Yoko Ono, wife, mother,collaborator,dragon lady, Beatles destroyer, easy scape goat,artist. As we approach what would have been John Lennon's 70Th birthday Yoko Ono is readying the reissue of all his solo output and undertaking a load of interviews and publicity where no doubt she'll have to juggle the same questions from the same hack reporters. I think she gets a hard time of it all, this may sound trite considering she is sitting on about £500 million of Lennon's estate but her character is definitely finalised as far as many people are concerned. I think a drastic overview is needed with this after all she was the person that inspired songs such as Julia (for his mother as well but "ocean child" from the lyrics is the translation of Yoko in Japanese) she also inspired "Jealous Guy", "Imagine" (her book "Grapefruit" has "imagine...." as a concept on each page) there are others too but mainly she unleashed Lennon's inner freak that was dying to get out from day one rather than just simply being his girlfriend. Every rock and roll star wants "his Yoko" someone that challenges them as an artist and understands them, for a genius that bordered on insanity it must have felt like a warm comfort blanket rather than having to "explain" himself to a blank expression Liverpool sheltered ex-wife.
As a Beatles and Lennon fan I always hated having to share him with her like on albums where she got equal billing for songs...personally I'd rather have 10 songs by him rather than 5 a piece from either but that's not to say she never contributed any good songs because she did and they stand up. Here are my top 5 Yoko songs for you to dig out, listen to or dis-regard as the ravings of a mad man with a Friday morning hangover.
Yoko Ono
1.Winter Song - great slow atmospheric song with lovely production from "Approximately Infinite Universe" album
2.Born In A Prison - first song I gave any notice to, full Phil Spector production and Lennon on backing vocals, one of the high lights from the dismal "Sometime In New York City" album.
3.Walking On Thin Ice - Great track from "Double Fantasy" sessions.
4.Listen, The Snow Is Falling - a great track with session ace Nicky Hopkins playing electric piano, an alternative white Xmas track for the hipsters..
5.Don't Worry,Kyoko (Mummy's Only Looking For Her Hand In The Snow) - rock and roll jam with avant-garde vocals typical of Yoko Ono in this period, but it does rock, not for everyone and not on my ipod daily list but for when you need to clean out the cobwebs and fly your freak flag a little then crank it.
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