One Song/Three Versions – The Ballad of John and Yoko

Written by Jim S.

One of the things I really like about music is how you can take a song everyone’s familiar with, shake it up a little, change the tempo, change the instrumentation, harmonies, arrangement, etc., and voila! A brand new song. So I periodically like to list a tune you all know and see how somebody else shakes it up. I’m indebted to my buddy Steve on this one as he discovered the first cover by a band we both love.

Today’s tune is just about the last one you’d think anyone would cover. “The Ballad of John and Yoko” is largely about Lennon and Ono’s attempts to get married in March of 1969. It also details their general weirdness at the time (“Eating chocolate cake in a bag.”)

The story is largely autobiographical and seems to detail the facts as we know them. They got married in Gibraltar because it was British, quiet, friendly. You can read that story here if you are so inclined. This song marked the Beatles’ 17th (and final) number one UK hit.

Given the trouble Lennon had gotten into with his references to Jesus (at least in America, they knew they were pushing it with the “Christ you know it ain’t easy” reference. But by 1969, they were so thoroughly sick of their good boy image that they no longer cared what the world thought about their religious beliefs, their endless groupies, their drug use or anything else. You’d think they were the Rolling Stones!!

It was recorded only a couple of months after their (now well-documented) Get Back/Let it Be session. George was away and Ringo was filming The Magic Christian so it’s only John on vocals and guitar and Paul on bass, drums, piano and backing vocal. George said he didn’t mind not being on the record as the story was none of his business. “Had the song been ‘The Ballad of John, George, and Yoko, then I would have been on it.”

A really catchy tune with a cool lick by John at the end. I know he borrowed it from some old 50s number but it escapes me which one at the moment.

Who could possibly top that? Well, no one really. But what if you took the song and tried to find, well, the doo-wop in it? A while back I wrote about a great a capella group called The Persuasions. The Persuasions were discovered by none other than Frank Zappa who, while disdainful of much music he himself did not create, really loved doo-wop. You can read that post here.

Herewith the Persuasions sing John and Yoko’s tune. I could only find the Spotify version of this from an album called The Persuasions Sing the Beatles. The song choices are a little weird given that of all the tunes they could do, “Octopus’s Garden” is one of them.

Spotify link

Now, we all love a string quartet, don’t we? I used to follow – and once went to see – a band called the Turtle Island String Quartet. They did note-for-note renditions of tunes like Cream’s version of “Crossroads.”

Here we feature the Vitamin String Quartet. Their web page says, “Since the project’s start in 1999, Vitamin String Quartet (VSQ) has helped establish classical crossover as a genuine force in contemporary music while accompanying countless listeners through their workday and late-night study sessions, scoring unforgettable film and TV moments, and helping couples around the world create their perfect wedding playlist.

Across over 300 releases, VSQ have produced cutting-edge string renditions of a highly eclectic mix of artists, erasing boundaries between classical, dance, hip-hop, rock, and pop. From Cardi B to Björk, Studio Ghibli to goth metal, VSQ approaches their renditions with respect and care, breathing new life into the music they already love.”

Now you’re all caught up and you may go eat chocolate cake in a bag.

Standing in the dock at Southampton
Trying to get to Holland or France
The man in the mac said, “You’ve got to go back”
You know they didn’t even give us a chance