To someone like me, who thinks “Hard Times Are Over” is great, and who thinks the tandem of “I’m Losing You” and “I’m Moving On” is also great, that means I couldn’t care less.
Meh, she’s an avant-garde artiste. Doesn’t matter if it’s music, singing, performance art, sculpture, drawing, or paint. It’s avant-garde. And over the years, I’ve learned to accept the shame of not being sophisticated enough to appreciate it.
You kidding? “Kiss Kiss Kiss” is one of the badassest songs ever.
U mad, bro?
I haven’t even looked at the link, and I laughed out loud, and hard, at the reference of ‘…dulcet tones…’. Those words in the same paragraph as a reference to Yoko Ono are world-class.
Hilarious,** Face Intentionally Left Blank**.
Are these quotes from her work?
Is it lyrics you want?
“What a Mess” Approximately Infinite Universe (1973)
If you keep hammering anti-abortion,
We’ll tell you no more masturbation for men.
Ev’ry day you’re killing living sperms in billions,
So how do you feel about that, brother?
I love her.
I don’t think I would go to one of her performances, if she is still doing them, but I always liked her music because it was quirky.
I haven’t listened to any tracks from The White Album in a while, but I think she can be heard doing some of the weird sounds in the background throughout the album.
The song, Bungalow Bill, features her singing the chorus, one of my favorite tracks.
I like her, cute and quirky, very Japanese. I lived in Japan for a few years and am a sucker for the cute stuff.
I also love to hear The 5,6,7,8s mangle all those old rock songs, they are great!
And on hers.
Obligatory Simpsons link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22EHOmtWNwI
Every sperm is sacred
Every sperm is great
If a sperm is wasted
God gets quite irate
Let the heathen spill theirs
On the dusty ground
God shall make them pay for
Each sperm that can’t be found
That’s an interesting point of view, but I don’t generally let famous people influence my opinion so much.
Without trusting my opinion or john lennons one way or another…what is your opinion? Do you think her singing is brilliant?
Thanks for the links; I haven’t heard Walking on Thin Ice for a long time. Awesome. Sounds a lot like some of David Bowie, actually. I think maybe those who hate Ono’s singing are thinking she is unable to sound like other singers, instead of realizing she sounds exactly as she wants to sound. You don’t have to like it but at least acknowledge she’s doing something on purpose and not “just a lousy singer”. Funny how nobody says Bowie is “just a lousy singer” when he does some of his more avant garde stuff.
1972 was quite a year for feminist anthems. Helen Reddy’s “I Am Woman” hit #1. Yoko Ono’s “Sisters, O Sisters” came out that year too. Although Helen Reddy is top-40s pop and Yoko Ono is classified as avant-garde, Yoko’s song is no more unconventional in music or lyrics by comparison to Helen’s. It was released as a rock-‘n’-roll arrangement. But when the Onos played an unplugged gig, the music shifted to Hootenanny guitars. The more I listen to both, the more I think Ono composed the better melody, although both songs have great melodies.
Well said.
Thanks, Johanna.
When I was growing up in the early 70’s I remember the older brother of my friend down the street had a copy of Plastic Ono Band’s Why. Dulcet tones indeed.
Back in the mid-80’s when they did that “Hands Across America” thing, David Letterman was talking about it in his monologue the following week. He mentioned how packed Battery Park was and how after it was over there was this huge feeling of camaraderie and nobody wanted to leave… so the police asked Yoko Ono if she would get up on stage and sing a couple of songs. 