"The Ballad of John and Yoko" is a song by the English rock band The Beatles that was released as a non-album single in May 1969. It was written by John Lennon[3] and credited to the Lennon–McCartney partnership, and chronicles the events surrounding the wedding of Lennon and Yoko Ono. The song was the Beatles' 17th UK number-one single and their last for 54 years until "Now and Then" in 2023. In the United States, it was banned by some radio stations due to the lyrics' reference to Christ and crucifixion. The single peaked at number 8 on the US Billboard Hot 100. The song has subsequently appeared on compilation albums such as Hey Jude, 1967–1970, Past Masters, and 1.
Writing
Ono and Lennon leaving Amsterdam in March 1969
Lennon wrote the song while he and Ono were on their honeymoon in Paris.[4] It describes the events of the couple's wedding, in March 1969, and highly publicised honeymoon activities, including their "Bed-In" at the Amsterdam Hilton Hotel and their demonstration of "bagism".[5] In an interview with Alan Smith of the NME published in May 1969, Lennon described it as "Johnny B. Paperback Writer";[4] in a 1980 interview, he said it was "a piece of journalism".[6]
Lennon took the song to Paul McCartney at the latter's home in St John's Wood, London, on 14 April, eager to record it that evening.[7] Recalling the controversy engendered by Lennon's "more popular than Jesus" remarks in 1966, McCartney was alarmed at the references to Christ in the new song but agreed to assist Lennon.[8] Ono later said: "Paul knew that people were being nasty to John, and he just wanted to make it well for him. Paul has a very brotherly side to him."[9][10]
Recording
Lennon and McCartney recorded the song without their bandmates George Harrison, who was abroad, and Ringo Starr, who was filming The Magic Christian.[11][12] McCartney recalled that Lennon was so convinced the song had to be recorded immediately, he was "on heat, so to speak".[13] Reflecting the unusual situation, the session tapes include the following exchange:
In choosing to collaborate on the song, Lennon and McCartney set aside the antagonism that existed between them during a period when McCartney was outvoted in the Beatles' choice of a new manager for their failing business enterprise, Apple Corps.[14] The recording also marked the return of Geoff Emerick as recording engineer at a Beatles session, after he had quit working with the group in July 1968[15] during the tense White Album sessions.[11] Commenting in the Beatles Anthology book, Harrison said: "I didn't mind not being on the record, because it was none of my business... If it had been 'The Ballad of John, George and Yoko', then I would have been on it."[16][17]
Music critic Richie Unterberger comments on the historical significance of the seven-hour session since it produced "probably some of the final tapes of Lennon and McCartney working closely together, alone".[18] In Beatles historian Mark Lewisohn's description, the session tapes challenge the typical reports of Lennon and McCartney's relationship becoming acrimonious in 1969, as the pair's "great talent, humour, musical understanding and togetherness shone through from start to finish".[11]
Mark Hertsgaard of The New Yorker, the only other writer known to have heard the tapes, attended a private listening session in London with Lewisohn in January 1994. Soon afterwards, Hertsgaard wrote that Lewisohn had again enthused about Lennon and McCartney's camaraderie and "musical kinship", but he himself detected "a forced, polite quality to their joking, and none of the enthusiastic electricity heard during earlier Beatles sessions ... They are coming apart, and they know it."[18][nb 1]
Although Lennon was impatient to issue the single, its release was delayed to allow for the Beatles' April 1969 single, "Get Back".[15] Backed with Harrison's "Old Brown Shoe", the single was issued in the United Kingdom on 30 May 1969.[20] Lennon and Ono were performing a second bed-in at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal at the time.[21] The United States release followed on 4 June.[22]
In the UK and Europe, "The Ballad of John and Yoko" was the first Beatles single to be issued in stereo. It was therefore their first release not given a mono mix.[11] Lennon advised Tony Bramwell, Apple Records' promotions manager, to limit pre-release previews of the record and not to give it any advance publicity, especially with regard to "the Christ! bit".[23] In his NME interview at this time, Lennon said that although the story had already emerged that Harrison and Starr did not play on the song, he would not have chosen to publicise this, adding, "It doesn't mean anything, it just so happened that there were only us two there."[4]
In the US, Apple issued the record in a picture sleeve containing two photos of the Beatles and Ono in the garden of McCartney's London home, taken by Linda McCartney. The front of the sleeve shows Lennon and Ono seated, and Harrison, McCartney and Starr standing behind them. According to author Bruce Spizer, Lennon's bandmates appear uncomfortable ceding the spotlight to Ono and in better humour in the shot used for "Old Brown Shoe", on the reverse of the sleeve.[24][nb 2]
The single was accompanied by two promotional clips assembled from footage of some of Lennon and Ono's public activities – all of which the couple routinely filmed – between July 1968 and April 1969.[26] The first clip was broadcast three times on Top of the Pops and contains footage from four events. When shown on the Australian TV show Rage long afterwards, in black and white, this version had the word "Christ" bleeped out in the choruses with an on-screen starburst effect. In the second film, broadcast on the US show The Music Scene, a traffic sign containing an exclamation mark appears each time the word is heard. This film is made up of footage from considerably more events, showing Lennon and Ono in London, Paris, Amsterdam and Vienna, among other locations; for this reason, according to author John Winn, it "illustrates the lyrics much more effectively" than the first clip.[26]
In his review of the single in the NME, John Wells said he found "The Ballad of John and Yoko" profoundly moving as an account of people's attitude towards Lennon and Ono, and only the "raw, earthy rock" backing stopped him succumbing to tears. He described it as a "stormer" but predicted that the record's sales would be affected by "Get Back"'s ongoing chart success.[28]
Cash Box said that "Mixed programmer reaction [to the U.S. single] is the result of 'objectionable' lyrics, but musically the side is an exciting old-Elvis flavored track with other 50's touches."[29]
The single became the Beatles' 17th UK number 1[30][31] their last for 54 years until the release of "Now And Then" in 2023.[32] In the US, it peaked at number 8 on the Billboard Hot 100.[33] On the other national charts there, it reached number 10 in Cash Box and number 7 in Record World.[34] Several US radio stations declined to broadcast the song[35] because of the use of the words "Christ" and "crucify" in the chorus:[12]
Christ you know it ain’t easy You know how hard it can be The way things are going They’re gonna crucify me.
