Posted on 02/18/2024 3:27:42 PM PST by nickcarraway
The Japanese artist has been a touchstone of popular culture for more than half a century.
She retains such an energetic inquisitiveness about the world of art, it’s hard to believe that, in earth years, so to speak, Yoko Ono is now in her tenth decade on the planet. Born in Tokyo on February 18, 1933, the Japanese artist has conducted herself with great dignity and resilience as a prominent cultural figure for more than half a century.
After meeting John Lennon when he was one of perhaps the four most famous people in the world, she has kept his name in our hearts as much as her own, in the decades since his passing. In 2016, on the eve of her birthday, she won the Inspiration award at the NME Awards in London, presented to her by Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore.
Yoko was also the woman who encouraged Lennon to express himself in ways that could simply not be contained within the parameters of conventional pop music. Ono moved increasingly to the fore as The Beatles, and the 1960s, came to a close, and was John’s equal in their tireless campaigning for peace and understanding in a troubled world.
It’s often been conveniently overlooked that when the world lost a hero, Yoko lost a partner and a soul mate. Their relationship was strong enough to recover from a rocky period in the 1970s and to become more solid than ever in their last years together. So much so, in fact, that there are certain Lennon compositions about their love that remain hard to listen to, including the confessional “Woman” and the heartbreaking “Grow Old With Me.”
In later years, she has, in a way, remained what John once called her, “the world’s most famous unknown artist,” globally renowned but not always considered on her own merits. Her selfless participation in good causes and in the annual observations of the anniversary of John’s passing – and, more happily, his birthday – do her enormous credit.
Her selection as curator of the highly prestigious and well-regarded Meltdown Festival, on London’s South Bank in 2013, was one of several signposts in recent times to the fact that Yoko Ono is finally receiving the respect she deserves. And, on what would have been John’s 80th birthday in October 2020, she executive-produced the suite of collections titled GIMME SOME TRUTH. The Ultimate Mixes with all of her selfless devotion.
The look on Chuck’s face says it all.
Please stop that ugly noise.
Yoko inspires me to immediately leave any room or other location where she is mentioned. Just in case.
I must give her some credit: When I hear Yoko sing, I have renewed appreciation for Bob Dylan and Phyllis Diller.
That was such a classic scene...and utterly real!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bz_SPin9Iqg
https://www.goldradiouk.com/artists/john-lennon/chuck-berry-yoko-ono-screaming-video/
She’s gawd awful ugly as well. How did Lennon fall for her?
A few years ago someone ahead of me in traffic had a fresh looking bumper sticker:
I Still Hold A Grudge Against Yoko.
One anti-Yoko anecdote:
Interviewer: Do you and John do any exercises these days?
Yoko: We are both addicted to heroin so I believe that counts as exercise.
Same reason Eve convinced Adam to eat the fruit after her.
Oooooooooo your shin just hit the explosives trip wire by dissing Bob Dylan.
My favorite.
When his first two albums were out (I was a late arriving fan, only getting the 2nd one after the famous Hi Fi/Stereo Review magazine review) one critic already said “His singing voice sounds like a cow helplessly straddling a barbed wire fence.” Funny one.
Hey, you know, I haven’t renewed my Yoko Ono Fan Club membership either. but can you really say all her work on Double Fantasy was.... merde?
Take a second listen to at leasr two tracks on that songlist.
“Beautiful Boys” and “Hardtimes Are Over”. She uses a spoken word/ singing method, sort of like what Richard Harris did on MacArthur Park. She’s believable with that method, as it suits the flat tones of her speech. She sounds like a character who has struggled for quite a while and has now found relief.
**Hidden Gem from one of John’s late work:
“Jealous Guy”.Listen to the piano intro. Spare, but fulfilling.
My God, Thank you for that picture of Chuck. Yoko is life cancer. Stupid, untalented, and aggressively untalented in every life effort and obnoxiously inserting her idiot self into all situations. I have a ex-friend who is a 7th grade science teacher who would absolutely bust into a nuclear reactor and tell everyone to get out - because he was taking charge. This is the same personality disorder.
Music wasn’t her thing.
She was a “conceptual artist,” and not a terrible one if you like that sort of thing.
Lol! So, you’re not, like, “enthralled”?
Her daddy was a very wealthy banker, and she brought ultra pure french/ME heroin to the “relationship”— needless to say a controlling relationship over John. He of course was a weak personality, interesting in his latter years he supported Ronald Reagan. An escape from the constant dependency libs demand... as socialism is always using force? Who knows. From the guy who wrote the terrible Marxist paean “Imagine”. Muzak to the moron liberal ears. Rant over as is their “time”.
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