Log In
Register
Read the original blog post
5.07pm
31 March 2008
Offline
Recorded: 14 April 1969
Producer: George Martin
Engineer: Geoff Emerick
Released: 30 May 1969 (UK), 4 June 1969 (US)
John Lennon: vocals, lead guitar, acoustic guitar
Paul McCartney: harmony vocals, bass, drums, piano, maracas
Available on:
Past Masters
1
A snapshot of the events surrounding John Lennon ‘s marriage to Yoko Ono, The Ballad Of John And Yoko …
Can buy me love! Please consider supporting the Beatles Bible on Amazon
Or buy my paperback/ebook! Riding So High – The Beatles and Drugs
Don't miss The Bowie Bible – now live!
11.37pm
6 May 2015
Offline I’ll throw this out for discussion if anyone is interested. I’ve always thought that with the similarity in style of song and subject of song that the Grateful Dead started with idea of trying to write a song like Ballad of John and Yoko and wrote Truckin’. Of course the melody of Truckin’ is not nearly as good as BOJAY, IMO.
12.57am
Reviewers
29 August 2013
Offline LMW28IF said
I’ll throw this out for discussion if anyone is interested. I’ve always thought that with the similarity in style of song and subject of song that the Grateful Dead started with idea of trying to write a song like Ballad of John and Yoko and wrote Truckin’. Of course the melody of Truckin’ is not nearly as good as BOJAY, IMO.
I agree with you on the Dead song – it seems entirely possible and even likely given the timing. I’m not a big follower of the band but would be interested in hearing from anyone who is as to whether the Beatles’ track has been considered an influence before.
==> trcanberra and hongkonglady - Together even when not (married for those not in the know!) <==
4.01pm
Reviewers
14 April 2010
Offline It’s an interesting thought and I guess anything is possible. To me, the only thing the two songs have in common is that they tell a story. Then again, what ballad doesn’t? A quick search on Wiki uncovers the following…
The song was influenced by a dance from the twenties called “jiggeln'”. It was more influenced by underground comix artist R. Crumb’s drawing “Keep on Truckin'” that appeared in Zap Comix #1, released in San Francisco in 1968.
The following people thank Zig for this post:
trcanberraTo the fountain of perpetual mirth, let it roll for all its worth. And all the children boogie.
6.53pm
6 May 2015
Offline The similarity in content is John and Yoko galavanting around Europe trying to get married and do their bed-in for peace thing, and the Dead in Truckin’ are galavanting around the U.S. presumably touring.
7.29pm
21 January 2016
Offline This is a very good one. In many ways it’s more of a Lennon solo song with it’s Bob Dylan like poetry, but McCartney on the instrumentals gave this one a rhythm that helps make it stand out.
The following people thank Derek_Francis for this post:
SgtPeppersBulldog, Neely7.09pm
Reviewers
Moderators
1 May 2011
Offline Great George quote from ‘The Beatles Anthology’:
George; I didn’t mind not being invited to the wedding, and I didn’t mind not being on the record, because it was none of my business – ‘The Ballad Of John And Yoko ’. If it had been the ‘The Ballad Of John, George And Yoko’, then I would have been on it.
The following people thank meanmistermustard for this post:
SgtPeppersBulldog, WeepingAtlasCedars, c64wood, Beatlebug, vonbontee"I told you everything I could about me, Told you everything I could" ('Before Believing' - Emmylou Harris)
8.16pm
15 March 2017
Offline
That’s a typical George quote. I really like the song as well.
And in the end the lunch you take is equal to the lunch you bake.
8.33pm
10 March 2017
Offline I know that this is a weird question but do you guys think that Paul played guitar on this song. In the opening interview for The Beatles Recording Sessions by Mark Lewisohn, Paul says that he did only for Mark to correct him and then him saying he didn’t. It could be that Paul was remembering things wrongly and Mark was right but it could also be that he was remembering things correctly, only for Mark to correct him and then falsify his memory.
If I had to guess, I’d guess that John played acoustic guitar on his Framus and Electric guitar on his Epiphone with Paul also playing electric with his Epiphone.
If you're reading this, you are looking for something to do.
9.12pm
Reviewers
17 December 2012
Offline I think you’re massively misreading the quote, @Dark Overlord. Paul does not say he played guitar on this track, he says, “I’m not even sure if I played guitar…”, at which point Lewisohn says, “No. John played guitar”.
