November 16th, 2006

Yoko? O, No.

Like most Beatles fans, I don’t have too many nice things to say about Yoko Ono. She broke up the band, man. Not cool. Very not cool. And she’s weird. Like, super-weird.

Recently, though, well…

Recently I’ve been listening to the soundtrack for the movie Rushmore. One of the songs on it is “Oh, Yoko” sung by John Lennon. He sings “In the middle of the night I call your name” and “in the middle of a shave” and other mundane times in a person’s normal day. She’s on his mind all the time. And it hit me – they were in love. No matter how weird they were or how “arty” or how whatever they were, they were in love.

John met her at a showing of her “work.” There was a ladder and John climbed it. On the ceiling above the ladder on a small card and in small type, there was a single word: “yes.” It intrigued him, and the ballad of John and Yoko spun out from there.

You’d be hard-pressed to find someone who wouldn’t say John and Yoko were perfect for each other. Two more strange people you won’t find anywhere. But that hasn’t stopped 30+ years of Beatles fans being mad at her, including me.

But I think I finally get it. No matter how much it changed his life or the lives around him, he was in love. I can respect that. I think I can almost forgive him, even.

Yoko’s still a wacko, though.

3 Comments on “Yoko? O, No.”

  1. Angela says:

    I don't know that I could ever hate her. I mean sure, she broke up the band… but she broke them up when they were churning out the good stuff. better to burn out then fade away, you know?

    Plus, that photo of John curled up naked next to her in bed has to be the sweetest thing I have ever seen.

    I dunno, I guess growing up with parents that weren't too fond of the Beatles let me look at it from an unbiased view. They were cute, and perfect for each other.

  2. Daniel says:

    I don't think she broke up the band. Have you read many biographies of The Beatles? I sure have. THe band was splintering as far back as Sgt. Pepper. She didn't go in and say "This band is now over." As a matter of fact, Paul put out his first solo album before The Beatles broke up. There were disputes over money, creative differences, heck, George *DID* quit at one point, and it wasn't over Yoko.

    John & Yoko were very much in love. One of the more interesting and creative voices of the modern era and he followed his heart. What I do today is directly modeled after him believe it or not. That whole "stay at home dad" thing I got from him.

  3. HorizonPurple says:

    I've never hated her or been mad at her. It would have been a tragedy if the Beatles had keptgrinding on after the "magic" was gone – look at the bands that should have given up years ago but keep plugging along because they can. It changes how people see the earlier stuff.

    Plus, once solo, George Harrison really had his chance to shine and oh, shine he did. Not that his work with the Beatles wasn't anything special, it was, but out from under the Lennon/McCartney slash Beatles banner, he was able to go to creative and wonderful places.

    And yeah, who can begrudge a person their love? It's the kind of thing we all want – a match. A someone to crawl into our minds and shelter our soul. Some of us are lucky, some not.

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