Yoko Ono: Saying I ‘broke up The Beatles’ is like being ‘accused of murder’

Yoko Ono

Yoko Ono covers the January issue of Interview magazine. She’s 80 years old now and is just as full of beans as she’s always been. Yoko is promoting her new book, Acorn, which is an book of incantations or “brain poetry.” The book was inspired by Yoko and John Lennon’s late-1960s acorns “for peace” project. I think Yoko is pretty cuckoo, but she also reminds me of my late Japanese grandmother in an artsy fartsy way. My grandma was a photography, art professor, and museum curator, so I appreciate art when it’s actually art. Not when it’s the Lady Gaga or James Franco variety.

Yoko was interviewed by film critic Elvis Mitchell for the magazine. Naturally the topic of John and The Beatles came up in conversation. I’d like to point out how Paul McCartney recently declared that Yoko did not break up the band. He also called Yoko a “badass” before saying, “I thought, ‘If John loved her, there’s got to be something. He’s not stupid. It’s like, what are you going to do? Are you going to hold a grudge you never really had?” It only took Paul, what, 35 years to make this statement? Then Yoko spoke up a week later to say how “thankful” she was for Paul’s admission. She’s still pretty upset about the decades of fallout. Here are some excerpts:

On her near-lifelong reputation: “Not being appreciated for 40 years or something … It feels like I was accused of something that I didn’t do, which was breaking up The Beatles. That was like being somebody who is in prison without having done anything wrong. It’s like you’re accused of murder and you’re in prison and you can’t get out. That’s why I finally came to the conclusion to use that big energy of hatred that was coming to me and turn it around into love.”

On Paul McCartney’s statement: “I don’t know … It’s a strange feeling, you know, because I’ve been sort of trained … Well, not trained. I was going to say I ‘trained’ myself–and maybe I did train myself to feel a certain way. But I just felt always frightened, struggling. But then suddenly they’re saying, ‘No, you don’t have to fight. We understand you!” It’s like you’ve been knocking on the door for 40 years and then someone suddenly says, ‘You don’t have to knock on the door–the door is already open.’ Oh … Okay! So how are you going to deal with that? And I have to be very cautious. It’s better that you’re criticized than complimented as a person. Because if you’re criticized then you can use it as an experience. Compliments, you can’t use.”

When Elvis compliments her work: “That’s very sweet–I appreciate that. But these days, when you go to hotels or somewhere like that, they always have a mirror, but the mirror doesn’t really reflect you. It just suggests, like an airbrush thing of you. And if you keep looking at what you see in that mirror, then you can’t really deal with your real face.”

Art is the way she lives her life: “Art, for me, is about survival for my mind–like, if I don’t do these things, then I might become insane or something. So it helps you keep your sanity just to do it. You have to release your emotion in order to keep your sanity. Art is life … It’s about living, but it’s a way of making your life elegant.”

On elegance: “Yes, it is. I mean, we could be monkeys and just eat bananas and scream all day or something. Or we could have coffee in the morning. We created a thing called culture and civilization, and now we’re about to lose it because we’re trying to destroy everything. And I kind of miss it. I miss culture and civilization.”

On entertainment vs. art: “Well, see, that’s the difference between entertainment and art. People just love to be entertained, and in order to entertain them, you have to do things in a way that they understand. So automatically, you have to go to a certain place, and I wasn’t doing that. But then, also, I really think that any invention or discovery cannot be done unless you are totally free–free of those people.”

[From Interview magazine]

Yes she’s still completely artsy fartsy and unapologetic about it. Which is fine. She’s Yoko freaking Ono and has earned the right to make grand statements about art. Regarding The Beatles controversy, I do think her choice of words — “like you’re accused of murder” — are a bit harsh and hyperbolic. Then again, Yoko’s been spoken of horribly for decades by fans of The Beatles. It is true that she was convicted by the jury of rock ‘n’ roll without a trial.

This shoot is so weird. Pure Yoko.

Yoko Ono

Yoko Ono

Photos courtesy of Interview magazine

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94 Responses to “Yoko Ono: Saying I ‘broke up The Beatles’ is like being ‘accused of murder’”

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  1. Anna says:

    Ugh I could never stand John Lennon or Yoko Ono and when they released “women are the ni**ers of the world” sealed the deal for me.

  2. Tapioca says:

    Beer for me and a single plum floating in perfume, served in a man’s hat, for the lady…

    • Mindy says:

      Long live the Rutles….

