Some Thoughts on John and Yoko

I was pretty much a baby when the Beatles first arrived on the music scene, since I was born on the tail end of the Baby Boomer comet. In fact, I only got into their music when Let it Be was released. Since my older sister was the one with the job and the disposable income for LP purchases, I listened to what she liked musically (Fleetwood Mac, Elton John, Carly Simon) as well as some humor recordings (Firesign Theater, Monty Python, George Carlin). Still, she was also the one who bought Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band at a local grocery store where they had a limited record section across from where they sold and developed camera film.

Hearing that musical milestone was a pivotal point of my life as a music listener. Okay, maybe "listener" is too mild a word for how recorded music deeply touched my young psyche. Before I heard Sgt. Pepper, I was relegated to whatever was "top 40" on AM radio. In between that and the Oldies format (which only played the pop hits of the 50's and early 60's), I was stuck in a cultural mire. I did get to hear some early Beatles music until they got radical. Growing up in San Antonio, TX, I was stuck in a military town where one of my neighbor's bumper stickers had a peace sign with the words, "Footprint of the American Chicken." Yeah, it was that kind of town.

With that as prologue, I honor the title of this essay by focusing on the true love of John and Yoko. Apart from seeing the album cover of the Plastic Ono Band's one release in a drug store's even smaller record kiosk, I only knew of John and Yoko from a book of Beatles' song lyrics which I read greedily. My favorite song has to be, "The Ballad of John and Yoko." Even though I did not get the references to "eating cake in a bag" or their Bed-in event, I loved reading the poetry and sensing that there was something real and beautiful between the two of these "virgins." It wouldn't be until I was an adult going to used record stores that I would get to see the cover of their Two Virgins album.

Then, when Double Fantasy came out, I had to get that album no matter how little money I had as an eighteen-year old. My subscription to Rolling Stone was rewarded with their Annie Lebowitz-shot cover of a clothed Yoko being fetally embraced by a nude John. They looked so content, so beautiful together the way that soulmates always do. To me, they were the model of what real twin souls could become. Then came the shock that turned our world upisde-down. John Lennon's murder was our cultural 9-11, and anyone alive and aware during December 1980 will never forget where we were on 12-8-80. I was sitting on my bed listening to the radio when word hit me that John Lennon was dead through the psychotic actions of a very sick mind.

Recently, I feel I was blessed to see the documentary, John and Yoko: The Bed-in. Here in the US, it's simply called Honeymoon, which I find confusing since there are far too many other films by that name according to imdb. It is a wonderful relic of an era where the innocence of love based on peace could seemingly pull us out of a bloody, soul-killing war, no matter if that war was waged in Vietnam or Biafra. One scene that stands out for me was when John and Yoko pleaded with their followers not to walk to their hotel room in Toronto, but to stay on the hill where they congregated.

Then, there was the footage of comic strip creator Al Capp (Lil' Abner) trying to provoke fisticuffs between himself and Lennon. Capp insulted everything that Lennon held dear, especially his love for Yoko. While Capp infuriated John and Yoko's manager, John verbally restrained both of them and did not play Capp's small-minded game. This scene is a wonderul example of how, when and why peacefully-motivated activism could triumph over anger and hatred.

I was able to see this on the Sundance Channel, and it would be great to be able to have a copy of it on DVD so I could see it at my leisure. The vision of John and Yoko, dressed in white pajamas, covered under equally pure white sheets is something I want to remember even in these days of fearmongering leaders who grasp at the straws of power they possess.

Give peace a chance? Yes, let's.