beatleswithwords's video: The Beatles The Ballad of John and Yoko with Lyrics Highest Quality Audio

Paul rocks on the drums on this number! Thanks chard6788 for another favorite instant request! If BWW tackled this one earlier, it probably wouldn't have been as good. "The Ballad of John and Yoko" is a song written by John Lennon and credited to Lennon/McCartney. It was released by The Beatles as a single in May 1969. The song, chronicling the events surrounding Lennon's marriage to Yoko Ono, was the Beatles' 17th and final UK number one single. The photograph on sleeve of single featured John and Yoko (both dressed in suit/tie) sitting in a garden with Paul, George, and Ringo standing behind them. It looks like an uncomfortable family picture--where nobody wants to be there. The song is a ballad in the traditional sense of a narrative poem in a song, not in the sense used in modern pop music where the term usually refers to a slow, sentimental love song. Authored by Lennon while in his honeymoon in Paris , it tells the events of his marriage (in March 1969) to Ono and their publicly-held honeymoon activities, including their 'Bed-In' at the Amsterdam Hilton Hotel and their demonstration of 'bagism'. Lennon brought the song to McCartney's home on 14 April 1969, before recording it that evening. The song was recorded without George Harrison (who was on holiday) and Ringo Starr (who was filming The Magic Christian). In his biography, McCartney recalls that Lennon had had a sudden inspiration for the song and had suggested that the two of them should record it immediately, without waiting for the other Beatles to return. Reflecting this somewhat unusual situation, the session recordings include the following exchange: Lennon (on guitar): "Go a bit faster, Ringo!" McCartney (on drums): "OK, George!" This session also marked the return of Geoff Emerick as recording engineer of a Beatle session after he quit working with the group during the tense White Album sessions nine months earlier. John Lennon -- lead vocal, lead guitars, acoustic guitar, percussion Paul McCartney -- harmony vocal, bass, drums, piano, maracas Backed with Harrison's "Old Brown Shoe", the single was released in the United Kingdom on 30 May 1969; Lennon and Ono were performing a second Bed-In at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal at the time. The United States release followed a few days later on 4 June. In the UK and Europe, it was the first Beatles single to be released in stereo. It was therefore the first release not given a mono mix. The song has been included on several compilation albums: Hey Jude (US, 1970), 1967--1970 (1973), 20 Greatest Hits (UK, 1982), Past Masters (1988) and 1 (2000). Several US radio stations declined to broadcast the song because of what they saw as sacrilegious use of the words Christ and crucify in the lyric: " 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 Spanish government under Franco objected to the song due to its statement that Gibraltar was "near Spain". The status of Gibraltar was a subject of debate between Spain and the United Kingdom at that time. The single became the Beatles' 17th and final UK number one; it reached number eight in the US. 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 gonna crucify me. Finally made the plane into Paris, Honeymooning down by the Seine. Peter Brown called to say, "You can make it O.K., 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 gonna crucify me. Drove from Paris to the Amsterdam Hilton, Talking in our beds for a week. The newspaper said, "Say what 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 gonna 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 newspaper said, "She's gone to his head, They look just like two gurus in drag". Christ you know it ain't easy, You know how hard it can be. The way things are going They're gonna 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 gonna crucify me. The way things are going They're gonna crucify me.