Deciphering The Beatles Eleven..................The Ballad Of John And Yoko

[gryphon]

Deciphering The Beatles Eleven..................The Ballad Of John And Yoko

Lyrics
Standing in the dock at Southampton,
Trying to get to Holland or France.
The man in the mac said, "You've got to turn back".
You know they didn't even give us a chance.
Christ you know it ain't easy,
You know how hard it can be.
The way things are going
They're going to crucify me.
Finally made the plane into Paris,
Honey mooning down by the Seine.
Peter Brown called to say,
"You can make it O.K.,
You can get married in Gibraltar, near Spain".
Christ you know it ain't easy,
You know how hard it can be.
The way things are going
They're going to crucify me.
Drove from Paris to the Amsterdam Hilton,
Talking in our beds for a week.
The newspapers said, "Say what you doing in bed?"
I said, "We're only trying to get us some peace".
Christ you know it ain't easy,
You know how hard it can be.
The way things are going
They're going to crucify me.
Saving up your money for a rainy day,
Giving all your clothes to charity.
Last night the wife said,
"Oh boy, when you're dead
You don't take nothing with you
But your soul - think!"
Made a lightning trip to Vienna,
eating chocolate cake in a bag.
The newspapers said, "She's gone to his head,
They look just like two gurus in drag".
Christ you know it ain't easy,
You know how hard it can be.
The way things are going
They're going to crucify me.
Caught an early plane back to London.
Fifty acorns tied in a sack.
The men from the press said, "We wish you success,
It's good to have the both of you back".
Christ you know it ain't easy,
You know how hard it can be.
The way things are going
They're going to crucify me.
The way things are going
They're going to crucify me.


I guess every so often, you get to do one for yourself..............Always loved this one..............the song drives you along like sitting in the leather seat of a good sports car................
By now John had really matured as a song writer, he had many styles and could express his thoughts about himself.................
His life was fast and furious and he had the added dimension of Yoko .....................
John believed that his life was important and that he should documents his actions for peace so he came up with the idea of the journalistic song....................It was to be like a newspaper, fast , current and disposable................ He was to do third again in the making of Instant Karma although not as journalistically....................

John was fired up with this one to such an extent that he could not wait or George and Ringo to come to the studio ..............As a result this recoding contains just John and Paul...........................It is clearly evident that Paul played he drums here because the song has a different drum pattern to most Beatle songs ................along with this Paul was able to place a driving bass performance to complete he really tight rhythm section....................................It seems to have been completed in few takes.........but , f I am right there s at least one other take on the sound track of Anthology!

So what is in the lyrics ?
Mostly it is a documentary of John actions around the time it was written........................
At the start we find John and Yoko trying to find a place to get married:
John wanted to get married on the cross channel ferry .................It used to be something he captain was allowed to do in international waters ..............Ferries at hat time would have been to Holland ( Harwich ...........Hoek van Holland ?) or several to France
Standing in the dock at Southampton,
Trying to get to Holland or France.
I seem to remember that John and Yoko had passport problems and were refused access , plus the right of the captain to marry people had been withdrawn............hence
The man in the mac said, "You've got to turn back".
You know they didn't even give us a chance.
The chorus seems to refer back to the Maureen Cleave interview where John claimed that “The Beatles “ were bigger than Christ...........................John always felt hat this had been unfairly misquoted ............and all sorts f unpleasant interpretations had lead to newspaper Armageddon...........So like the figure here referred to John thought that there next move was probably to crucify him!....................The Christ at the beginning being used as a proclamation......It is interesting to note that in the Bible belt where the Maureen Cleave interview had it’s greatest backlash ..........the single was issued on promo copies with this word bleeped out...............I have always wished to find or hear a copy with this but have never found one

Christ you know it ain't easy,
You know how hard it can be.
The way things are going
They're going to crucify me

Now, as John and Yoko had not worked out how to get married yet, the decided that that would not stop them from going on Honeymoon
Finally made the plane into Paris,
Honey mooning down by the Seine
The above they did hounded by the worlds press!
Peter Brown was a Beatles aid and was dispatched to found out where they could get married.
Gibralter was and is part of The UK , so here it was possible for them to get married.
Drove from Paris to the Amsterdam Hilton,
Talking in our beds for a week.
The newspapers said, "Say what you doing in bed?"
I said, "We're only trying to get us some peace".
From Paris they went onto Amsterdam and did a week long bed in for peace.
I believe that this is a piece of Yoko wisdom:
Saving up your money for a rainy day,
Giving all your clothes to charity.
Last night the wife said,
"Oh boy, when you're dead
You don't take nothing with you
But your soul - think!"

