Thursday 11 September 1980 | Interview, John Lennon
| Date | Thursday 11 September 1980 (first session) |
| Interviewer | David Sheff |
| Publication | Playboy |
| Subjects | John Lennon and Yoko Ono |
| Location | The Dakota Building, New York City; La Fortuna café; A&R Recording Studios |
| Further sessions | 12, 15, 17, 24, 25 and 28 September 1980 |
On Thursday 11 September 1980, journalist David Sheff arrived at the Dakota Building on Manhattan's Upper West Side at noon, having been commissioned by Playboy to interview John Lennon and Yoko Ono. It was the beginning of one of the most celebrated — and, in retrospect, one of the most poignant — interviews in rock history.
Lennon was in the midst of a creative resurgence. After five years of near-total withdrawal from public and professional life — the so-called househusband years during which he raised his son Sean while Ono managed their business affairs — he had returned to the studio. The album that would become Double Fantasy was taking shape at Hit Factory and A&R Recording in New York. Lennon was talking again, and Sheff was there to listen.
The first day: La Fortuna and A&R Recording
Sheff was not immediately taken to the Dakota apartment. Instead, he was given instructions to find Lennon and Ono at La Fortuna, a café on West 71st Street near the Dakota that the couple frequented. From there, Sheff accompanied them to A&R Recording Studios, where Lennon was working on a vocal overdub session for Double Fantasy. Watching Lennon at work — focused, relaxed, at ease in the studio environment he had inhabited since the early 1960s — gave Sheff an early impression of a man reconnected with his craft.
After the session, the three returned to the Dakota, and the interview began in earnest. Lennon was candid, reflective, and at times combative — qualities that had always defined him as an interviewee, and which had been largely absent from public life during his years of retreat.
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The interview sessions
The 11 September session was the first of seven. Sheff returned on 12, 15, 17, 24, 25, and 28 September 1980, building an extraordinarily rich and wide-ranging conversation across those weeks. The resulting interview covered Lennon's childhood, his years with The Beatles, his relationship with Paul McCartney, his views on the music industry, his marriage to Yoko Ono, his withdrawal from public life, fatherhood, spirituality, and his return to music.
It was, by any measure, a document of unusual depth. Lennon spoke with the kind of unguarded honesty that few public figures allow themselves — in part because he had always believed in directness, and in part because he felt, at 40, that he had nothing left to prove or protect. He was back. He was making music. He was talking on his own terms.
The interview was published in the January 1981 issue of Playboy. By the time it appeared on newsstands, Lennon was dead. He was shot outside the Dakota Building on 8 December 1980 — less than three months after Sheff had first arrived at its entrance at noon on a September Thursday. The interview became, instantly, a final testament.
Double Fantasy and the return
The recording sessions Sheff witnessed were for Double Fantasy, released on 17 November 1980 — Lennon's first album of new material since Walls and Bridges in 1974. The album alternated tracks by Lennon and Ono, presenting their relationship and domestic life as its central subject. Critics were divided on its release; the public response was warmer. After Lennon's death it was re-evaluated entirely, winning the Grammy Award for Album of the Year in 1982.
The Sheff interview captures Lennon at the precise moment of that return — the vocal overdubs, the café stops, the Dakota apartment, the conversations stretching across September. For anyone seeking to understand what Lennon was thinking and feeling in the final weeks of his life, it remains the primary source. The full transcript was later published as a book: All We Are Saying (2000), edited by Sheff.
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Key Facts
| Interviewer | David Sheff |
| Publication | Playboy |
| First session | 11 September 1980 |
| Further sessions | 12, 15, 17, 24, 25 and 28 September 1980 |
| Starting location | La Fortuna café, then A&R Recording, then the Dakota |
| Published | Playboy, January 1981 |
| Book version | All We Are Saying, David Sheff (2000) |
| Album being recorded | Double Fantasy (released 17 November 1980) |
| John Lennon died | 8 December 1980 |
Frequently Asked Questions
When did David Sheff interview John Lennon for Playboy?
David Sheff conducted his Playboy interview with John Lennon and Yoko Ono across seven sessions in September 1980: 11, 12, 15, 17, 24, 25 and 28 September. The first session began on 11 September, when Sheff met the couple at La Fortuna café, accompanied them to A&R Recording Studios, and then returned with them to the Dakota Building to begin the interview on record.
When was the Playboy interview with John Lennon published?
The interview was published in the January 1981 issue of Playboy. By the time it reached newsstands, John Lennon had been shot and killed outside the Dakota Building on 8 December 1980, making the interview his final major public statement.
What was John Lennon recording when David Sheff interviewed him?
John Lennon was recording Double Fantasy, his comeback album made with Yoko Ono. On the first day of the interview, 11 September 1980, Sheff accompanied Lennon to A&R Recording Studios to observe a vocal overdub session. Double Fantasy was released on 17 November 1980.
Where was the Playboy interview with John Lennon conducted?
The interview sessions took place primarily at the Dakota Building, John Lennon and Yoko Ono's home on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The first day also included La Fortuna café on West 71st Street and A&R Recording Studios, before the formal interview began at the Dakota.
Was the Playboy interview published as a book?
Yes. The full transcript of David Sheff's interviews with John Lennon and Yoko Ono was published as a book titled All We Are Saying in 2000. It contains the complete, unedited conversations from all seven sessions in September 1980.
Why is the 1980 Playboy interview with John Lennon so significant?
The interview is widely regarded as one of the most important in rock history because it was the last major interview Lennon gave before his death on 8 December 1980. Conducted across seven sessions in September 1980, it covered his Beatles years, his marriage to Yoko Ono, his five-year withdrawal from public life, fatherhood, and his return to music. When published in January 1981, it became his final testament.
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