The Beatles - The Ballad of John & Yoko [HD]

"The Ballad of John and Yoko" is a song released by The Beatles as a single in May 1969.

Primarily written by John Lennon, the song was attributed, as was the custom, to the Lennon/McCartney songwriting team.

It chronicled the events surrounding Lennon's marriage to Yoko Ono and their subsequent activities together, including their famous first Bed-In in the Amsterdam Hilton, and demonstration of bagism.

It was released while the couple were in the middle of their second Bed-In at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal.

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.

It was the 17th and final UK number one single for The Beatles, and peaked at number eight in the US

"The Ballad of John and Yoko" was recorded on 14 April 1969, just prior to the sessions for the Abbey Road album which began on 18 April 1969.

It was performed by Lennon and Paul McCartney; George Harrison was on holiday, and Ringo Starr was filming The Magic Christian.

Lennon had a sudden inspiration for the song and called on McCartney, suggesting the two of them record it immediately without waiting for the other Beatles to return.

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

The outro guitar riff was inspired by the Dorsey and Johnny Burnette song, "Lonesome Tears in My Eyes", notably covered by The Beatles in their early years and released on the album Live at the BBC.

The session recordings reveal this exchange between band members:

Lennon (on guitar): "Go a bit faster, Ringo!"
McCartney (on drums): "OK, George!"

The song's working title was "The Ballad of John and Yoko (They're Going to Crucify Me)". It is sometimes listed as "The Ballad of John and Yoko" and sometimes with the shorter title "Ballad of John and Yoko".

For example, the picture sleeve single released in the US on 30 May 1969 shows the latter wording on the A-side and the former wording on the B-side of the disc.

"The Ballad of John and Yoko" was released in the United Kingdom on 30 May 1969 and in the United States on 4 June 1969. The song was later released on the compilation albums Hey Jude, 1967--1970, 1 and Past Masters.

In Britain and Europe, "The Ballad of John and Yoko" / "Old Brown Shoe" was the first Beatles single released in stereo.

The song was banned by several US radio stations, due to the words "Christ" and "crucify" in Lennon's 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

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[strawberryswirlzz]

Ugh I was born in 1996 and I wish I lived in those times, the Beatles period. Where the Beatles defined good music, and they were amazing. Who defines music in the current age? Fucking justin bieber and Katy perry who sticks flaming cakes to her tits. Jesus I was born at the wrong time.

[BeatlesMegaMusic]

i actually like this song, Im not a huge fan of Yoko, nothing against her though, Long live The Beatles!!

I love how in the Beginning Paul is like :Hell yeah this is great!

Ringo: This is not amusing me at all.

John: SING SING SING

George: Just gotta focus..

haha long live The Beatles <3

[NataliaEstradaMusic]

I love how he says "week" it sounds so cute.

[MsAnnieTyler]

. Let's just say this guy is the frontman of what has been called the most durable rock band in America, and I can't think of anybody else that could fill his shoes. Now, if he does marry this girl, does anybody besides me have a gut feeling she'll do the same thing as Yoko did to John, tell him he doesn't need his band anymore, and ditch them for a solo career? He's already being managed by a different agency than the rest of his bandmates. Someone's gotta tell him he's making a huge mistake...

[MsAnnieTyler]

I heard that after they got married, Yoko told John he didn't need The Beatles anymore to be famous, which resulted in their disbandment, and I believe this is true. My point is, history tends to repeat itself in this manner, and it is about to very soon unless somebody does something about it. Need hints? OK, you know that CERTAIN accredited rock musician who recently took a new job as a judge on a CERTAIN reality show? I heard his girlfriend (fiance now) convinced him to take the job

[campbellrocksagain]

Love it

[nambucodonosors]

En qué disco está esa canción?

[ShareTheMike]

I love this song because it has such a different feel to it with Paul on guitar and drums...doesn't sound like any other Beatles song....

[MuhamadDaniels]

@strawberryswirlzz chill bro, we still got radiohead!! thank god for that !!

[YerexCliff]

@tmac052558 I'm with you all the way on this one my fine friend. Well put; just like John. Nothing ever changed by staying the same.