    • Amanda Fontleroy says:

      Tapioca, I say! I swear I did NOT read this article, as the subject is moot and has been for almost half a century. But your comment, Old Chap, is quite the delight.

  3. bowers says:

    Of course she didn’t break them up. And they were good but I preferred the Stones.

    • TheOriginalKitten says:

      The age-old question: The Rolling Stones or The Beatles?

      Rolling Stones for me. EVERY. SINGLE. TIME.
      With the exception of a few songs, The Beatles always bothered me.

      • gg says:

        Musicians call that utter blasphemy. 😉 The Beatles are Gods. They made their own style. The Stones desperately just wanted to be southern blues guys and copied them.

      • TheOriginalKitten says:

        Oh believe me-I know what musicians think of my opinion-it’s sparked plenty of (usually drunken) debates. But I have no problem owning it: Rolling Stones over The Beatles, baby, always and forever.

        Never been a fan of whiny pop music. 😛
        *runs and hides*

      • Tiffany :) says:

        I just can’t pick one, I love them all! I think the Beach Boys are up there as well for their use of sound, and Radiohead and Led Zepplin and….well the list goes on and on!

      • gg says:

        There are definitely a lot of musical Gods out there!

        If you grew up while the Beatles were together and performing, you just never ever forget that. The first songs I remember knowing all the lyric to was Eight Days A Week and Can’t Buy Me Love. They’re firmly entrenched in my DNA.

    • SamiHami says:

      Absolutely, GG. The Stones are great, of course. No denying that. But they are just not in the same class as the Beatles, although they desperately wanted to be.

      • gg says:

        No shade at all on the Stones though. 😀 I am very happy they are mostly all still alive and rocking out. I love each and every one of them. Makes me proud. They were just different than the Beatles and my thing is melody and lots of harmony. Stones don’t do harmony much but Mick is a lyric genius.

        Read Keith’s book and enjoyed it very very much, now reading Ronnie Wood’s.

    • Thiajoka says:

      I’m going to throw The Who into the mix. My absolute favorite band of all time.

    • Julianna says:

      Tommy James and the Shondelles were better than the Beatles + The Rolling Stones.

      • Haylo says:

        Tommy James & the Shondells (shame you can’t spell it right when they are supposedly better), while they are a fantastic band (“Ball of Fire”, “Crimson & Clover” and “Crystal Blue Persuasion” are personal favourites) did not have the diversity, the charm, the presence, the innovation and the talent that the Beatles had. There were plenty of bands with amazing songs that sounded similar to The Beatles – but they weren’t consistently experimenting with new sounds and themes, but extending on the sound the Beatles helped to create.

  4. Han says:

    Yoko Ono is the coolest person. I want to be like Yoko when i am 75 or however old she is now.
    Yoko was the original Tilda Swinton, artsy fartsy and unapologetic.

    • Zimmer says:

      Great comparison in my humble opinion.

      • Nan says:

        Agree! She’s awesome. People are very mean to women who don’t just say what they’re supposed to say. It was like that in the 60s and it’s like that today. I always liked Yoko because you get some actual content, she’s not scripted.

    • Tiffany :) says:

      As a kid I only knew her in regards to her relationship with John.

      When I got older I heard of her art project in Beverly Hills (I think) where she wrote “I am water, you are water, we are all just in different pitchers” in store windows. That delighted me, so I like her now!

  5. Mrhhhh says:

    I have been a huge Beatles fan since I was a baby. I’m obsessed. I have read every biography I could get my hands on. And you know what? Anyone who really knows the story of the Beatles wouldn’t say she broke them up. It was way more complicated than that. She made John happy and keeps his memory alive. I’m no yoko hater.

    • Haylo says:

      John once said, “I didn’t leave the Beatles. The Beatles have left the Beatles, but no one wants to be the one to say the party’s over.” The Beatles were ready to break up by the time Yoko came along – she was just in the wrong place at the wrong time, hence she has been branded with the blame ever since 1970. Ringo had already left the band by the time they were recording Abbey Road. That amazing drum solo in ‘The End’ is rumoured (and most likely true) to be Paul’s work, not Ringo. When an interviewer asked John, “Is Ringo the best drummer in the world?” John hinted at this and replied “Ringo isn’t even the best drummer in The Beatles”.

  6. Kiddo says:

    “because I’ve been sort of trained … Well, not trained. I was going to say I ‘trained’ myself–and maybe I did train myself to feel a certain way….” Stream of consciousness stuck on a CD nick. Yikes.

    Anyway, does anyone else think Gaga borrowed some of her schtick from Ono?

