It’s sad to think about how many incredible songs could have been kept from the music world due to embarrassment. In secret folders around the world, budding musicians are harbouring treasures that they’re too shy to share. Or even more prominent artists find themselves relegating songs to the archives or becoming bashful about a release once it’s out. It’s a feeling that even one of the most beloved and respected songwriters in history felt, as John Lennon once admitted to feeling somewhat embarrassed about one track.
The song in question touches on an often misunderstood or misrepresented period of Lennon’s life. There is a subsect of Beatles fans who still, and boringly, like to claim that it was Yoko Ono who caused the end of the band. In their eyes, Lennon fell in love with the experimental artist and went off the deep end, becoming uninterested in his own career and instead simply being a lovestruck fool for his wife.
That perception wasn’t helped by the track ‘Oh Yoko!’ Released in 1971, the track sat on his sophomore solo album Imagine. Following the release of his debut, John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band, fans thought the ex-Beatle had gone Ono mad as not only was his wife co-producing his work, but her name seemed to be almost always on his lips.
But it’s a tired old argument to try and claim that Lennon, one of the most powerful men in music history, was simply a fool at the mercy of his wife. There is no denying that the couple were utterly enamoured, but their relationship was not only romantic but deeply creative. Even in the final years of the Beatles, it’s easy to see just how much Ono’s experimental music inspired Lennon, expanding his own perceptions of music-making and its capabilities. So it’s no wonder that he not only wanted to sing about his lover in the grand history of love songs but also wanted to pen odes to the most influential and inspirational force in his life at the time.
Also, what’s so wrong about a man boldly and vocally adoring his wife? To Lennon, as to the world at the time, the idea of being so forthcoming made him shy. “I was sort of shy and embarrassed, and it didn’t sort of represent my image of myself as the tough, hard-biting rock ‘n’ roller with the acid tongue,” he said of the song.
No part of the sweet track holds up the stereotype of the typical rockstar. Instead, it moves through a series of vignettes in which Lennon misses his wife and yearns for her presence. With an upbeat and fun instrumentation, it’s the exact opposite of the macho, ‘sex, drugs and rock and roll’ image as the singer romanticises monogamy and domesticity.
But it’s a beautiful song nonetheless, capturing a beautiful moment in Lennon’s life. While people try to claim that Ono ruined the ex-Beatle, it’s clear that with her love and influence, he entered an incredibly creative yet peaceful time in his life. Just as how all the band members retreated back to their homes in the wake of the band’s breakup, leaning on the support network of their family and partners, Lennon did the same with Ono, writing her grand love songs as a way of thanking her.
