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The first song John Lennon wrote for Yoko Ono

The first song John Lennon wrote for Yoko Ono

During John Lennon Although he allegedly had many muses throughout his life, there was no one who had as profound an impact on his artistic output as his second wife, the multidisciplinary Japanese artist Yoko Ono. The relationship between Lennon and Ono blossomed in the late 1960s, when the Beatles were working on their ambitious double LP. White Albumand their secret affair would ultimately lead to Lennon’s separation from his first wife, Cynthia, in 1968.

The two regularly inspired each other’s work and regularly contributed to the others’ projects; Lennon’s work was increasingly inspired by Ono’s more avant-garde artistic tendencies. Lennon would also bring Ono into the studio to perform on multiple songs. White AlbumWith her contributions as backing vocals on the songs ‘The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill’ and ‘Birthday’, and in the form of tape loop experiments on ‘Revolution 9’.

Of course, Lennon also wrote songs directly about Ono and their romance, both early in their relationship and until her assassination in 1980. Some of these songs had clear references to Ono, with tracks like “The Ballad of John”. and from Yoko let it be While he describes his early relationships and marriages, his solo works such as ‘Love’ clearly describe the intense feelings he feels for his wife.

However, there are a few tracks that are a little more indirect in how they reference the relationship between the two artists. For example, the song ‘Everybody’s Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey’ seems at first glance to be a surreal jumble of lyricism, but it actually tells a story about the bandmates’ initial reactions to their new relationship. God’ only briefly mentions that he doesn’t believe in any ideology other than “Yoko and I,” and he turns a song largely about rejecting the worship of idols into a song about his marriage.

Yes few other examples Some of the songs Lennon wrote for Ono were more controversial than others, or the subject of the song was not clearly confirmed, but her presence in Lennon’s mind throughout the latter part of The Beatles’ career and Lennon’s solo work was a constant and would play a large role in the course of his later career.

So what was the first song John Lennon wrote about Yoko Ono?

There are a few answers to this question, depending on how much you want to believe or stretch your imagination that a song ‘about Yoko’ or just a song referencing her is.

The first song written by John Lennon confirmed to be about Ono is widely considered to be “Happiness Is a Warm Gun”; This is a song that uses double meanings about guns to refer to sexuality, and the gun is said to be hot because it’s newer. took a tour. Both the “girl who misses so much” and the “Mother Superior” in the song are Ono, and her jumping the gun is a way of identifying her as a sacred figure he’s sleeping with.

Others have suggested that the sexually suggestive song is also about drug use; The phrase “I need a fix ’cause I’m going down” probably refers to an addict looking for a hit other than his substance of choice. Lennon denied the claim, stating that the song was entirely about his sexual desires for Yoko and that the song was an exploration of Yoko as it was written in the early stages of their relationship. sensual nature one of their most intimate encounters.

Although ‘Happiness Is A Warm Gun’ was written in September 1968, a song from the same album recorded earlier the same year references his relationship with Ono and places it in an unusual context.

As previously mentioned, Lennon had many muses in his life, and his devotion to his mother Julia served as another source of inspiration for him; He wrote the poem ‘Julia’ in her honor. However, there is an interesting line in the first verse that reads “ocean child, calling to me”; This is a direct reference to the fact that the name Yoko literally means “sea child” when translated from Japanese to English.

The song’s simultaneous appeal to both her late mother and her new lover, explicitly expressing sexual feelings for the latter only early in the album, feels a bit Freudian, and there is debate as to whether this song is really about Ono or Lennon’s mother. . With this in mind, it’s probably safe to say that the first song John Lennon wrote solely in Yoko’s brain was ‘Happiness Is A Warm Gun’.

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