  7. Godwina says:

    From her “Yes” installation to “Day of the Sunflowers,” I am Team Yoko, forever.

  8. GoodNamesAllTaken says:

    Can’t abide her. Never could.

    • Brigittte says:

      She pursued John in an unhealthy way, kind of stalkerish, in the beginning and then proceeded to neuter him, but he was ready and willing for the neutering, so, there you go.

      • Haylo says:

        She hardly knew anything about the Beatles before she met John, except that there was a band member called Ringo, which actually means ‘apple’ in Japanese. Apart from that, I wouldn’t say she pursued him unhealthily at all. The infatuation for each other was very mutual.

  9. Annie says:

    Yeah, it sounds crazy to compare the Beatles break up with murder but crazy fans are not a new thing, and for a lot of people the reaction was is if she indeed had killed someone. Keep in mind this was the first music act that people all over the world lost their minds over. No mania ever before the Beatles. My dad says that people all over the world cried, literally, when they broke up. Almost like a real death.

    Fans blame Yoko because on one hand, they never accepted that one of the biggest stars ever was dating an Asian woman, and not a very attractive one at that, and she was odd. Before the break up people were vicious to her, and John had to speak up several times. Not just the fans were dicks, the media too. But on the other hand, fans never wanted to accept the fact that the beatles didn’t even like each other anymore. There were so many fights and everyone was just ready to move on and try different things. That’s it. Everyone needed to move on and do their own thing. John and Paul were very controlling of the band, they never really let George collaborate more, despite him becoming a very strong song writer like them. Ringo quit the band right in the middle of the making of the White album and then came back. They fought so much over the years. By the time they broke up they couldn’t stand each other anymore and some of that bad blood lasted for years. George sued Ringo at one point! John and Paul were not even speaking when John was killed. Fans don’t like to accept that.

    It was a classic case of blame the woman. Misogyny, racism, crazy fandom and denial. People did overreact as if she had killed someone, absolutely, and made her THE villain of the generation. So people, your parents and grandparents were crazy stans too.

    • Jade says:

      She was COMPLETELY deserving of the all criticism she got, she was just a talentless artist and a major famewh*re who capitalized on her relationship with John, she loved the money and the fame and the notoriety that being with him gave her, she was insanely controlling of him and compleatly emerged herself into the band. She was at every recording session and rehearsal, even bringing a bed into Abbey Road for herself and she demanded a say in how the Beatles sounded and their business dealings.
      So it’s not too far fetched to say that she would have put a strain on the bands relationship, the fans and the media saw all this, and they made their judgements about her based on her own actions.

      • Amy says:

        Agree…

      • queenfreddie says:

        Calling her a famewh*re I might agree with. But she was not controlling of him, he was controlling of her. John made her go with him everywhere including the bathroom because he was afraid that she would leave him. He was a talented guy but very abusive too. It’s not her fault at all the band broke up. They were four talented guys who outgrew each other. And a ll of them managed to have careers after the Beatles.

      • JGL says:

        The whole idea that she broke up the band is one of the most misogynistic things I have ever heard. There were many reasons the band broke up and to blame it all on Yoko is ridiculous. It’s disgusting to me that to “Yoko Ono” somebody or something is a verb.
        Also, have you ever listened to her solo music? It’s very avant-garde, and her music has always been like that, so I doubt she was “reaching for the stars,” so to speak.

      • Jayna says:

        They were falling apart before Yoko. It’s amazing they stayed together as long as they did and put out as many albums as they did.

    • gg says:

      She very much wanted to be famous and they were BOTH very codependent. The public also took it to account that she busted up John’s marriage. However, the Beatles and Stones little microcosm was very incestuous in general so it was par for the course at the time. Yoko did stalk the hell out of John though to get him to notice her. Would wait in the offices when she was let in and camped outside his home with the fans to watch him pull in the drive even at first.

      After they were married, she completely ruled the roost and told him to jump and how high and he became very submissive under her. When he was drinking he would rebel and that’s when she orchestrated the whole May Pang “lost weekend” thing.

      Obviously I’ve read my share of Apple bios too. 😉

    • anon33 says:

      Between my parents, my sister, and I, we own every single Beatle book ever written. We have all read all of them. What I have gleaned from this is that PAUL was incredibly controlling of the process-you could have asked George all about it if he wasn’t dead. Watch Let It Be-Paul is a total a88. And it annoyed the f8ck out of John.
      Basically John and Paul had a bromance, and then they grew up, and apart. John got into hard drugs/arty stuff, and Paul became very musically controlling. They grew out of their partnership naturally, and as many many modern men’s movies continue to show us, the woman who comes into one of the men’s life often gets blamed for it. Hence, everyone hating Yoko.
      This is not to discount the problems that John and Yoko had in their own relationship, independent of the beatles. But I will go to my GRAVE arguing that she was not responsible for their breakup.

