I don’t know what it is, Mr Jones,’ ditto.
On Politics and Vietnam
Q: Why haven’t the Beatles been more political?
John Lennon: Do you mean, Why haven’t we joined one of the clubs?
Q: No.
John Lennon: Well, a lot of this has been talked about before. If there is anything in particular, just ask.
Q: Well, what about the war in Vietnam?
John Lennon: We came out against it years ago. Where have you been?
Paul McCartney: In Vietnam?
On the Lawsuit Rumours
Q: I heard that you were in New York because of a lawsuit.
John Lennon: Rubbish. We’re here to talk about apples, you know.
On Ringo and Broadway
Q: Is it true that Ringo wants to be in a Broadway play?
John Lennon: It’s being filmed by the National Theater in England. I don’t know what’s going on here!
On Magical Mystery Tour
Q: Do you have any plans for showing Magical Mystery Tour in this country?
John Lennon: Yes. We’ll put it on in the street with a screen and a projector.
Q: What did you think of the critical reception to Magical Mystery Tour?
John Lennon: Well, I mean, it’s… it doesn’t matter. But it does. Oh, it really doesn’t matter, you know. Why it’s not on now is what matters.
Paul McCartney: They were disappointed.
Q: Were the criticisms valid?
John Lennon: Valid? I didn’t see any valid points. It was just hysteria and that bit.
Paul McCartney: You see, they expected a tinselly Christmas show, because it was shown on Christmas – and you know that it was very different from that, so we shocked them a bit.
John Lennon: They didn’t like it, you know. They thought we were stepping out of our roles. They like us to stay in the cardboard suits they designed for us.
Q: What roles do they want you to stay in?
John Lennon: Well, whatever image they have for themselves, they’re disappointed if we don’t fulfil it. We never do, so there’s always a lot of disappointment.
On Apple’s TV Plans
Q: According to the press release, Apple will be making animated cartoons, TV programs, and TV commercials. What sort of thing will your company do that we don’t see on TV now?
John Lennon (to Paul): We don’t know, do we?
Paul McCartney: No.
John Lennon: We haven’t started.
Paul McCartney: We only came over here to plan it so we don’t know too much about it yet. We’ll tell you about it quietly someday, you know, give you the old program.
On Meditation
Q: Are the Beatles still meditating?
John Lennon: Yeah.
Paul McCartney: Yeah, now and then.
John Lennon: At this moment!
Q: Why do the Beatles meditate?
Paul McCartney: Because it seems to be nice. Like cleaning your teeth, you know, it just has some kind of end product.
On Drugs
Q: Do you ever want to trip out again?
John Lennon: You never know, do you? It’s hard to be very specific, because I don’t know what I’m doing, do I?
Q: Are drugs more important to the youth of today than they were four years ago?
John Lennon: I don’t know what they’re doing. I have no idea.
Paul McCartney: It’s probably about the same. Maybe a little less.
Q: How often do you turn on?
John Lennon: It’s happening all the time, you know.
On Apple Electronics and Magic Alex
Q: What kind of electronic devices do you plan to manufacture?
Paul McCartney: Ah, the electronic things. Well, they’re not like gimmicks. They are just great inventions. Our friend Alex over there is a genius. And he’s beautiful, he’s just incredible.
John Lennon: There’s no such thing as a genius, you know. But if there are any, he’s one.
Q: Can you give us an example?
John Lennon: No! You know about those long, nasty men in brown raincoats and sunglasses that you discover in the business world. And so, you don’t say what it is until it’s out, do you?
Paul McCartney: But it’s incredible.
Q: Have any of Alex’s inventions been used on any of your records?
John Lennon: No. But possibly on our next record.
Q: Where are you planning to build your new recording studio?
John Lennon: It’ll be in the dungeons of our office.
Q: Who’s designing it?
John Lennon: Alex, from the electronics division.
Q: How many tracks will there be? Eight or 12?
John Lennon: Oh, millions. Millions. One track for each finger.
On the Apple Foundation for the Arts
Q: I’d like to ask you about the Apple Foundation for the Arts.
John Lennon: It’s not for the arts! Who slipped that one on?
Paul McCartney: It’s an easy way to make a film. Say that somebody wants to make a film like Andy Warhol did on the Empire State Building. Most people wouldn’t want to finance it because it wouldn’t be commercial. Well, if you finance it through a foundation, it doesn’t have to be commercial. That’s all it is.
Q: Are you giving away some sort of Beatles scholarships?
Paul McCartney: Yeah, but don’t put it that way! It sounds terrible! We’re just giving them away.
