Apart from the latent antipathy toward Yoko Ono, she brings a definitely positive message through her music. Critics will claim otherwise.

"Look at her track record!" they rant. "She broke up the Fab Four, and then John Lennon died because she fought to keep him in America!"

Yet Ono had very little to do with the Beatles' breakup in the 70's. The jealous infighting within the band probably greatly contributed to its demise. From the oppressive discounting of George Harrison's musical talent and his growing spiritual outlook towards life (probably in response to harsh oppression by both John and Paul) to Richard (Ringo Starr) Starkey's drumming ability, both Paul McCartney and John figured they were much more talented than the rest of the band. Of course, they were talented but let it go to their heads.

So it was inevitable that the band broke up when it did. Each member of the Beatles contributed to its demise in his own way, and each of them (other than John) would probably claim Yoko's presence did not help matters much. The crude racism they expressed towards her at jam sessions fueled the hostility George, Richard and Paul may have privately harbored about "outsiders". She seemed the weird Japanese-American groupie; if Paul, George or Ringo were aware of her social background, it may have been that she represented the American rich, a spoiled child of the 60's expressing her avant-garde artistic ability in a Soho art gallery. John could do so much better, they thought. Yet he got high with Yoko, divorced his wife, and later wed Yoko.

The Plastic Ono Band days are forgettable.

While I was but a young child approaching my teens, I had never been consciously aware of the Beatles or their break-up. Nor did I understand any reason to become aware of such music. Growing up Japanese in a Canadian home, the drug culture came to represent to me a frighteningly mad world where people lose their sense of humanity, only to become an island,or a rock, dead to reality.

So when John and Yoko staged their sit-in in Montreal, becoming for a brief moment media darlings, I only considered them a weird couple. In brief moments of fantasy, I considered adulthood a scary prospect. And John and Yoko didn't make my little world feel safer. Along with the weird antics of Charles Manson and a psychedelic cast of LSD gurus, marijuana proselyters, and polyester-clad hippies, they appeared in my eyes to be all that was wrong in America.

Then I grew up, listened to disc jockeys playing their enormous collection of Beatles records from time to time, and discovered that the day rock became a global phenomenon was when four young lads from Liverpool got off a plane at New York City.

Years passed, and the Fab Four went from the newest hit sensation to cultural anti-heroes just by Lennon's flip remark that the band was almost as famous as Jesus Christ. Meanwhile I was going through a distinctively lonely and painful childhood. When Yoko got together with John it didn't affect me. It was only after his death that I found a book in the college library and read about the history of the Beatles and Yoko.

While it is true the Beatles' music is the greatest contribution to popular music since Elvis, times change. I remember when the Yoko-Lennon biographical movie played on TV. In one scene that struck me as notable is when John listens to some punk rock his older son Julian brought over from England and compares it to some of the weirder stuff Yoko did in the Plastic Ono Band days. I could just imagine John crowing, "Momma sang stuff like that back in London, in the old days!"

In my humble opinion, Yoko probably started the punk rock craze inadvertently by giving vent to her artistic expression in London years earlier. This does not in any way make her the mother of punk rock. Still, Yoko did have a musical career of some note. The music that stands out in her mediocre career are contained in two albums that came out after Lennon's assassination on a cold winter's day in December 1980.

In the first album, "It's Alright" (Polygram 1982), we find Yoko Ono recovering from Lennon's death, her English a curious mix of John's Liverpool accent, tinged with the subtle inflections of her well-to-do upbringing as the daughter of a Japanese banker. To some critics, her Japanese accent is a harsh reminder of the Plastic Ono Band days. Yet the avid Ono fan needs only to listen to the very words of her songs to perhaps see the sincerity of feeling expressed in her music. Had she ghost written songs for popular bands at that time, the royalties would have been fantastic.

Instead, the only singer of note she is reported to have influenced (and probably backed) is Lena Lovich whose eerie singing style reminds me of Kabuki-meets-new-wave. In fact, there is a hint of Japanese in the overall structure of Lovich's music, though her lyrics are definitely American in content. Her stuff is definitely weird, maybe because American music culture usually cuts a conservative groove despite all its liberal, hippie-inspired pretensions. Yet weird is in the ear of the beholder. Hopefully fans of Ono may detect the subtle influence of Yoko in Lovich's music.

Later, Yoko herself passes with flying colors with her release of "Starpeace" (Polygram 1985). The start of the album hints at industrial music but the harsh metallic sounds in her first song ('Hell in Paradise') is probably due to steel drums. Hidden within it are bongo drums, horns (or their electric version) and her own enigmatic voice as musical instrument. At the end of the song, we hear Ono using her voice in a manner that may have been inspired by her early formative years, perhaps listening to classical styles of Japanese music. Indeed, it is eerie how the rough blend of West and East comes out in her music.

