"The Ballad of John and Yoko" is a Beatles song written by John Lennon. It chronicled the events surrounding Lennon's marriage to Yoko Ono and their subsequent activities together, including their infamous bed-in, and demonstration of bagism. It is notable since it sounds like a straightforward recording of the full band, though in fact it was performed by just Lennon and Paul McCartney. Lennon had a sudden inspiration for the song and dropped by McCartney's, suggesting the two of them knock it out in the studio without waiting for the other Beatles. (George Harrison was on a vacation, and Ringo Starr was filming The Magic Christian with Peter Sellers.) John was on lead vocal, and played lead guitar and acoustic guitar. Paul 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 double-disc Live at the BBC Jump to: navigation, search The Beatles were a British pop and rock group from Liverpool. ... Jump to: navigation, search May 30 is the 150th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (151st in leap years). ... Jump to: navigation, search 1969 was a common year starting on Wednesday For other uses, see Number 1969. ... 33⅓ LP vinyl record album The vinyl record is a type of gramophone record, most popular from the 1950s to the 1990s, that was most commonly used for mass-produced recordings of music. ... Jump to: navigation, search April 14 is the 104th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (105th in leap years). ... Jump to: navigation, search 1969 was a common year starting on Wednesday For other uses, see Number 1969. ... Musical genres are categories which contain music which share a certain style or which have certain elements in common. ... Rock and roll (also spelled Rock n Roll, especially in its first decade), also called rock, is a form of popular music, usually featuring vocals (often with vocal harmony), electric guitars and a strong back beat; other instruments, such as the saxophone, are common in some styles. ... Jump to: navigation, search A record label is a brand created by companies that specialize in manufacturing, distributing and promoting audio and video recordings, on various formats including compact discs, LPs, DVD-Audio, SACDs, and cassettes. ... The EMI Group is a major record label, based in Hammersmith in London, in the United Kingdom. ... Jump to: navigation, search In the music industry, a record producer (or music producer) is (among many other tasks) primarily responsible for completing a master recording so that it is fit for mass production and commercial release. ... For the author, see George R. R. Martin. ... Top 40 is a radio format based on frequent repetition of songs from a constantly-updated list of the forty best-selling singles. ... This article is about the song. ... Jump to: navigation, search 1969 was a common year starting on Wednesday For other uses, see Number 1969. ... Jump to: navigation, search 1969 was a common year starting on Wednesday For other uses, see Number 1969. ... Something is a song written by George Harrison, originally released on the Beatles last chronological album, Abbey Road by Apple Records. ... Jump to: navigation, search Come Together is a song by the rock band The Beatles. ... Jump to: navigation, search 1969 was a common year starting on Wednesday For other uses, see Number 1969. ... The Beatles appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1964 as part of their first tour of the United States, promoting their first hit single there, I Want To Hold Your Hand. ... Jump to: navigation, search John Lennon in the autumn of 1968 John Winston Ono Lennon, (October 9, 1940 – December 8, 1980), was best known as a singer, songwriter, poet and guitarist for The Beatles. ... Jump to: navigation, search Yoko Ono. ... John Lennon and Yoko Onos Bed-In video During the Vietnam War in 1969 John Lennon and Yoko Ono held two week-long Bed-Ins for Peace, which were their Mahatma Gandhi-inspired non-violent ways of protesting wars and promoting peace. ... Bagism is a term which was created by the late Beatle, John Lennon, and his wife, Yoko Ono, as part of their extensive peace campaign in the late 1960s. ... Jump to: navigation, search Paul McCartney, as photographed by John Kelley for the 1968 LP The Beatles (aka The White Album). Sir James Paul McCartney, MBE (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, musician and songwriter, who first came to prominence as a member of The Beatles. ... Jump to: navigation, search George Harrison, MBE (February 24, 1943 – November 29, 2001) was a popular British guitarist, singer, songwriter, record producer, and film producer, best known as a member of The Beatles. ... Jump to: navigation, search Ringo Starr as photographed by John Kelly for the 1968 LP The Beatles (aka The White Album). Richard Starkey, MBE (born July 7, 1940), known by his stage name Ringo Starr, is a popular British musician, best known as drummer for The Beatles. ... The Magic Christian is a comic novel (1959) by U.S. author Terry Southern; and a film (Joseph McGrath; UK, 1969) loosely based on Southerns book, starring Peter Sellers and Ringo Starr. ... Jump to: navigation, search Peter Sellers Richard Henry Sellers (September 8, 1925 – July 24, 1980), better known as Peter Sellers, was an English comedian, comic actor, and performer, who came to prominence on the BBC radio series The Goon Show, before embarking on a successful film career. ... Live at the BBC was released by the Beatles in December 1994, and includes tracks from the multitude of the recordings they made for radio shows at the BBC during 1963-1965 Track listing Disc 1 Beatle Greetings (Speech) From Us to You (Lennon-McCartney) Previously unreleased variation Riding on...

The session recordings reveal this amusing exchange:

Lennon (playing guitar): Go a bit faster, Ringo!

McCartney (playing drums): OK, George!

The song was banned in several US states due to Lennon's use of the word "Christ" so soon after his "Jesus" comment in 1966, which contributed to the fact that it reached number one in the UK but not in the US. Jump to: navigation, search Christ is the English representation of the Greek word Χριστός (transliterated as Khristós), which means anointed. ...

References

• The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions by Mark Lewisohn, ISBN 0681031891, pp. 14 and 173.

External links

• Lyrics