John Lennon: We’ll see what happens.
Paul McCartney: Well, if we give one away to someone, it will be commercial in a way, too. Because, later, that someone will do another film, for us!
On Grooming New Talent
Q: Will Apple also be grooming new talent?
John Lennon: We hope so. Groups, actors, anything.
Q: Will you open a school in London?
Paul McCartney: Well, that’s an idea. All we’ve got to do now is to get it set up on its feet. Then, what follows will be a natural progression.
Q: Do you plan to have scouts or representatives go out and look for new groups?
John Lennon: We’ll have to find out how you do it, or how you meant to do it, and if that’s the way you should do it. Then, we’ll find out.
Paul McCartney: So, leave your tapes at the door as you go out!
On Radio
Q: Is it possible that Apple can do anything about what’s happening in radio?
John Lennon: British radio, huh?
Q: Radio.
John Lennon: Radio, yes.
Paul McCartney: That’s worse!
John Lennon: Radio’s worth looking into, you know. There’s a lot of things to do.
Paul McCartney: At the moment, you know, we do the four things. It hasn’t gone into radio yet, but it might.
On South Africa
Q: Are your records still banned in South Africa?
John Lennon: I believe so. Well, I mean, what do you think of South Africa?
On Writing More Books
Q: John, do you plan to write any more books?
John Lennon: I’m not planning on it, but I do have bits of paper with words on them.
On Sgt Pepper and the Next Album
Q: Will it be difficult to follow up Sgt Pepper with something better?
Paul McCartney: Yes, it will be difficult all right!
John Lennon: But no more difficult than it was to do.
Paul McCartney: Oh, it’ll be all right, the next one. Don’t worry.
Q: When will the next record be?
Paul McCartney: I don’t know.
John Lennon: We start it when we get back.
On Their Mental State
Q: How would you describe your mental state right now?
John Lennon: It depends on what you’re relating it to.
Paul McCartney: Relaxed.
On Capitalisation
Q: Can you give us some idea of the capitalisation of Apple?
John Lennon: No. We can only use our common sense and have the right people to handle these things like capitalisation.
Paul McCartney: What’s that mean? Capitalisation?
Q: How much money are you putting in?
John Lennon: I don’t know – and that’s the joke!
Paul McCartney: We’ll do the details some other time, because we don’t know.
On Film Distribution Deals
Q: We hear that you are about to make a distribution deal for films with a major US corporation. Will this influence your choice of material?
Paul McCartney: No.
John Lennon: Any deals we make will be short-term. We’ll be sure to get what we want. Otherwise, we won’t do it. So, we’ll make sure.
On Who Controls the Money
Q: Will any of the three gentlemen standing next to you control the production money?
John Lennon: They will, sort of, but the final say is with us.
Q: You’ll get the money?
Paul McCartney: Yeah. You see, we don’t know anything about business yet, so they do it, and they’re good at it. All we do is to apply common sense to it.
On George and Ringo
Q: Where are the other two Beatles?
John Lennon: No idea.
Paul McCartney: In bed, probably. Oh, in England.
Q: Do George and Ringo feel the same way as you do about the Maharishi?
John Lennon: Yes. We tend to go in and out together, I mean, with a few spaces. So, yes.
On Opening a Club in New York
Q: What are your plans for opening a club in New York?
John Lennon: I don’t know. There aren’t any real plans.
Q: What about the rumours that you’re going to buy Generation?
John Lennon: What about them? I didn’t hear of it till Sunday myself!
On Apple Ownership
Q: Will the four Beatles own 100% of Apple? And will you be equal partners?
John Lennon: Yes.
On Influencing the Younger Generation
Q: Do you think that some of your records are influencing the minds of the younger generation?
John Lennon: Well, everybody’s records influence the mind, you know. All at once. Everything influences everything. Nilsson’s my favourite group.
On the Youth Protest Movement
Q: Would you comment on the mood of youth around the world, the protest movement, and what’s going on?
Paul McCartney: People want to know what’s going on, and no one knows at the moment.
John Lennon: Whether the movement is right or wrong, it’s better than no movement.
On The Tonight Show
Q: Do you have any specific reason for going on The Tonight Show tonight?
John Lennon: I don’t know what happened.
Paul McCartney: We just seemed to be on it.
On Magical Mystery Tour vs Sgt Pepper
Q: Would you say that Magical Mystery Tour is a better or worse album than Sgt Pepper?
John Lennon: It’s not an album, you see. It’s turned into an album over here, but it was just music from the film. Then, it’s not an album.