There is even documentation from the day about who played what:
After perfecting the basic track, which featured John on acoustic guitar and vocals with Paul on drums, there was an electric guitar overdub on track 5 by John, while track 6 is listed as, so far as I can read, “John’s doubling electric guitar – Paul’s piano overdub”.
The recording sheet, filled in during the session, including a breakdown of the session “sequence of events for reference” makes no mention of Paul playing guitar. If Paul had played guitar, it would be on the recording sheet.
The following people thank Ron Nasty for this post:
Dark Overlord"I only said we were bigger than Rod... and now there's all this!" Ron Nasty
To @ Ron Nasty it's @ mja6758
The Beatles Bible 2020 non-Canon Poll Part One: 1958-1963 and Part Two: 1964-August 1966
10.44pm
10 March 2017
Offline Where’d you get that sheet, I wonder if there’s more. Anyways, good point, I never realized that they had the original recording sheet.
If you're reading this, you are looking for something to do.
11.15pm
Reviewers
17 December 2012
Offline It was first published, along with many other Recording Sheets, in Mark Lewisohn’s The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions. I’m guessing you only have a copy of the text, rather than the illustrated book.
"I only said we were bigger than Rod... and now there's all this!" Ron Nasty
To @ Ron Nasty it's @ mja6758
The Beatles Bible 2020 non-Canon Poll Part One: 1958-1963 and Part Two: 1964-August 1966
3.11am
Reviewers
Moderators
1 May 2011
Offline The book is online and available to download. I won’t link as it’s copyrighted.
"I told you everything I could about me, Told you everything I could" ('Before Believing' - Emmylou Harris)
8.31am
10 March 2017
Offline Sorry about that, i do own a digital copy of the book that includes pictures, it’s just that it’s a research book and not a book like Gone With The Wind that you read from start to finish, so i only read it when i need to and only the parts that i need to read.
If you're reading this, you are looking for something to do.
5.11pm
Reviewers
Moderators
1 May 2011
Offline Dark Overlord said
Sorry about that, i do own a digital copy of the book that includes pictures, it’s just that it’s a research book and not a book like Gone With The Wind that you read from start to finish, so i only read it when i need to and only the parts that i need to read.
I read it fro start to finish, would have been aged about 12 at the time.
The following people thank meanmistermustard for this post:
Dark Overlord, The Hole Got Fixed"I told you everything I could about me, Told you everything I could" ('Before Believing' - Emmylou Harris)
1.55pm
2 January 2017
Offline Thinking about it, the song’s lyrics remind me a lot of Chuck Berry’s You Never Can Tell, except the events in The Ballad Of John And Yoko actually happened. Being the Chuck Berry fan he was, does anybody think John might have been influenced to present the events of his and Yoko’s wedding the way they are in song?
The following people thank SgtPeppersBulldog for this post:
Jpgr"Some kind of happiness is measured out in miles... "
2017:
2.50pm
10 March 2017
Offline The acoustic guitar on this song sounds a lot like a 12 string.
If you're reading this, you are looking for something to do.
3.30pm
8 May 2017
Offline SgtPeppersBulldog said
Thinking about it, the song’s lyrics remind me a lot of Chuck Berry’s You Never Can Tell, except the events in The Ballad Of John And Yoko actually happened. Being the Chuck Berry fan he was, does anybody think John might have been influenced to present the events of his and Yoko’s wedding the way they are in song?
This is interesting to contemplate. I wouldn’t be shocked if the Chuck Berry song had some influence, even if it was subconscious.
The following people thank Jpgr for this post:
SgtPeppersBulldog7.11am
26 January 2017
Offline I didn’t used to like this song but it has grown on me a lot, or at least the lyrics have. The music is quite boring by the band’s standards.
I've been up on the mountain, and I've seen his wondrous grace,
I've sat there on the barstool and I've looked him in the face.
He seemed a little haggard, but it did not slow him down,
he was humming to the neon of the universal sound.
7.22am
19 January 2017
Offline I love the song, sounds more like a Lennon solo track to me. I don’t think it would have sounded out of place on Imagine .
best bit is the ‘saving up your money for a rainy day’ section and I love how the maracas come in afterwards.
The following people thank Flyingbrians for this post:
SgtPeppersBulldog, Beatlebug"And life flows on within you and without you" - George Harrison
