The Ballad Of John and Yoko

John and Yoko met on November 8, 1966 through an unlikely source: Paul McCartney. Yoko had approached Paul about getting money for her art gallery. He said she would have to check with John about that. So the night before the opening at the Indica Art gallary John went to check out the show himself. I have heard different accounts of what has happened. Some say John wasn't at all taken with Yoko and she had to pursue him almost to a point of stalking before they actually got a thing going. In fact, Cynthia has said that before John got with Yoko he thought of her as a nut, and thought that avante-garde was bullshit. John's and many others stories are really different. It is no suprise that John and Cynthia's marriage was falling apart, and he had numerous affairs. On the night he met Yoko he says that he was completely struck by her, and knew he met his soulmate. She was passing out cards with one word on them and John got one that said "BREATHE", and was quite impressed with the simplicity. He then asked to hammer a nail in her painting, and she said no, he'd have to wait until after the show and it would cost him so much money. Then he got smart and asked if he could hammer an imaginary nail and she said yes and they hit it off. John was also struck by the fact that as you walked in there was a white step ladder and a spy glass hung from a painting. John looked at the painting and in small letters it said "YES", and he felt a positive message and decided to stay and met her.

Eventually John and Yoko got together and John decided that this was it, he had finally found his mate. He had always had a need to find someone who feels like he did and acted like he did. He always thought he was crazy. Now he found someone that either proved he wasn't or was someone to be crazy with. Yoko's influence on him was profound. First of all he left his wife and kid for her. He became interested in new things, avant garde, and began to do strange things musically and out side music. Also he was so enraptured by her he brought her into the recording studio with him, something that has never been done. The Beatles have always been just the four of them, and now John has a new woman at his side who also criticizes the music made. She has often been singled out as being the cause of the Beatles break up for this reason but that is not true. John and Yoko were married on March 20, 1969 in Gibraltar and the song "The Ballad Of John and Yoko" depicts the events that occurred during their marriage. Instead of a honey moon they staged the first of their bed ins. In a bed-in they would stay in bed for a week to protest the Vietnam war. John had always been the most outspoken Beatle but Yoko encouraged to speak out even more. John became much more involved politically, he returned his MBE, he became fairly radical, he and Yoko became addicted to herion and eventually he left England and moved to NY. Yoko's influence was not all negative, like some claim. She did encourage John to speak out, but what is wrong with that? She also brought out more of the sensitive side of John. He was not as fierce and mean and he became more in touch with his inner feelings. She also was the inspiration for some of John's greatest songs, "Imagine", "Woman", "Starting Over" and many, many more.

Their marriage was not without its problems however. John's fan's hatred of Yoko was often an interference. Also in the mid seventies they separated. This 18 month period John referred to as his "Lost Weekend". Yoko through him out because he had changed, was dependent on her, drinking too much, cheated on her, and she was losing her identity. To make the separation very strange she had her secretary, May Pang, accompany John as her substitute and report back to her how John was. May Pang was chosen because Yoko knew of John's crush on her, so it was no surprise John slept with her. John had many problems during this period. He was drinking all the time, his music was feeling forced, and he lost the most important person in his life. He was thrown out of a bar for harassing a waitress because he was drunk, he was very violent towards his friends, depressed with himself, and was yearning to be with Yoko. Eventually they did get back together, and Paul claims that he was part of the reason why. He went to see Yoko while he was in the States and asked her what it would take for John to be able to come back. She told him and he told John, and eventually things worked out. John and Yoko got back together when John appeared with Elton John for a concert. John had made a bet with Elton that if their collaboration "Whatever gets you Thru the Night" went to number one, he would perform live with him. John never imagined the song would actually hit number one and become his first solo number one. He performed with Elton and Yoko awaited him back stage. And they were together since then.

Life in the States for John and Yoko was not easy at first. For a while, the US government, under Nixon had John followed, his phone lines tapped, etc. Eventually John was threatened with deportation. Supposedly this was all due to his arrest in England for marijuana possession. John and Yoko fought and fought to stay and he was forced to stay in the States, so that interfered with Yoko's desire to find her daughter, Kyoko. The strain of the deportation threat was a leading cause in their break up as well. Things changed in 1975 however, as John obtained his green card. Also, shortly after, on John's 35th birthday, Yoko gave birth to their much sought after child. They had tried numerous times and she has suffered many miscarriages. They were told they could not have kids and this may have been due to John's drug taking. The surprise of having a baby was great. The named the child, Sean, and John retired from music for five years (his "House Husband Years"") to raise Sean. John loved staying home and raising Sean, he would often bake bread and play with his son. However, his first son Julian was very hurt by this. Julian was neglected and hadn't seen John in years and now John was spending all of his time with Sean. John and Julian did see eachother more frequently during his househusband years and there was every indication that things were getting better between them until John's death.

Things were great between John and Yoko during this time as well. The time away from the public eye was good for their relationship. Also the environment of New York was much better, as they weren't harrassed as much by fans. They kept the public up to date every now and then with letters, and John even worked out his long feud with Paul. He and Yoko had thought of making a movie and although John says he didn't really write music while he retired, he wrote quite a few songs and wanted to release them. It wasn't until 1980 that he was ready to. Sean was five and not as dependent on John, and John just felt it was right after he came back from vacationing in Bermuda. He and Yoko began working on "Double Fantasy" together, and in October of 1980, he released his first single "(Just Like) Starting Over", which eventually went to number one, as did the album. Everything was going great for them. Things however, were not to be, as John was shot and killed in front of his home, The Dakota, on December 8, 1980. The dream was over.