Still Mad At Yoko

Subject: Still Mad At Yoko
From: Wesley S
Date: 10 Apr 00 - 01:50 PM

I had to laugh the other day when I saw this on a bumper sticker. It actually said "Still P***ed At Yoko". Later I heard on VH1 that today April 10th is considered to be the 30th anniversary of the breakup of the Beatles.{ Has it really been that long?? } I don't know how anyone to pin it down to a specific date and don't really care either.

I had originally planned to ask y'all if you have worked up { or "folked up " } any Beatles tunes for your repertoire but it looks like a lot of that might be taken care of over in the Bending Genres thread. But if you ARE doing any Beatles tunes let me know. Or if you just want to rake Yoko over the coals one more time let 'er rip.

Subject: RE: Still Mad At Yoko
From: Amos
Date: 10 Apr 00 - 02:28 PM

Hey, at least she was trying to keep John alive; the one I'm pissed at is Hinckley, if that's his name!! I heard a wonderful rendition of John singing "Fool on the Hill" the other day, and all I could think was what a deep, black wrongness it was to take such a heart and snuff it before its time.

Subject: RE: Still Mad At Yoko
From: MK
Date: 10 Apr 00 - 02:31 PM

You're thinking of Mark Chapman, Amos.
(Hinkley tried to do in President Regan.)

Subject: RE: Still Mad At Yoko
From: GUEST,Jim Dixon
Date: 10 Apr 00 - 02:32 PM

Hey, if it hadn't been for Yoko, John probably wouldn't have been living in America and therefore wouldn't have been stalked by Hinckley. So you could blame it all on her anyway.

Subject: RE: Still Mad At Yoko
From: Lonesome EJ
Date: 10 Apr 00 - 02:47 PM

Strike two Amos. It was Paul that wrote and sang Fool on the Hill. :@)LEJ

PS. On Double Fantasy, every other song was by Yoko, which shows what a nice guy John must have been.

Subject: RE: Still Mad At Yoko
From: Amos
Date: 10 Apr 00 - 03:02 PM

Well, sorry...I thought it was John, and my sentiment, altho misidentified, against Mark Chapman is the same, and was evoked by hearing a song I thought was John's...sigh...I hate it when I get confused with facts. :>)

I still think Chapman's sorry ass should be flayed in a large rock and roll auditorium. Is he still in th epen? Or what. Maybe I'll hunt him down myself!! (That was in jest, folks. An exaggeration of sentiment with no substantive implications).

A

Subject: RE: Still Mad At Yoko
From: Mooh
Date: 10 Apr 00 - 03:15 PM

WesleyS,

Lady Madonna folked up is cool.

Peace, Mooh.

Subject: RE: Still Mad At Yoko
From: Wesley S
Date: 10 Apr 00 - 03:21 PM

Mooh - I'd be curious what key you're doing Lady Madonna in? Are you working in all those decending bass lines on an acoustic guitar or a real bass guitar? Lately I've been working on "Baby's In Black" and "I Don't Want To Spoil The Party"

Subject: RE: Still Mad At Yoko
From: MK
Date: 10 Apr 00 - 03:52 PM

I worked up a fingerstyle arrangement of I Saw Her Standing There as an exercise when I was first trying to gain more independence in my left hand.

I later realized that it was extremely hokey sounding, so I never played it for anyone.....hmmm....perhaps if I'd made it into a full-blown Ragtime arrangement instead......nahhhhh.   8-)

Subject: RE: Still Mad At Yoko
From: Art Thieme
Date: 10 Apr 00 - 04:02 PM

There's a great CD of Beatles songs instrumentally finger-picked on solo acoutic guitar by GREG BENNET.

Can be had from Prairie State Records---PO Box 444---Lake Bluff, IL 60044-0444

Got it for Carol along with all the Beatles videos I could find for our 30th anniversary a few years back. I even put it on about once a month now. Just great stuff in spite of my preference for traditional things. Before we got hitched, Carol saw the Beatles twice---at Sox Park and at the International Amphitheater in Chicago.I saw George Harrison once.---He was walking down the street at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota. ;-)

Art Thieme

Art Thieme

Subject: RE: Still Mad At Yoko
From: The Shambles
Date: 10 Apr 00 - 04:45 PM

I play 'Get Back', on the harmonica. it's one ohe those tunes where you can play the melody but get a good 'blusey' feel to it as well............Try it?

Subject: RE: Still Mad At Yoko
From: Ed Pellow
Date: 10 Apr 00 - 05:19 PM

No one should get mad at Yoko. No one should blame any single person / circumstance for what happened.

It happened.

Think of your own life. How many twist and turns have resulted in your ending up where you are, who you are with, and what you are doing?

Our lives are all the result of chances, mistakes, lucky breaks and odd circumstances.