"The Ballad of John and Yoko" never appeared on the surveys of WLS in Chicago or WABC in New York, two of the largest Top 40 stations in the US. The word "Christ" was censored (by being "bleeped out") for radio airplay in Australia.[citation needed] The Spanish government under Franco objected to the song because of the phrase "Gibraltar near Spain". The status of Gibraltar is a long-running subject of debate between Spain and the United Kingdom.[3]
When cartoonist Al Capp visited Lennon and Ono at their 1969 Bed-In for Peace in Montreal, he pointedly asked Lennon about the meaning of the song's lyrics.[citation needed] Their testy exchange, which included Capp referring to Ono as "Madame Nhu", later appeared in the 1988 documentary film Imagine: John Lennon.[36] On Capp's exit, Lennon sang an impromptu version with a slightly revised lyric that stated, "They're gonna crucify Capp!"
In 2012, "The Ballad of John and Yoko" was ranked as the 404th best classic rock song of all time by New York's Q104.3.[37] Less impressed, Alex Petridis of The Guardian ranks the song last of the Beatles' 22 UK singles, saying: "John Lennon once convened a meeting of the Beatles to inform them that he was Jesus: the charmless 'Ballad of John and Yoko' is that crazed egotism and messiah complex wrought into song."[38]Rolling Stone ranked it at number 48 on the magazine's list of the 100 greatest Beatles songs.[39]
^Hertsgaard also described the pair's humour as "subdued, even hollow".[19]
^Author Peter Doggett says that the sleeve depicted "all five Beatles". He quotes McCartney as saying: "Yoko used to sit in on the photos, and we didn't really know how to tell her to get out .. You couldn't really say, 'Excuse me, John, can you get her out?'"[25]
^Fong-Torres, Ben (26 July 1969). "Christ, They Know It Ain't Easy". Rolling Stone. When 'Ballad' was released in late May, dozens of stations immediately announced a ban. Program directors have called the casual reference to the deity 'profane,' 'sacrilegious,' 'offensive,' and 'generally objectionable.'
^"Classifiche". Musica e dischi (in Italian). Retrieved 31 May 2022. Set "Tipo" on "Singoli". Then, in the "Titolo" field, search "Ballad of John and Yoko".
^Hallberg, Eric (1993). Eric Hallberg presenterar Kvällstoppen i P 3: Sveriges radios topplista över veckans 20 mest sålda skivor 10. 7. 1962 - 19. 8. 1975. Drift Musik. p. 130. ISBN9163021404.
^Hallberg, Eric; Henningsson, Ulf (1998). Eric Hallberg, Ulf Henningsson presenterar Tio i topp med de utslagna på försök: 1961 - 74. Premium Publishing. p. 53. ISBN919727125X.
^ abcdMurrells, Joseph (1985). Million selling records from the 1900s to the 1980s : an illustrated directory. Arco Pub. p. 276. ISBN0668064595. It was released in Britain on 30 May 1969, was no 1 for three weeks with 14 weeks in the bestsellers and sold around 300,000. Release in the U.S.A. was in june 1969, the disc achieving No 7 for two weeks with 9 weeks in the bestsellers, with Gold Disc award from R.I.A.A. on the 16 July. U.S.A. sales were around 1,250,000. Global estimates att 2,500,000
Guesdon, Jean-Michel; Margotin, Philippe (2013). All the Songs: The Story Behind Every Beatles Release. New York, NY: Black Dog & Leventhal. ISBN978-1-57912-952-1.
Lewisohn, Mark (2005) [1988]. The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions: The Official Story of the Abbey Road Years 1962–1970. London: Bounty Books. ISBN978-0-7537-2545-0.
Wallgren, Mark (1982). The Beatles on Record. New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN0-671-45682-2.
Winn, John C. (2009). That Magic Feeling: The Beatles' Recorded Legacy, Volume Two, 1966–1970. New York, NY: Three Rivers Press. ISBN978-0-307-45239-9.