  10. Lark says:

    I’m not a fan of Yoko, but I was always amazed at how the Beatles fans act like she was responsible for breaking up the band and John Lennon was some puppy she jerked around on a string. He was a brilliant musician, but he himself admitted to hitting women (something the fans always ignore or gloss over when crucifying Yoko) and was the one who “broke” the band up.

  11. gg says:

    Never understood her except that she and John were extremely codependent, which is usually the case with addicts, but no, she did not break up the Beatles. There was a lot more going on behind the scenes than just her presence.

  12. Jade says:

    If she had never been with John, nobody would have ever given a f**k about her, let alone that she still has a any kind of career as an ‘artist’ (and I use that term very loosely) for the past 60 years, and that she can only afford to have because she’s been living off his fortune and the notoriety of their relationship.
    There’s so many other things to not like about this woman without even blaiming her for the Beatle break up, she’s such a joke and I can’t believe she’s still wasting people’s time and money with her crap.

    • GoodNamesAllTaken says:

      You said that so much better than I did.

    • Kiddo says:

      I don’t think that assumption is entirely correct. She was a pretty well known artist in Japan when she met John, but you are right in that she likely wouldn’t have the same level of fame (or wealth) without that association.

    • Han says:

      @Jade she was a pretty well known as an artist and lennon sought her out because he was impressed by her work.
      What you mean is the gossip press would not have known about her, which i am sure has been a mixed blessing from her and not sure that sort of fame interests her too much.
      @Kiddo Yoko was from a very wealthy family in japan, money was never an issue.

      • Kiddo says:

        I get what you’re saying, but the level of notoriety and the chunk of change she acquired would not likely have been as mega without John. Having a rich family doesn’t necessarily translate into continued wealth, especially to the level she is enjoying. But I basically made a similar point above. Just adding that I don’t begrudge her the attention. I feel mixed about her work. Sometimes it’s genius and other times I find it bordering on gimmicky.

      • jane16 says:

        According to the great Peter Asher, (whom I’ve known since the late 70s), Asher and a friend of his started a trendy modern art gallery in London and asked John to come. Yoko had an exhibition there, and Peter introduced them to each other. So, I wouldn’t say that John “sought her out”. I have heard Peter tell this probably a hundred times over the decades. He loves to joke that Beatles fans blame him. I have read a lot of the books about the Beatles by those who were there at the time, (especially loved the books by Patti Boyd, Chris O’Dell, & Cynthia Lennon) and they all seemed to think that yes, Yoko dominated John in every way. Did he want to be dominated by her? Obviously. But the fact is, she did control him, got him to abandon his wife and child, (and ignore said child Julian) and certainly knew full well that she was causing extreme discord during the Beatles recording sessions. There’s an old Dick Cavett Show video on youtube where George Harrison is the guest & Cavett tells him that Yoko had recently sat in that chair that George was in and George immediately leaps out. From the books I’ve read, and the stories I’ve heard over my lifetime (I dated a record producer for 5 years and worked a little in that industry in a recording studio), I don’t at all doubt that the other three Beatles, and the others in their world, did blame Yoko for a long time. Do I think people should be over it by now? Certainly. And I also think she’s a fascinating person.

      • gg says:

        She pretty much just stalked him is how he noticed her. Anything else is revisionist.

      • Kiddo says:

        @jane16, I think John Lennon had “Mommy issues”. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julia_Lennon

      • jane16 says:

        @kiddo, yes, I certainly agree with you about the mommy issues.

    • KAI says:

      It was due to Yoko Ono’s savvy investment decisions that John Lennon died a wealthy man.

    • Haylo says:

      For God’s sake, the woman watched a ‘fan’ shoot her husband and the father of her child right in front of her outside their home. The fact that she is still functioning the way she is is amazing. She is a very strong lady.

  13. Cazzee says:

    Yoko is out there – past the fringe, completely pretentious, frequently unintelligible, and at times when she comments on things it seems like she’s speaking her own personal language.

    I am grateful for her existence. Here she is doing an amazing job covering Katy Perry’s Firework:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrJz9Dh5MsM

  14. annaloo. says:

    ” I mean, we could be monkeys and just eat bananas and scream all day or something. Or we could have coffee in the morning.”

