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Ballad of John and Yoko

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“Ballad of John and Yoko”
“Ballad of John and Yoko” cover
Single by The Beatles
B-side "Old Brown Shoe"
Released 30 May 1969 (UK)
4 June 1969 (US)
Format 7"
Recorded Abbey Road Studioes:
14 April 1969
Genre Rock
Length 2:59
Label Apple Records
Writer(s) Lennon/McCartney
Producer George Martin
The Beatles singles chronology
"Get Back" / "Don't Let Me Down"
(1969)
"The Ballad of John and Yoko" / "Old Brown Shoe"
(1969)
"Something"/ "Come Together"
(1969)
It's something I wrote, and it's like an old-time ballad. It's the story of us going along getting married, going to Paris, going to Amsterdam, all that. It's 'Johnny B. Paperback Writer.' The story came out that only Paul and I were on the record, but I wouldn't have bothered publicizing that. It doesn't mean anything. It just so happened that there were only two of us there -- George was abroad and Ringo was on the film and he couldn't come that night. Because of that, it was a choice of either re-mixing or doing a new song -- and you always go for doing a new one instead of fiddling about with an old one. So we did and it turned out well.

—John Lennon, 1969

Well, guess who wrote that? I wrote that in Paris on our honeymoon. It's a piece of journalism. It's a folk song. That's why I called it, 'The Ballad Of...'

—John Lennon, 1980

John came to me and said, 'I've got this song about our wedding and it's called The Ballad Of John And Yoko, Christ They're Gonna Crucify Me, and I said 'Jesus Christ, you're kidding aren't you? Someone really is going to get upset about it.' He said, 'Yeah, but let's do it.' I was a little worried for him because of the lyric but he was going through alot of terrible things. He came around to my house, wanting to do it really quick. He said, 'Let's just you and me run over to the studio.' I said 'Oh alright, I'll play drums, I'll play bass.' John played guitar. So we did it and stood back to see if the other guys would hate us for it-- which I'm not sure about. They probably never forgave us. John was on heat, so to speak. He needed to record it so we just ran in and did it.

—Paul McCartney, 1988


Lyrics

Watch the Beatles performing this song:

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