Buttmunker

John Lennon was on fire to do this song he wrote called The Ballad of John and Yoko, and the only other Beatle around was Paul McCartney - the other two blokes were away - one abroad, the other filming a movie, and Lennon couldn't wait. So the two Beatles went in and banged out the song. Lennon was on lead vocal, and played two lead guitars, acoustic guitar, and percussion (beating on the back of an acoustic guitar). McCartney sang harmony vocals and played bass, drums, piano, and maracas.

Goes to show what two guys who were hardly on speaking terms at the time can do. I do wonder where Yoko was when this was laid down........she usually got her two cents in if the opportunity presented itself. Maybe Paul said he wouldn't help out if she insisted on being on the record...?

HUG-H

LOL reminds me of that moment that probably took place during the WA sessions when Yoko kept saying "Beatles" only, in reference to the group, and McCartney reportedly replied "Um, it's The Beatles, Love!"

Supermallet

AFAIK, Yoko was at every session of the period, and since she had just married Lennon, it was likely she was there for it as well.

Buttmunker

I don't think so, not on this track. She would be listed in the credits, which she isn't - and she was for her backing vocals on The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill (along with Ringo's wife).

Spiderbite

The book, A Day In The Life, states only John, Paul & George Martin were present for the one day complete recording of the song.

Supposedly John showed up at Paul's door unexpectedly "on heat" to record his song and didn't want to wait for the others. Appears Yoko wasn't with him.

NoirFan

The term "vocals" should be used very loosely there.

Hokeyboy

I'm currently reading Geoff Emerick's book, and just read this passage as I perused this thread. It was during the Abbey Road sessions, after their car accident and they had that bed hauled into the studio for Yoko to lie around in. Blecch.

Great book, by the way. Essential for Beatles fans. My first Kindle purchase

Supermallet

I stand corrected.

Say what you will, but Yoko had a better voice than Linda McCartney, who was also at some of the later Beatles sessions.

Buttmunker

I smell a Yoko fan..

Spiderbite

Dedicated to Suprmallet:

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Buttmunker

Linda McCartney's backing vocals were sweet vocular nextie compared to the whalings and shoof-shoofing of Yoko Ono. They didn't call her "Oh No" for nothing.

RagingBull80

It's not really what Yoko sounded like, it was how she used her voice in those days that was interesting.

Buttmunker

And how! Some kind of siren-song voice used to lure John Lennon away from his mates.

The Antipodean

The Beatles would've broken up without Yoko. She gets a bad rap. These four guys had ridden an insane rollercoaster of emotion and stress for 10 years, and there's no way they would've stayed together except in some idyllic fanboy fantasy.

NORML54601

She makes an easy scapegoat, but there were a lot of creative differences before she came along.

Buttmunker

Let's just say that Yoko Oh-No speeded up the process of The Beatles breaking up. They could have gone on another five years, minimum.

John Lennon totally disrespected the other guys by breaking their unwritten pact of "no outsiders" in the studio, but he even goes further by bringing in a bed for the bitch! Like she's some cripple and can't sit in a chair like normal people.

The band may have had creative differences, but they were four unique individuals so of course you're going to have this in a band. Hell, they dissed George Harrison for years by not helping him develop his songs. They just left him on his own to do his own thing, which is why 'Harrisongs' always lack that certain umph that would have been better had the other guys contributed more.

Yoko came into the scene, met Lennon, in late 1966, but up until then, I'd say The Beatles were chugging along pretty good before her. The last Beatles album that year was Revolver, then came Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band in the summer of 1967, and you can tell that Lennon "changed" by this point. He was not as "into" it.

Yoko Ono, an easy scapegoat? Nah, the only goat in the room.

Luther Heggs

Shit, my computer must have a virus - because the URL for DVD Talk takes me to the Steve Hoffman forums!

Supermallet

Buttmunker, there were plenty of other people in the studio for the White Album sessions. Further, tensions had mounted as early as their meditation retreat before those sessions. Lennon had gone on record as saying he hated the Sgt. Pepper sessions because Paul dominated them and Lennon felt his songs were less than great. The Beatles break-up ultimately was about the long term creative differences between Lennon and McCartney, which could be seen easily in the tone of their solo albums.

As for Harrison, he did just fine on his own. All Things Must Pass is the second best Beatles solo album after Plastic Ono Band.

dick_grayson

I remember thinking the song would suck based on the title, but was pleasantly surprised.

What about "Two of Us" off Let it Be? It's a duet and though it sounds like a Paul song (and was supposedly written about him and his wife), John claimed he'd written it. Either way, that song is one of my favs.....and always appeared as a commentary on John & Paul's relationship.

Josh-da-man

Yoko isn't the reason the Beatles broke up, but her presence was a sympton of greater conflicts within the group.

On the surface it's easy to point the finger at Yoko, but dig a little bit deeper and you see a lot giant egos clashing.

RagingBull80

Hokeyboy

No way in hell. They almost broke up during the White Album, and that was at the same time Yoko first started showing up. She didn't help, but the seeds of dissolution were already well planted before her nasty mug appeared.

Epstein's death probably hastened their demise more than anything else, because nobody really wanted to step up to the plate except McCartney. Ringo couldn't, George wouldn't, and John was too baked out of his gourd.

Hokeyboy

And now, 370 threads on McCartney's solo career starting..... now!

Spiderbite

I have never seen John claiming he'd written that song. All I have ever seen is that Paul wrote it and but there was no documentation that he wrote it for Linda (as has been stated) but many critics believed he wrote it about him and John. The lyrics certainly lend itself to a buddy song over a lover song.

And I agree with many here. The cracks in The Beatles foundation were already there...Yoko just helped hasten the break-up. And John's attitude toward having Yoko around at all times didn't help.

I always wondered if Yoko ever said, "John, it seems I am causing some friction in the studio. Maybe I should stay home today." But John insisted she be there because he knew it would keep pissing the other guys off, especially Paul.

Buttmunker

What? Epstein's dead?!



John did say, "With Brian gone, we're doomed." Guess he wanted to be proven right, so he did everything he possibly could to ruin things.