John Lennon, Paul McCartney on The Tonight Show, May 15, 1968, Complete Audio

The history is well known: John and Paul guested on The Tonight Show while in New York City to promote their new self-managed enterprise, Apple. Unfortunately, that night Joe Garagiola was guest-hosting for Johnny Carson, and, unbelievably, his first guest was long-faded actress but now just known-for-being-known Tallulah Bankhead.

Both John and Paul were disgusted and embarrassed with the appearance, as Joe presented them with the most inane questions they'd been asked over a thousand times before, questions more suited for, say, 1964, but not at this stage of their musical development. And Tallulah was clueless. It was a wasted opportunity.

NBC subsequently erased the show, using the videotape for a future Tonight Show episode, thus leaving its preservation in the hands of fans who had recorded it on their reel-to-reels. One fan in particular captured snippets of John and Paul's appearance on his family's 8mm movie camera.

Those moving images have been circulating for years; it's since been made available on other YouTube channels. But the complete audio hasn't. Though I'm finding that it reportedly once was but was taken down. I'm uncertain whether it was specifically because of the audio or instead of other uploads on that channel.

On the late evening of May 15, 1968, I, then towards the end of my high school junior year, was among countless fans who had attached alligator clips to their home tv speakers and connected it to their reel-to-reels. I recorded John and Paul's entire appearance, save a few seconds turning the tape over while Bankhead was making yet another inebriated and incoherent point.

In July 1981 I dubbed the original 1968 reel-to-reel appearance onto a new tape, and I've used that new tape for this upload. Now, 43 years later, what I've done here is attach the scant home-movie footage to the audio, syncing it as best I could. I've left the audio as is, with its occasional flaws and all. We'll soon see if this survives on the channel.

By the end of May 1968, all four Beatles, now back in London, would begin recording tracks for the White Album.

Tallulah Bankhead would die seven months later of double pneumonia.

Paul wouldn't guest on The Tonight Show for another sixteen years when he came on to promote his film "Give My Regards to Broadstreet." This time Johnny was there for the chat. Carson Entertainment Group has made it available on its channel.