Ballad of John and Yoko

I’ve been drifting back to The Beatles lately. I’ve heard their music so much – from the 212 released songs to hundreds of hours of beatleg that I have – that it is easy to toss it into a compartment and forget the feelings from my early years as I awaited the next single or album.

One of my current favorites is the Ballad of John and Yoko. Here’s some detailed notes on the song.

I remember buying the single when I was ten years old. The local radio stations took “Christ” out of Christ you know it ain’t easy / You know how hard it can be / The ways thinks are going … they’re gonna crucify me.

I recall being in my living room in Scranton playing the 45 on a boxy portable record player. The three windows with the arched stained glass were on my right. The driveway was on the other side of the wall. I cranked the volume every time John sang Christ.

What I liked about the song in 1969 was the story. It led me through the travels and travails of John and Yoko. I remember thinking what it must have been like to be Peter Brown and being able to call John with a problem resolved (Peter Brown called to say / You can make it ok / You can get married in Gibraltar in Spain. An interesting side to that line is that the status of Gibraltar was actively being contested between England and Spain at the time – the crack about being “near Spain” was enough to have the song banned by Franco.

What I like about the song now is that it was a spur of moment recording by just John and Paul. George was on vacation and Ringo was taping a movie, The Magic Christian, with Peter Sellers. I just don’t know any other pair of musicians that could show up in a studio and complete such a song in one day.

John was on lead vocal, and played lead guitar, acoustic guitar, and percussion (beating on the back of an acoustic guitar). Macca sang harmony vocals and played bass, drums, piano, and maracas.

The song, to me, is a great example of John and Paul as pure musicians having fun in the studio. It reminds me of the duets on “Two of Us” and “I’ve Got a Feeling,” which were recorded on January 31, 1969, and January 30, 1969, respectively, and not released until May 8, 1970, on the Let It Be album – Phil Spector’s trashing of some pretty good source material. Ballad of John and Yoko was recorded on April 14, 1969, and released in the UK on May 30 and in the States on June 4.

Here’s the video, followed by the lyrics, followed by two more videos for good measure.



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,
Honey mooning 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.

"Two of Us" (watch the end - whistling is a lost art form in rock music)


"I've Got a Feeling" (cut from the Let It Be movie)