Ballad of J & Yoko-Old Brown Shoe- Abbey Road or Let it be

There was no Plastic Ono Band at that time, John recorded with or as The Beatles only. It was his next record, Give Peace A Chance, that made a new group inevitable (though that was still credited Lennon/McCartney).

 

With the bassline from Elvis's "Don't Be Cruel" and the guitar lick from Johnny Burnette's "Lonesome Tars in My Eyes".

 

Neither. Standalone single. Same as Strawberry Fields......

 

No. The Get Back/Let It Be sessions ended on January 31, 1969 (except for the few additions in January 1970, that is, "I Me Mine" and overdubs on the songs "Let It Be" and "For You Blue"). But "The Ballad of John & Yoko" was recorded on April 14, 1969, which is 2-and-a-half months after.

 

What is weird is the story is told that John was super gung-ho to record "The Ballad of John and Yoko" real quick. Strike while the iron is hot. So even though George (who was on vacation) and Ringo (who was doing film work for The Magic Christian) were away, John just gets Paul to record the song on April 14, 1969. And the way John describes it, he didn't want to wait weeks and weeks, or months and months, to get it done.

Reality check:

BUT WHY COULDN'T JOHN WAIT 2 DAYS??!! Yes, "Old Brown Shoe" was recorded only 2 days later on April 16. So if John would have waited just 2 days, he could have had a full Beatles squad available. Only 2 days... I guess it indeed was a selfish move by John, and no wonder he felt a little guilty afterward and (supposedly) insisted that George get the B-side of the single.

 

The destruction of Beatles is a terrible thing - not to be celebrated like this.

Half the songs from The White Album featured less than four band members. The last true Beatles album was Sgt. Pepper.

 

I know, but someone was talking about the best way to get these two songs to complete the mono album (along with Abbey Road and Let It Be). In the Hey Jude album you don't get the single version of Let It Be, so it's better to acquire the blue album or Past Masters 2.

 

For the most part in my iTunes, I've added stray tracks as bonus tracks to corresponding albums but Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, The Beatles and Abbey Road have no bonus tracks. I use Magical Mystery Tour as a catch-all for the 1967 and 1968 single tracks and Yellow Submarine tracks while Let It Be collects the non-album 1969 and 1970 single tracks. Therefore, "The Ballad of John and Yoko"/"Old Brown Shoe" follows "Get Back"/"Don't Let Me Down" (presented in reverse order given the fact Let It Be closes with the remixed "Get Back") and is followed by "Let It Be"/"You Know My Name".

 

That's smart. That way, you keep the configuration of the three late jewels: Pepper, WA and AR.

 

One of the most impressive collections of non-album tracks ever...

 

I think both songs would clash with both albums. IMO, they fit in quite well where they ended up long before Past Masters; on Hey Jude.

 

It's the most single-y single of their singles......it was generous of the other three to let John put it out as a Beatle single.....but maybe the fact that it's a great track, with a nice rhythm, evocative lyrics and fits the Get Back spirit of earlier in the year......helped (along with Lennon's enthusiasm)!

And maybe, on some subconscious level, Paul thought: "if he puts it out himself, it'll probably be a hit and motivate him to leave the band". (Their last exclusive single and last number one, number one in England).

I have the weird (possibly apocryphal) memory of playing this song for the first time (separately) to two people of different ages and backgrounds and they both started doing the same dance move.....and neither knew it was a Beatles song.

When I was a kid, i thought it was Yoko singing Paul's part......wonder if she lobbied to do it....

 

The reality may lie somewhere between these two scenarios. Maybe John thought he'd try out a version right away just with Paul to see how it sounded, and then decided he liked the results enough that there wasn't any need to re-do it with the full band.

 

They fit as the single it was meant to be

 

No, John knew exactly that the other two Beatles were away, but he did not want to wait 2 days:

The song was recorded without George Harrison (who was on holiday) and Ringo Starr (who was filming The Magic Christian). In Barry Miles’ biography, McCartney recalls that Lennon 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. ... Lennon brought the song to McCartney’s home on 14 April 1969, before recording it that evening. “Paul knew that people were being nasty to John, and he just wanted to make it well for him,” said Ono. “Paul has a very brotherly side to him.”

 

Why are people always wanting to move Beatles songs around? Leave them be. They did a nice little job with their career and don’t need help rearranging the furniture.

Some of the suggestions here are quite humorously elaborate though, I quite enjoy that. Moving three songs from this album to that one and jiggering around the singes. Really?

 

MY BAD

 

The Beatles were involved in the Mono mixes of the single Get Back and Don't Let Me Down on April 7th. Paul was there that day according to sources. Ballad of John & Yoko started and completed on Monday April 14th. George's Old Brown Shoe was started by George alone on his birthday Feb. 25th 1969, before then end of Let It Be. It was finished a mere four days after Ballad of John & Yoko.

 

Well at least John waited for the other two to get back before he had the photo shoot for the cover done!

 

We're only talking about a few months. Ballad was in 5/69, Give Peace 7/69, Cold Turkey 10/69, etc. So it was just a question of at what point Lennon cut the cord. In my opinion, he should have cut it with Ballad Of John & Yoko, and not mixed such personal material in with the Beatles. But that was more and more John, where everything was personal at a certain point, so much so that he turned off his audience by the time of Sometime in New York City when they were all bored with it.