We don't blame anyone for lucky breaks, now do we?

Ed

Subject: RE: Still Mad At Yoko
From: catspaw49
Date: 10 Apr 00 - 05:59 PM

Actually I do Ed. I'm not a huge believer in luck, but I do have a nodding association with fate.

As far as Chapman goes...........fock'im

As far as Yoko goes...........fock'er

Spaw

Subject: RE: Still Mad At Yoko
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 10 Apr 00 - 06:02 PM

Peter Sellers doing 'It's been a hard days' night' in the style of Laurence Olivier playing Hamlet - has me going every time. John got a big kick out of that one!

LTS

Subject: RE: Still Mad At Yoko
From: Ed Pellow
Date: 10 Apr 00 - 06:39 PM

Catspaw,

If you believe in fate, then you surrender all freewill.

If you wish to believe that your life is 'predestined' fair enough.

This is something that is black or white, you can't have 'some' predestination.

I don't believe this. I have choice in terms of what I write here, and I therefore have choice about every way I choose to live my life. None of this is predestined.

Maybe this needs a new thread, but in the meantime, those who know little about the Beatles story shouldn't make judgements.

Learn a bit more before you make judgements

Ed

Subject: RE: Still Mad At Yoko
From: The Beanster
Date: 10 Apr 00 - 09:22 PM

I just wish she wouldn't sing. Ever.

Subject: RE: Still Mad At Yoko
From: Mbo
Date: 10 Apr 00 - 09:51 PM

I do lots of folk versions of Beatles tunes. A good one to check out is Maura O'Connell doing "For No One". Just her and a dobro...very cool. I also like to do post-Beatles songs too. George Harrison's "Apple Scruffs" is great, it's basically a folk jam with guitar, voice, & harmonica. Good stuff!

--Mbo

Subject: RE: Still Mad At Yoko
From: ddw
Date: 10 Apr 00 - 10:24 PM

Guess I'm destined to remain a minority of one. Pissed at Yoko? If we're talking about her being responsible for the breakup of the the Beatles, hell, I'd give her a medal! Couldn't stand 'em then, can't stand 'em now.

david

Subject: RE: Still Mad At Yoko
From: Mbo
Date: 10 Apr 00 - 10:31 PM

Ouch! David, you'll get no sympathy from me!! **BG**

--Mbo

Subject: RE: Still Mad At Yoko
From: Barky
Date: 10 Apr 00 - 10:34 PM

What did Yoko Ono do to get everyone so mad? All I know is that she was married to John. Hmm....

Subject: RE: Still Mad At Yoko
From: rangeroger
Date: 10 Apr 00 - 10:47 PM

Mary McCaslin does a killer version of "Help" on her Broken Promises CD.Of course this is the lady who did "Pinball Wizard" on clawhammer banjo.
rr

Subject: RE: Still Mad At Yoko
From: The Beanster
Date: 10 Apr 00 - 10:54 PM

In a nutshell, some people are of the opinion that it was Yoko's fault that the Beatles broke up. John Lennon included her in many Beatle-things (recording sessions, John's writing, etc.) where the other members maybe felt like she didn't belong. I've read that Lennon's attitude was a sort of: 'Where I go, Yoko goes--take it or leave it' and some say that the other members didn't appreciate what they saw as an intrusion on her part, eventually got fed up and called it quits.

Subject: RE: Still Mad At Yoko
From: Mbo
Date: 10 Apr 00 - 11:04 PM

Whoa! Pinball Wizard would RULE on banjo! Put it up there with Art's Misirlou...het guys...I'm thinging of a really cool album idea...

--Mbo

Subject: RE: Still Mad At Yoko
From: Art Thieme
Date: 10 Apr 00 - 11:25 PM

Ed Pellow,

I agree. Free will is cool as hell. It's a huge and marvelous crap shoot, ain't it? It's da luck o' da draw. It's who ya know. It's bein' in the right place at the right time and then giving them your card.---It's having 'em be into what your selling NOW rather than after you're dead or before you were born. Is what is. Whatever. But drive safely !

Art Thieme

Subject: RE: Still Mad At Yoko
From: Callie
Date: 11 Apr 00 - 12:30 AM

Yoko was an acclaimed artist in her own right before she got caught up in the rock n roll world.

Beanster, i agree with you about her voice, but she did influence a lot of people. Take the B-52s for instance. They're just straight Yoko done a-la pop.

And she has written some beautiful songs. They sound much better when sung by other people. Try Harry Nilsson singing "Silver Horse" or Elvis Costello singing "Walking on Thin Ice".

People blame Yoko on the Beatles' break-up. remember that the Beatles were an average age of 30 when the band split up. That's so young! They obviously started growing up, meeting partners etc and had to move on.

