John Lennon Upset David Bowie by Asking the Same Question Paul McCartney Had Been Asking All Night
David Bowie admired John Lennon so much that he was terrified to meet the other musician. They soon became friends, though, and began spending time together. One night, Lennon and his girlfriend, May Pang, were with Paul and Linda McCartney when Bowie invited them over. McCartney made a request of Bowie several times throughout the night. When Lennon asked the same thing, however, Bowie was deeply upset.
David Bowie was scared to meet John Lennon
Lennon and Bowie met after an introduction by music producer Tony Visconti. According to Visconti, Bowie was “terrified” to meet Lennon.
“About one in the morning I knocked on the door and for about the next two hours, John Lennon and David weren’t speaking to each other,” Visconti told The Guardian. “Instead, David was sitting on the floor with an art pad and a charcoal and he was sketching things and he was completely ignoring Lennon.”
Eventually, Lennon broke the ice, and they began to get along.
“So, after about two hours of that, he [John] finally said to David, ‘Rip that pad in half and give me a few sheets. I want to draw you,’” Visconti said. “So David said, ‘Oh, that’s a good idea,’ and he finally opened up. So John started making caricatures of David, and David started doing the same of John and they kept swapping them and then they started laughing and that broke the ice.”
David Bowie was upset when John Lennon asked him to play a different record
Lennon, Pang, and the McCartneys were spending time together when they called Bowie, who invited the group to his hotel suite. Pang explained that they had seen Bowie several times recently, and he always played them his new album, which would become Young Americans. He began playing the album that night as well.
“When it was over, he played it again,” Pang wrote in her book Loving John. “I could see Paul getting restless. ‘Can we hear a different album?’ he asked. David ignored him, and when he began to play it a third time, John said, ‘It’s great. Do you have any other albums that might be of interest?’”
Pang said Bowie looked startled but asked her to pick a different album. When she put it on, Bowie excused himself and left the room.
“‘I think you hurt Bowie’s feelings,’ I told John,” Pang wrote. “‘Paul’s been askin’ him all night to change the record,’ John replied.”
The two musicians later spoke on the phone
When Pang and Lennon got home, they received a call from Bowie.
“They talked quietly for a while,” Pang wrote, “and when John got off the phone, he told me, ‘David really did feel hurt when I asked him to change the record. He was very upset. I kept tellin’ him I didn’t mean it that way.’ John was very distressed by David’s reaction.”
Pang told Lennon that he had to be more careful with how he spoke to people who admired him.
“‘You’ve got to be especially careful when you’re around people like that, because every little word and gesture means something special to them,’” she told Lennon. “‘Whether you like it or not, you’ve just got to be a little more thoughtful.’”
