Oh Yoko!

Yes.

Her and Courtney love get an awful time

John and Yoko finished recording this song on the 8th of December 1980. When they left their apartment for the studio that afternoon Lennon signed an autograph for Mark Chapman. On their return that night Chapman put two bullets into the back of Lennon.

padd b1975 wrote: »

Oh she could speak alright.

Singing was a different story entirely...

Although in fairness, she never took to the stage with a set of keyboards that weren't plugged in, but nobody really mentions that......

What's yellow and lonely?

Berry's reaction at 1.19 says it all

ClovenHoof wrote: »

The Beatles are the most over rated band in the world.

I am frankly amazed at this eternal sense of reverence for this quirky pop quartet. Sure they had a few good tunes, but you try to imagine them without George Martin producing them, they would be about as brilliant as the Indians Showband.

Yoko was hardly the reason why they ran out of steam. Drugs, John Lennon's pathological personality and their underlying mediocrity coming to the fore was.

Well done for saying what can't be said. The Beatles were overrated. They never spoke about life the way that the Stones & the Who did. In those days your really either loved the Stones or the Beatles.

Even now Stones tracks like Streetfighting Man & the Who's Won't get fooled again have incredible resonance. The Beatles never expressed the anger & frustration of young people.

Discodog wrote: »

Well done for saying what can't be said. The Beatles were overrated. They never spoke about life the way that the Stones & the Who did. In those days your really either loved the Stones or the Beatles.

Even now Stones tracks like Streetfighting Man & the Who's Won't get fooled again have incredible resonance. The Beatles never expressed the anger & frustration of young people.

The Beatles were a pop band, they wrote pop songs. Not everything, or anything for that matter, has to be a political statement - What's wrong with having a song about a yellow submarine?

Wibbs wrote: »

Both fine bands, however… oh wait… you're serious? Really not much can be said to that TBH.

Yes I am serious & I totally stand by my argument. There is nothing wrong with pop bands or pop songs - I have a vast collection of them. Musically the Beatles were clever.

I am probably older than most of you & I grew up in the UK. Sometimes you do want more than bland pop songs as the likes of Dylan, Cohen, Springsteen etc prove.

But also, as a wannabe songwriter, it's a thousand time easier writing a song about nothing. Great writers in music or literature have always reflected what's around them.

Olishi4 wrote: »

I read that Paul had referred to him as the Fifth Beatle and it seems he also worked with Wings.

I read that John said something like that after George Martin had criticized Power to the People and he said "I don't think Linda is a substitute for John Lennon, any more than Yoko is a substitute for Paul McCartney". Lennon responded by criticizing Martin's later work and comparing to his own.

But John is reported as saying "He taught us a lot and I'm sure we taught him a lot with a primitive musical knowledge." So I'd say they had a normal working relationship with the producer. He had his part but he needed them as much as they needed him.

I dated a girl who's dad worked for EMI. They had signed Beatles albums on the walls. He was good friends with George Martin. Any idea that he wasn't pivotal in their success is madness. Not only was he key to making their ideas into records but they were so lucky to find him. It could of been very different if they had signed to another label & got a traditional "closed mind" producer.

Wibbs wrote: »

So what? And this gives you musical knowledge gravitas how?

Which is what they did. Jagger and Richards would have given up major organs to get within sniffing distance off something like Eleanor Rigby, or I am the Walrus, or Strawberry Fields Forever, or any number of Beatles songs. If you think such songs are about "nothing" my original point stands; Really not much can be said to that TBH.

I don't think that Jagger & Richards ever gave a ****e about writing such songs especially as the vast number of fans who bought them had no idea what they were about. The Stones are a rock & roll band.

I believe that they are overrated & I always will. But I realise that it is sacrilege to dare say such things. I only ever bought one Beatles album & I don't have a single Beatles track in my collection.

My reference to living in the UK is that people don't realise how much young people were looking for music that reflected their lives.

Back on topic I do think that Yoko really damaged John's creativity in that she appeared to govern everything he did. To her credit, not only did Linda encourage Paul, but she, by becoming a member of Wings, allowed the band to tour & have such success especially in the USA.