On Making Records in America
Q: Have you ever thought of making a record, a film, or a TV special over here?
John Lennon: It’s quite possible, yes. Why not? Except that we live over there.
Q: But you could fly over again.
John Lennon: Yeah, sure. But is it worth the journey?
On an Apple Clothing Store in the US
Q: Are there any plans for an Apple clothing store in the United States?
John Lennon: No. No plans.
On the Liberian Movement for Liberation
Q: Speaking of politics, what do you think of the Liberian Movement for Liberation?
John Lennon: I haven’t heard about it. But good luck to ’em!
On Columbia University
Q: What do you think about what’s been going on at Columbia University?
Paul McCartney: What’s been going on?
John Lennon: They’ve been on strike, the same thing that’s going on elsewhere. Something’s going on!
On Lady Madonna
Q: Why did you return to an almost Mersey-like beat for ‘Lady Madonna’?
John Lennon: Because we felt like it.
Paul McCartney: There’s nothing in it, but that was it. A record like any other would smell as sweet!
On Jimi Hendrix
Q: Paul, what do you think of Jimi Hendrix?
Paul McCartney: He’s great.
On the Mothers of Invention
Q: What do you think of the Mothers of Invention?
Paul McCartney: I think they’re doing very well.
On Yellow Submarine’s Characters
Q: What did the Beatles have to do with the creation of the marvellous fantasy characters in the Yellow Submarine?
Paul McCartney: Not much. There’s a really good artist named Heinz (Edelmann) who created them.
On Singing in Other Languages
Q: Do you plan to sing in French or in any other language other than English?
John Lennon: No, we don’t make plans. We did ‘She Loves You’ in German, and that was about it, I think.
Paul McCartney: Then, the English version became a hit, you know.
On Press Conferences
Q: Do you think press conferences are a drag?
John Lennon: Well, they’re not something I choose to do, but they’re fun. It’s work and business.
On the Meaning of ‘I Am the Walrus’
Q: What is the meaning of ‘I Am The Walrus’?
John Lennon: It just means, I am the walrus. Or I was when I sat down, you know.
On the Name Apple
Q: Why did you choose the name Apple?
John Lennon: Why did you choose the names your kids have got?
Paul McCartney: It’s just a name.
John Lennon: I mean, there’s nothing to it.
Paul McCartney: A is for apple. It’s very simple, you know!
John Lennon: An apple for the teacher.
On Making Another Movie
Q: Are the Beatles going to make another movie this summer?
John Lennon: Well, we don’t know when we’re going to make it, but it will be this year or the early part of next year.
After the Conference
Following the press conference, Lennon and McCartney recorded an interview for Mitchell Krause for the Channel 13 programme Newsfront. In the evening they appeared on The Tonight Show, hosted that night by guest presenter Joe Garagiola.
Linda Eastman, who had been present throughout the press conference as a photographer, spoke to McCartney afterwards. She wrote her telephone number on an unused cheque and gave it to him. They married on 12 March 1969.
Frequently Asked Questions
What did John Lennon say about the Maharishi at the 1968 Apple press conference?
Lennon said: “I think the Maharishi was a mistake. His teachings have some truth in them, but I think that we made a mistake.” McCartney added: “He’s human, that’s all. We thought that there was more to him than what there was, but he’s human.”
What did John Lennon say ‘I Am the Walrus’ means?
When asked at the 1968 Apple Corps press conference, Lennon replied: “It just means, I am the walrus. Or I was when I sat down, you know.”
What did Lennon and McCartney say about Sgt Pepper at the 1968 press conference?
When asked if it would be difficult to follow up Sgt Pepper, McCartney said “Yes, it will be difficult all right!” and Lennon replied “But no more difficult than it was to do.” McCartney added: “Oh, it’ll be all right, the next one. Don’t worry.” The album they were about to record was The White Album.
What did John Lennon say about Vietnam at the 1968 Apple press conference?
When asked why The Beatles hadn’t been more political about Vietnam, Lennon replied: “We came out against it years ago. Where have you been?” McCartney added: “In Vietnam?”
Who was Magic Alex and what did The Beatles say about him at the press conference?
Alexis Mardas, known as Magic Alex, was a Greek electronics inventor who had become part of The Beatles’ inner circle and was appointed head of Apple Electronics. McCartney called him “a genius” and “just incredible.” Lennon said: “There’s no such thing as a genius, you know. But if there are any, he’s one.”
→ Read the full story: Lennon & McCartney Promote Apple Corps in New York – 14 May 1968 →
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