John and Yoko were involved a lot of charity work at the time and this might be something they actually did at that time.
Made a lightning trip to Vienna,
eating chocolate cake in a bag.
The newspapers said, "She's gone to his head,
They look just like two gurus in drag".

Again a real life set of evens , they staged a happening at The Hapsbergs Castle Hotel in Vienna.....They appeared in a bag in an elevator and were taken into reception like this..........The press expected an obscenity and so had turned out in force. It seems that John said later that they were not in the bag at all , instead it as two Harri Krsna kids..........hence They look just like two gurus in drag".

Again real life they did................
Caught an early plane back to London.
Fifty acorns tied in a sack.
The men from the press said, "We wish you success,
It's good to have the both of you back".

Fifty acorns tied in a sack.


Nota make weight lyric ................They went to Coventry Cathedral to plant Fifty acorns for peace.........however the acorns were dug up by souvenir hunters..........
The men from the press said, "We wish you success,
It's good to have the both of you back".
Upon their return that was the News Papers headlines.................................
This is widely looked upon as a real Lennon and McCartney song and it is documented that the two worked on it together............
Wiki adds
[FONT=&quot]Recording[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]The song was recorded without [/FONT][FONT=&quot]George Harrison[/FONT][FONT=&quot] (who was on holiday) and [/FONT][FONT=&quot]Ringo Starr[/FONT][FONT=&quot] (who was filming [/FONT][FONT=&quot]The Magic Christian[/FONT][FONT=&quot]).[/FONT][FONT=&quot][8][9][/FONT][FONT=&quot] In his biography, McCartney recalls that Lennon had had a sudden inspiration for the song and had suggested that the two of them should record it immediately, without waiting for the other Beatles to return.[/FONT][FONT=&quot][8][/FONT][FONT=&quot] Reflecting this somewhat unusual situation, the session recordings include the following exchange:[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Lennon (on guitar): "Go a bit faster, Ringo!"[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]McCartney (on drums): "OK, George!"[/FONT][FONT=&quot][8][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]This session also marked the return of [/FONT][FONT=&quot]Geoff Emerick[/FONT][FONT=&quot] as recording engineer of a Beatle session after he quit working with the group during the tense [/FONT][FONT=&quot]White Album[/FONT][FONT=&quot] sessions nine months earlier.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] Personnel[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Per [/FONT][FONT=&quot]Ian MacDonald[10][/FONT][FONT=&quot] and [/FONT][FONT=&quot]Mark Lewisohn[/FONT][FONT=&quot]:[/FONT][FONT=&quot][9][/FONT]

• [FONT=&quot]John Lennon[/FONT][FONT=&quot] – [/FONT][FONT=&quot]lead vocal[/FONT][FONT=&quot], [/FONT][FONT=&quot]lead guitars[/FONT][FONT=&quot], [/FONT][FONT=&quot]acoustic guitar[/FONT][FONT=&quot], [/FONT][FONT=&quot]percussion[/FONT]
  
• [FONT=&quot]Paul McCartney[/FONT][FONT=&quot] – [/FONT][FONT=&quot]harmony vocal[/FONT][FONT=&quot], [/FONT][FONT=&quot]bass[/FONT][FONT=&quot], [/FONT][FONT=&quot]drums[/FONT][FONT=&quot], [/FONT][FONT=&quot]piano[/FONT][FONT=&quot], [/FONT][FONT=&quot]maracas[/FONT]
  

[SteveO]

I have always loved this song ! I also love Paul's background vocals and didn't realise that it was only John and Paul on the single. Great job, Gryph !!!