    I know people like this! THey do both!

  15. Karen81 says:

    She did not break up the Beatles. George Harrison even admitted during a interview around 1963 that he be suprised if the band was still together 10 years later. They all knew that despite their greatness and were by far better together then seperate, they could stay together for a finite amount of time. To me, that adds to their greatness. They knew creativity together had reach its course therefore they broke up instead of continuing on and producing inferior work.

  16. Karen81 says:

    As for Ono, I am not a fan nor a hater. To me she gets way too much love and hate.

  17. putchka says:

    I love the Beatles, grew up with them. Yes, cried when they broke up. Yoko is a strange bird but the only thing I have against her is how they treated Julian. As a woman and mother she could of stood up for that poor kid.

  18. Dani says:

    I’m indifferent about her. The Beatles were way past my generation but my parents loved them, so growing up I listened to them and heard/read various stories.

    I think the fans only blame Yoko for ‘breaking up the band’ because when you’re so invested in something, it’s hard to accept their failure or any sort of downfall. So what’s easier than blaming the girlfriend/wife of one of the band members? The fans sought the easy way to sooth their broken hearts, and in exchange probably caused some major emotional damage to this woman. Not to mention their son, who they love and praise so much, but hate his mother. Where is the logic in that?

  19. Dawn says:

    I’ve made my peace with her long ago but she has to come clean to how badly she treated Julian because she did treat him badly and John was a horse shit dad to him as well. I do believe she played a part in breaking them up but so did Linda Eastman. And I do believe that had Cynthia Lennon kicked her ever-loving butt when she found them in her kitchen (as I believe she should have), things may have turned out differently. John Lennon was truly a genius in his art but he wasn’t a nice person in many ways. But both of them did work very hard to end the war and spent a ton of their own money trying to help vets that were coming home at the time. That’s all I have, and oh yes, she has the worst singing voice ever but she never used auto tune!

    • Kiddo says:

      She sounds like a screeching Howler monkey eating bananas all day when she sings.* I think not even autotune would have helped.

      *(I have a family member who knows/loves all things Beatles.)

    • Jen34 says:

      I agree with you. John was a totally shi**y dad to Julian. Especially when you consider they made such an effort to located HER daughter, and then when Sean came along, all of a sudden he was Mr. mom. I think Cynthia did a great job with Julian. I don’t even think John did much in terms of child support, although I may be remembering incorrectly.

      • JD says:

        IIRC, I don’t think Julian got much from Johns’ estate. I’m pretty sure Yoko never gave him anything.

    • Mom2two says:

      I am glad you mentioned Linda Eastman, she was around as much as Yoko. People seem to forget that. And neither of those ladies were responsible for the breakup of the Beatles.

      I remember reading in one of the latest John Lennon biographies, that perhaps Yoko kept Julian at an arms distance because she could not get her daughter back. It stinks the way Julian was treated by John and Yoko.

    • gg says:

      Julian Lennon has been receiving money from his father’s estate since 1995 so saying you’re pretty sure Yoko never gave him anything from his estate is an invention.

  20. Jen34 says:

    Her statement is valid. At this time, it is really hard to imagine the level of hatred felt toward her. And it lasted for decades. The Beatles were royalty. They were also ‘nice boys’ compared to those nasty Rolling Stones. People thought she not only broke up the Beatles, but she ‘turned’ John Lennon. None of that is true, but that was the perception. Plus, she is Japanese, and not some proper English rose. I know it seems irrelevant now, but truly this was like she committed some kind of cultural blasphemy . I don’t know what or whom you can compare the situation to, but she isn’t making it up.

    • MaiGirl says:

      I get why people don’t like her–she is pretentious, I don’t get her “art” at all, and she certainly loves to make a song sonically dissonant through the power of her voice. However, she has been unfairly vilified, and pulling a “Yoko” has become a pop culture staple, even though the group broke up for many, many reasons. Also, just for context, I pulled up some vintage articles about her online, and DAMN were they mean! All the “isms” were there, in full force. Disgusting!

    • Eleonor says:

      I think the only person who has received a similar treatement , is Camilla Parker Bowels after Diana’s death.

    • MavenTheFirst says:

      Yes, there was a lot of hatred towards her. Yes, people thought she influenced Lennon and you think she didn’t? I don’t ever recall the fact that she was Japanese as a factor. Ever.

