The Ballad Of John And Yoko

Album

Single

Label

Apple Records

Genre

Pop rock

Media Type

45s

Duration

2:59

Composer(s)

John Lennon, Paul McCartney

Entered Chart

Jun 14, 1969

Peak Date

Jul 12, 1969

Released

30 May 1969

Recorded

Unknown

Catalog #

Apple 2531

B-Side

Old Brown Shoe

This isn't really a ballad - it's uptempo. John Lennon wrote the song about his marriage to Yoko and their run-ins with various international authorities. They married on March 20, 1969 in Gibraltar and honeymooned in Amsterdam. John and Yoko's decision to get married came very suddenly on March 14, 1969, just two days after Paul McCartney married Linda Eastman. On March 14, John and Yoko were being driven to Poole in Dorset to visit John's Aunt Mimi. John asked his chauffeur Les Anthony to go to Southampton and ask about the possibility of getting married at sea. After learning that this was not possible, Lennon decided to go to Paris, and called his office instructing his staff to arrange a quiet wedding there. Peter Brown discovered that getting married in Paris on such short notice was impossible, but that they could marry in Gibraltar, because it was a British protectorate, and Lennon was a British citizen. The line "Christ, you know it ain't easy" caused a great deal of controversy and got the song banned by the BBC and most US radio stations. After the wedding, John and Yoko flew to Amsterdam and invited the press to join them in their room. Some reporters thought they were being called in to witness the couple consummate their marriage (John and Yoko appeared nude on the cover of their 1968 Two Virgins album), but what they got instead was a "Bed-In," where John and Yoko protested the war from their bed - fully clothed. The Spanish guitar part at the end of the song was lifted from "Lonesome Tears In My Eyes," a 1956 song by Johnny Burnette And The Rock N' Roll Trio. The Beatles played the song in their early years - their version can be found on the album Live At The BBC. >>> This was recorded and mixed in nine hours on the day it was written: April 14, 1969. John Lennon and Paul McCartney worked on this without the other Beatles because of the hastily called session. The B-side of the single was a song George Harrison wrote: "Old Brown Shoe." This was the last true Lennon/McCartney compilation. They had been writing separately for the last few years. This was the last Beatles song to be recorded specifically as a single. Here's a the cover photo, which says a lot about the Beatles relationship at the time. In the UK, this single was released while "Get Back" was still at #1. It just missed (by one week) knocking "Get Back" off the top. "The Ballad Of John and Yoko" turned out to be The Beatles' 17th - and final - UK #1. >>> Not long after this song was released, John Lennon explained: "When I get down to it, I'm only interested in Yoko and peace, so if I can sing about them again and again and again - its only like I'm going through my blue period as a painter. It's like he's gonna paint this cup for a year, you know, to get into that cup. So maybe I'm doing that."

Standing in the dock at Southampton
Trying to get to Holland or France.
The man in the mac said you've got to go back,
You know they didn't even give us a chance.

Christ! You know it ain't easy,
You know how hard it can be.
The way things are going,
They're going to crucify me.
Finally made the plane into Paris,
Honeymooning down by the Seine.

Peter Brown called to say,
You can make it OK,
You can get married in Gibraltar near Spain.

Christ! You know it ain't easy,
You know how hard it can be.
The way things are going,
They're going to crucify me.

Drove from Paris to the Amsterdam Hilton,
Talking in our beds for a week.
The newspapers said, say what're you doing in bed,
I said we're only trying to get us some peace.

Christ! You know it ain't easy,
You know how hard it can be.
The way things are going,
They're going to crucify me.
Saving up your money for a rainy day,
Giving all your clothes to charity.

Last night the wife said,
Oh boy, when you're dead you
Don't take nothing with you but your soul think!
Made a lightning trip to Vienna,
Eating chocolate cake in a bag.

The newspapers said,
She's gone to his head,
They look just like two Gurus in a drag.
Christ! You know it ain't easy,
You know how hard it can be.

The way things are going,
They're going to crucify me.
Caught the early plane back to London,
Fifty acorns tied in a sack.
The men from the press said we wish you success,
It's good to have the both of you back.

Christ! You know it ain't easy,
You know how hard it can be.
The way things are going,
They're going to crucify me