Tomorrow with Tom Snyder and John Lennon, April 28, 1975

On April 28, 1975, television would present an important celebrity for the very last time. The late night talk show program called Tomorrow aired what would become one of its most famous moments: presumably the last television interview with music legend John Lennon. Tomorrow host Tom Snyder had a number of interesting guests on the show over the years, which included the famous John Lennon interview. The interview went rather well and showed a personable side of Lennon that was rarely seen by the public.

Fast forward five years into the future, Snyder played the interview again, in honor of Lennon after the assassination. The tape was showed the night after Lennon’s murder. John Lennon was now in his prime and after a five year hiatus from his successful musical career he was ready to resurface with his latest solo album, Double Fantasy. The album was released on November 17, 1980, and would also feature material from his wife, Yoko Ono.

In 1984 the first posthumous album was released, Milk and Honey, which was produced while recording the Double Fantasy album.

Snyder later referred to the interview as “not terrific, not terribly entertaining or enlightening, containing no historical information or anything new, but having little bits of stuff and substance of a man who was part of change, a revolution if you will, in popular music during the 1960’s.”

Looking at it from a totally different perspective 38 years later, the interview had a great deal of integrity about it that is not matched in today’s world of glib entertainment, where there is very little insight or forethought that remains in the industry. This is a rare glimpse of preserved history that solidifies the void that can be felt in the music industry today. Nobody Told Me there’d be days like these. Strange days indeed…