“But I regret the association, well, what’s to regret? He lived through it. Lennon later attempted to dampen the fires of ‘How Do You Sleep?’ by claiming it was “not about Paul.” To rub salt in the wounds, George Harrison apparently endorsed Lennon’s sentiment as he plays slide guitar on the recording, overseen by Phil Spector – the producer who, in McCartney’s eyes, ruined ‘Let It Be’ while Ringo Starr, though not playing, was also present at the session. Hitting him right where it hurts, he mocked McCartney’s most famous song ‘Yesterday’, and ‘Just Another Day’, while also referring to a great conspiracy theory that he had died in 1966 and been replaced by a look-alike. “Those freaks was right when they said you was dead… The only thing you done was yesterday, and since you’ve gone you’re just another day,” Lennon opined in acerbic manner. Annoyed by the apparent sledging of Ono and himself on McCartney’s album ‘Ram’, Lennon decided to retaliate in his most notorious swipe at his former song-writing partner.
‘How Do You Sleep?’, however, had a much less peaceful and more spiteful tone. “A lot of it – the lyric and the concept – came from Yoko… it was right out of Grapefruit.” Lennon later reflected Ono should have had a joint credit for the song. Ono’s poem ‘Cloud Piece’ includes the line “Imagine the clouds, dripping, dig a hole in your garden to put them in.” The lyrics to ‘Imagine’ had partly been inspired by Yoko Ono’s 1964 book ‘Grapefruit’ and also led the cover design for the album. It remains Lennon’s most successful solo song, having sold more than 1.7million copies in the UK alone and been performed or covered by more than 200 artists globally.Īnd who can forget the dreamy video for ‘Imagine’ with Lennon sat at his white grand piano in the huge white room at Tittenhurst, light gradually pouring in as Yoko Ono opens the shutters. His haunting and simplistic piano chords of mainly C, C major 7 then F are one of the most memorable hooks in music. With its more polished sound and subtle strings, Lennon later said he regretted the production of the song stating it was “anti-religious, anti-nationalistic, anti-conventional and anti-capitalist” but, because it was “sugar coated”, people accepted it. “Imagine all the people, living life in peace…it’s easy if you try,” Lennon wrote, in one of the most quotable song lyrics ever written. It seeks a form of socialism with one country, one world and one people. ‘Imagine’, the signature track, was written as a plea for world peace, unity and equality.
#Yoko ono grapefruit poem clouds plus#
The therapy influenced debut album ‘John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band’ and it can still be heard on ‘Imagine’ which was co-produced by John and Yoko with Phil Spector.įellow ex-Beatle George Harrison featured (on half the tracks), along with another Beatles collaborator (creator of the ‘Revolver’ sleeve art) Klaus Voorman on bass, Nicky Hopkins on piano, and all of Alan White, Jim Keltner and Jim Gordon on drums plus King Curtis on saxophone.
Lennon got Janov and his wife in to conduct the therapy after being impressed by a copy of Janov’s “The Primal Scream” book that had been posted to him at Tittenhurst. With headlines like “Paul Quits The Beatles” the other three felt betrayed and Lennon certainly used words as weapons on the ‘Imagine’ album.Īfter the big split, John Lennon and Yoko Ono had entered a period of four months of ‘Primal Therapy’ – a therapy promoted by Arthur Janov where the patient recalls and re-enacts disturbing past experiences and expresses normally repressed anger or frustration through spontaneous and unrestrained screams, hysteria, or violence. Then, following a row over the release of Paul McCartney’s solo album clashing with the scheduling for ‘Let It Be’ and Starr’s debut album, coupled with McCartney’s dislike of Phil Spector’s treatment of some of the ‘Let It Be’ tracks – mainly the title track, he officially left the Fab Four on April 10, 1970. Lennon quit in September 1969, but it was not clear how long for. Ringo Starr and George Harrison had already briefly left and returned. The Beatles had been plagued by business difficulties after Brian Epstein’s death in 1967, eventually all falling behind Allen Klein as manager, much to Paul McCartney’s displeasure.
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