      Yes, it was as if she committed some cultural blasphemy. I think she is way overrated in her power and influence. She is just an easy scapegoat for endless Beatle ills. IMO she is not that important except for the fact that I am guessing she influenced Lennon in significant ways.

  21. Nikki says:

    I always liked her and I feel so terrible the hatred she’s been given. She loved him. For that she gets sh*t on for decades? It wasn’t right.

  22. Nev says:

    Badass is right. Yoko Forever.

  23. Eleonor says:

    I’ve always thought she is an interesting woman.

  24. Kathryn says:

    I attempted to listen to some of her music once and just coudnt.. the stuff where she’s just screaming inside a bag??!
    I do think she was blamed unfairly for the Beatles break-up but so was Linda.
    I loved the beatles so much and still do but at the end of the day John Lennon was only human, he made a lot of mistakes with his parenting of Julian, the sad thing is I think around the time of his death he was attempting to repair that relationship- if he hadnt been murdered it might have been a totally different scenario…

  25. Ginger says:

    I loved the Beatles as I grew up with their music due to my Mother’s love for them. John was always my favorite and I still recall the pain I felt when he was killed. I was still a child but I cried over it like I knew him. I’ve always loved Yoko too because John loved her and I tend to like “odd” and “artistic” people anyway. When my son was born prematurely I had no time to prepare a nursery for him but I knew what I wanted and that was the John Lennon “Real Love” collection. My family went out and found whatever they could from that collection before I came home from the hospital. This collection would never have existed if it weren’t for Yoko’s permission for the designs. I was so happy that my newborn son was surrounded by all of these lovely drawings that John had made for his son. And of course the song “Imagine” was played by his bassinet mobile too. What better lyrics for a child to learn than “Imagine”? I will always be grateful to Yoko for the opportunity to use John’s art to surround my child with such a positive nursery. I have kept a number of these nursery items for my son to pass on someday. And so, John’s legacy of peace will continue because of Yoko. It just doesn’t seem like she gets due credit for that.

  26. JALorden says:

    She wasn’t just blamed by fans of the band. It’s become a *thing* to say. Anyone getting between anything, they’re doing a Yoko. I’d bet a portion of the people that refer to it don’t even understand the story behind it or why it’s a thing.

  27. Karen81 says:

    Just remember when John read “Hey Jude” he thought Paul wrote for him. Paul to respond by saying, “No you p—-. Its a song for your song!”

  28. fancyamazon says:

    I love Yoko Ono and I love the Beatles. I never thought she broke them up, even though my mother (who was born in ’47 and was a huge Beatles fan) thought Yoko had tried to keep John for herself apart from the band. She has a brightly lit personality and lots to say and show us. As does the discography of the Beatles as well.

  29. Jayna says:

    It’s very sad how Julian Lennon was treated by his father and by Yoko before John died and after John died. I don’t know how you come through that and not be f’d up.

    I don’t own a lot of Beatles music, but definitely have some of their albums or compilation albums in my music collection. The first album I ever owned and is my favorite to this day just because it brings back memories of first hearing it is Magical Mystery Tour. I thought it was so freaky when I heard it when I was a kid listening to it from my older brother’s extensive record collection. He loved classic rock and owned a lot of music back from the ’60s and ’70s. I remember being mesmerized by the album cover. They do have many amazing songs out there, though.

  30. Jayna says:

    As far as John Lennon, I think Imagine is one of the most beautiful songs ever written. And no matter who covers it, it will never be as good as John’s vocals on it, and I love the music video with him and Yoko.

  31. stinky says:

    When does John’s son Julian get the respect that HE deserves. FROM HER.

  32. DianeP says:

    Yoko is an extremely weathly, no-talent hanger-on. Her only “talent” was marrying John Lennon. In her he saw a mother figure, sadly. Ugh. His treatment of first-wife Cynthia and first son Julian is simply horrible and inexcusable. But back to Yoko — to say she “broke up the Beatles” gives her far too much importance and credit.

  33. MavenTheFirst says:

    If you watch the serendipitous documentary of the Beatles just before their breakup, it’s clear to me that Yoko was an immovable, dense object within the group dynamics. She may not be the reason the Beatles broke up but she certainly was a catalyst or excuse. I don’t like anything about her, especially her caterwauling. That John Lennon depended on her does not move me. And I adored John Lennon.

  34. miasys says:

    I saw her installation at the SF MOMA about ten years ago and it was mind blowing. I’m not into modern art, or her, but it was incredible. That said, I think she’s a total whackadoo. what amazing stories she must have.