The music never goes away - it will always be there. Just walk on over to your turntable/cd player and put on "Rubber Soul" and settle back. Bliss! Folk or no folk, doesn't matter. An inspiring song is an insipring song - and they wrote tons of 'em.

My $0.02 worth!

--Callie

Subject: RE: Still Mad At Yoko
From: GUEST,james
Date: 11 Apr 00 - 11:36 AM

Yoko Ono was hardly an acclaimed artists.....like many people of the sixties she was searching for fresh ways to present artistic ideas........she never found them. What she found was the tired cliches of forced outrageousness and a man with money enough to let her keep doing it. Now she is famous for being famaous..less than she wanted, more than she deserves.

Subject: RE: Still Mad At Yoko
From: Lady McMoo
Date: 11 Apr 00 - 11:40 AM

Nothing against Yoko at all here.

A damn fine bum artist!

mcmoo

Subject: RE: Still Mad At Yoko
From: Lonesome EJ
Date: 11 Apr 00 - 11:59 AM

I always found her dismissal of pop music laughable. Before she met John, she "didn't even know who the Beatles were." Somehow she had no problem with accepting being on stage and performing with John on every occasion after that. But I do believe that she and John shared a very deep love, and I don't think she was just using him.

Subject: RE: Still Mad At Yoko
From: GUEST,Bartholomew
Date: 11 Apr 00 - 12:10 PM

Two songs that I've done by the Fabs that work pretty well are "Octopuses Garden" (finger-picked) and "All Things Must Pass" in an open-tuning, or using open chords in standard (it's been a while and I am not near enough to a guitar to find out exactly).

Two thoughts about Yoko:

I try to keep in mind that John thought very highly of her and her music and he is one of the few "genius" guys out there whose opinion I hesitate to ignore.

About her "breaking up" of the Beatles, as George said so succinctly - All Things Must Pass Away.

Subject: RE: Still Mad At Yoko
From: Whistle Stop
Date: 11 Apr 00 - 01:21 PM

Love Yoko or hate her (can't say I've ever been impressed by her artistry), I think we can all be grateful that the Beatles knew when it was time to call it quits. The usual pattern for successful and semi-successful bands is to have a brief, creatively fertile period, and then refuse to move on. Instead, they continually try to recreate their glory days, which becomes less and less convincing with each passing year, until they become parodies of themselves. I hesitate to name names -- any specifics are bound to generate a certain amount of controversy -- but I'll bet everyone reading this can think of a few examples, including some of the most well-known musicians on the planet.

I loved the Beatles, and they are a big part of the reason I am a musician. But I personally think it was the Beatles that broke up the Beatles, and their timing was pretty good.

Subject: RE: Still Mad At Yoko
From: Jim Krause
Date: 11 Apr 00 - 03:02 PM

Michael K, When I'm Sixty-four works real good as a ragtime guitar sort of piece. It has that circle of fifths chord progression that the ragtimers always loved.

Subject: RE: Still Mad At Yoko
From: Popular Halfwit
Date: 11 Apr 00 - 03:08 PM

John LOVES Yoko

Subject: RE: Still Mad At Yoko
From: Lanfranc
Date: 11 Apr 00 - 07:26 PM

Judy Collins recorded "In my Life" way back, and used it as the title for the album. I still sing "Norwegian Wood" to the accompaniment of an Appalachian Dulcimer, and "Blackbird" to an open G guitar, and, sometimes, as a closer "Let it Be" which usually has the audience singing so heartily I can just shut up and play guitar! OK, by that stage I'm usually p***ed, but with good English Ale, not Yoko Ono. Who can fathom the love of a woman for a man, or a man for a woman, or any other combination you fancy. Lennon treated his first wife rather badly by all accounts and certain portions of the UK press are full of Lennon's alleged homosexual relationship with Brian Epstein inter alia. He was no angel, probably isn't now, but he was a genius.

It was possibly better that he died tragically young - discuss!

Subject: RE: Still Mad At Yoko
From: MK
Date: 11 Apr 00 - 07:38 PM

Thanks Soddy. I'll give it a shot later tonight. Maxwell's Silver Hammer would probably work well as would Honey Pie.

Subject: RE: Still Mad At Yoko
From: MarkS
Date: 11 Apr 00 - 08:28 PM

I met Yoko once. I was working at Bloomingdales, a department store in New York City, in the early 70s. Yoko and one of her entourage bought several bags of craft stuff and I was asked to meet them by a side entrance and deliver the stuff to their limo.
I did, and she stiffed me for a tip.
Should I still be PO'd? Guess not, 'cause I now have this great story to tell!
MarkS

Subject: RE: Still Mad At Yoko
From: Callie
Date: 11 Apr 00 - 10:16 PM

Hey GUESTJames: She WAS acclaimed. Just not in pop circles. She was a performance and visual artist. She is STILL an acclaimed visual artist. I saw her exhibition at the Venice Biennale a few years ago and it was beautiful.

