JOHN LENNON's ex-girlfriend MAY PANG came within days of reuniting THE BEATLES
during her 18-month relationship with the star. May Pang dated Lennon
during his "lost weekend" in 1974 and 1975, after working as his
assistant for three years. They came together after Yoko Ono encouraged
them to date because her marriage to the rocker was faltering. Pang
claims it was her objective during their romance to reunite
Lennon with his estranged writing partner Paul McCartney - and bring
the Fab Four back together. And she insists she came close - Lennon was
making plans to join McCartney in New Orleans when he suddenly returned
to Yoko Ono. Pang says, "It was my goal at the end to get them back
together. That's what I wanted. We talked about reuniting the Beatles.
At one point he wanted to do it. For the hell of it. Because there
wasn't any pressure, any contracts. He'd say, 'That'd be fun.' "Enough
time had passed and he was enjoying himself performing with other
musicians. It was fun again. John said to me one day, 'What do you
think if I start to write with Paul again?' I said, 'Are you kidding?
that would be great.' He asked me why? And I told him, 'Solo-wise,
you're good. Together there's something so magical you can't beat.'
"They were talking about it originally for 1974, but everybody was
busy. Then they talked about adding other musicians. Harry Nilsson
wanted to be part of it, other people wanted to be part of it." Pang
claims any hope the Beatles had of reuniting died the day Lennon
suddenly returned to live with Yoko Ono at New York's Dakota Building.
She says, "Yoko called him up one day. She had this method she had to
help him quit smoking.
He said, 'I'll be gone for a couple of hours. I'll be back, we'll go
for dinner and talk about going to New Orleans.'" Lennon never came
back and the Beatles plans died. But Pang insists he was serious about
bringing back the Beatles: "He was really thinking about it. It was so
fantastic." Pang, 57, is currently promoting a book of rare Lennon
photographs, Instamatic Karma.