NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — A woman's candid pictures are a documentation of rock history and the time she lived it. Right now, she's visiting Nashville with her pictures on display at Bennett Galleries. An event is sharing what she captured all those years ago.
The photographer took the pictures in the mid-70s, not realizing at the time the interest the world would have in them.
"These photos have been under my bed in a storage thing for all these years," smiled May Pang, the woman behind the pictures.
In one of the pictures, you see May during the 18-month relationship she shared with John Lennon.
"When I took these, it was just to have candid photos," May said. "John would look at them and go, 'lemme see what it looks like.' He didn't like photos that were staged."
"Oh, the social commentary," she smiled, looking at a picture of John with his tongue stuck out. "He doesn't like something, he'll be sticking his tongue out at you!"
May's story is part of rock history. On John's 1974 album Walls and Bridges, May's voice can be heard on #9 Dream while Surprise, Surprise (Sweet Bird of Paradox) is about her.
"He didn't get upset with the crowd at Disney World!" May said, showing a picture of John at the park. "People were trying to get to the next ride, they didn't notice it was John in the crowd."
In her time with John, May captured his friends. A picture of George Harrison is titled My Sweet George. In spring of 1974, she took one of the last pictures of John and Paul McCartney together.
"It was that famous, horrible jam session," she laughed. "It was not meant for the public. It was for them to have fun. It was not meant for everybody else."
Another photo is of the papers being signed, signaling the dissolution of the Beatles.
"[John] said, 'May, where's your camera? C'mon! Take a couple.' I said, 'Oh, okay,'" May remembered. "John was the last person to sign this contract. It was dark, so I didn't even think it was going to come out. People don't realize, it freed everybody up. This was not the end of them as friends."
Recently, John's son Julian Lennon used one of May's pictures for the cover of his album, Jude.
"The fact Julian wanted to use my photo, I was very happy about that," May said. "I'm very honored it made the cover."
It's now been 50 years since May's relationship with John and 43 years after his death.
May said there's a reason she wants to tour these pictures across the country and show them at a free three-day exhibition at Bennett Galleries.
"This is John Lennon, the way I saw him," May said. "This is not John Lennon, the Beatles. It's John at home. The majority have said, 'I've never seen him look like this or even smile!' They say, 'he looks happy.' I say he was! It brings back good memories and wonderful times that we had together. You could see it on his face. I had something good that I shared with him, and it shows in all these photos."
The exhibition is called The Lost Weekend - The Photography of May Pang. May's photos will be on sale, and you can meet her there. It runs at Bennett Galleries Friday, April 26 from 3 p.m. – 7 p.m., Saturday, April 27 from 10 a.m. – 5 p.m., Sunday, April 28 from 12 p.m. – 4 p.m.
The event coincides with the digital release of the documentary on May and John’s relationship “The Lost Weekend – A Love Story.”
Fostering Hope provides Christmas for kids in foster care. I'm delighted to see Fostering Hope expand this year to expand their reach to now include kids in Foster care in metro AND foster kids in East TN hard hit by Helene.
-Bree Smith