--Callie

Subject: RE: Still Mad At Yoko
From: Hyperabid
Date: 12 Apr 00 - 05:51 AM

Mad at no-one sad about John...

I still have an Astrid Kircher reproduction of John on my wall from the Hamburg years. You can see in his eyes his whole lofe is in front of him.

Hyp ;-)

Subject: RE: Still Mad At Yoko
From: Whistle Stop
Date: 12 Apr 00 - 07:59 AM

Or is that "his whole loaf is in front of him"? Sounds like a line from "In His Own Write".

As I said before, I think it's a good thing the Beatles called it quits when they did. However, I can't go so far as to agree with Alan Francis that it's "possibly better that he died tragically young". I think that was a damn shame.

Subject: RE: Still Mad At Yoko
From: GUEST,James
Date: 12 Apr 00 - 08:05 AM

Hi Callie; I believe she would not have any exibts were she not famous for ....well....fame.......if acclaimed means being talked about, yep. If it means appreciated as an artistic innovator.nope...the woman simply lacks any creative insight...being a strident self promotor is not art.

Subject: RE: Still Mad At Yoko
From: Mooh
Date: 12 Apr 00 - 10:38 AM

Wesley S,

Sorry for the delay, I guess I missed your question the first time I returned here.

Lady Madonna in the key of G. Sometimes with the bass lines tossed in. I now have a baritone guitar but I haven't worked out LM on it yet...it might make the bass line sound cooler. (It's tuned anywhere from a whole tone to a fifth lower than standard tuning.) It occurs to me now that a western swing arrangement of it would be much cool like.

Peace, Mooh.

Subject: RE: Still Mad At Yoko
From: Callie
Date: 12 Apr 00 - 08:08 PM

Hi there GUEST James:

I hate to labour a point, but I'm at work so what the hell!

Without delving into the "what is art" can of worms, I can only suggest that if you look at the stuff that Yoko was doing pre-John it was receiving critical attention in art galleries and art circles (which I believe is where they met). This is totally outside of rock n roll notions, and therefore dismissed by many folk who don't get into visual/performing arts.

The bagism stuff they did together caused some stir at the time. "But is it art?!" I hear you shout across the miles. Who knows. Whatever gets you through the night, 'salright! --Callie

Subject: RE: Still Mad At Yoko
From: GUEST,aldus
Date: 13 Apr 00 - 10:14 AM

I was not shouting across the miles, nor was I raising the question on what constitutes art... I was saying that Yoko Ono was a representive of many artists of the period......She explored things that were basically neither new nor interesting....merely self indulgent., self indulgence has always been stong point...it is why she makes albums.

Subject: RE: Still Mad At Yoko
From: GUEST,Mbo_at_ECU
Date: 13 Apr 00 - 10:35 AM

Well, everyone pretty much agrees that John Lennon was a genius---and he though ELO was the cat's meow, called them "Son of The Beatles" and said "If we [the Beatles] had stayed together, out music would have been very similar to Electric Light Orchestra." So there ya go! ELO RULES! BEATLES RULE!

--Mbo

Subject: RE: Still Mad At Yoko
From: Steve Latimer
Date: 13 Apr 00 - 12:40 PM

I watched the Rolling Stones Rock & Roll Circus the other night. While Mick, Keith, John, Eric Clapton and Mitch Mitchell were doing a pretty great version of Yer Blues Yoko was rolling around on stage in a black sack. Now, I don't get what is and what isn't art, but I thought this was really weird. When she came out of the sack and started to "sing" I wished she would return to the sack until the music was finished.

There was a radio commercial here a few years ago for a stereo store that had a great line, The best thing to happen to music since Yoko Ono stopped singing.

I do believe that John and Yoko were very much in love though.

Subject: RE: Still Mad At Yoko
From: Whistle Stop
Date: 13 Apr 00 - 01:36 PM

Mbo, I agree with everyone else about the late Mr. Lennon's talents, although I don't think his work was consistently great by any means, and I certainly don't go along with the deification of him that has arisen since his untimely death. But liking what he did and liking what he liked are two different things. After all, he thought Yoko's artistic endeavors were "the cat's meow" too, and I just can't go along with him on that.

Steve, I've seen the Rock and Roll Circus, too. Did you notice how embarrassed Eric Clapton looked when Yoko launched into her schtick? I could just imagine him thinking "well, I guess this is what I have to put up with if I want to play with John".

Subject: RE: Still Mad At Yoko
From: Steve Latimer
Date: 13 Apr 00 - 02:04 PM

Whistle Stop,

My thoughts exactly. And I don't think it was just Eric, Keith looked indignant, and who can blame him?