Popular consensus has long ago agreed that Yoko can't sing well. Yet her music juxtaposes her scratchy voice with the natural and artificial world of the West, with its "bigness" and synthesizer-aided pop sound. Then the legacy of the late 50's and 60's adds a touch of bongo beat to underscore the melody of each song. Truly Ono at its mediocre may be weird listening, but we know Lennon's estate is a growing concern.

'I Love All of Me' explores bias and prejudice, subtly expressing Ono's philosophy about all people of the world. At points during this song, I wondered if Yoko grew up as a fat girl. It also handles the theme of overcoming racial prejudice and subtle bias with delicacy. Listen to the part of the refrain of the song that rings true for me:



"I love all of me (love me)
I just want to be."

At the end of the song, Yoko says "Thank you" three times. The listener is left wondering if Yoko is thanking some imaginary audience for the applause, congratulating herself or thanking the listener for enjoying her song. It may take alot of listening to this song to take it as it is.

'Children Power' paints a new age utopia for children.

'Rainbow Revelation' returns to the East meets West motif at first. Then it evokes the New Age symbolism, expressing Yoko's philosophy of love when Yoko sings,



"Bless you for your anger;
It's a sign of rising energy."

In the 'King of the Zoo', we hear Yoko at her whimsical. In fact, this is one of three songs where her playful nature comes out. At the core of this song is a bubbly tribute to John, showing that perhaps he was the inspiration behind it.

The drums at the start of 'Remember Raven' are very loud and powerful. In this song, Yoko uses her voice to emphasize the main thrust of the song, nearly evoking a sense of the shamaness as she wails,

"Judas never got to heaven, you know!"

Perhaps it's a flip of the digit to Lennon's killer.

100% Yoko at her unconscious best, 'Cape Clear' comes across as revelry through the imaginary past. Yoko appears to go through her childhood memories in it. The tragic symbolism foretells much of the coming loss of innocence and the growing awareness of womanhood.

While the drums of 'Sky People' reminds me of the previous song, 'Remember Raven' it mellows out into a sultry ballad, its subtleness not lost among the more sensitive listener. I was almost waiting for the UFO to land, as Yoko sings,

"You come from the earth,
We come from Uranus."

In the opening of 'You and I', the gliding rhythm makes this surreal love song come alive. With background support by the piano and synthesizers and percussion machines, it is very poignant and touching as we hear Ono croon:

"Now you know it's you and I,
And that's no reason to cry."

Sure, Yoko, sure. At times your music may frighten some listeners. Though, she almost captures her best voice before the refrain as sung by her background singers loops, the happy whistler cutting in to even this song out.

I found 'It's Gonna Rain' a song easy listening as well as easy to sing to, and in short, memorable. The nice fuzzy lyrics lend to a quality of mind most enjoyable as the raindrops tap upon the roof of your home. It almost feels like Momma Yoko wants to tuck the listener in. The bitter-sweet lyrics wax and wane about loneliness, then playfully hints at the promise of wholesome fun. Yoko's wry humor is poignant as she comes to grips with life through such lyrics as,

"It's gonna rain...
It's gonna rain."

Definitely, this song would sound good in a pub. The rain and the lightning at the end are a whimsical touch.

Also as whimsical is 'Starpeace'. It begins as an imaginary conversation between Yoko, her son Sean, and an alien (played by Sean) about not blowing up Earth, that I wonder if Sky People have landed. Wisdom, health and growth figure into the theme of this song. Indeed, the strength of this song is in the underlying positivism.

Finally, 'I Love You, Earth', shows Ono has possibly found herself. She is so happy and bubbly in this song, so loving, rhapsodizing to the point of near mysticism. Yet she keeps her head above it all, crooning:

"I love you.
I love you.
I love you."

So there you have it, Yoko dipping the listener in the caustic 'Hell in Paradise' then finally cooing "I love you" as your portable music system clicks to a stop suddenly.

Of course, it is not music to nurse yourself back to health - unless you consider the lyrics to have some homeopathic value! Yet the healing property of music is reflected in the music lover's taste for an artist's works despite the fads currently available, whether it is beat, rock, rap or Gregorian chants.

Because she has a strong business sense and financial savvy, Yoko Ono's music - though not her voice - evokes in me a growing respect for her often maligned talent. While I may be daft to consider Yoko Ono to be a shamaness, under more primitive circumstance, it may have been possibly so.

Who's to say?

[ All lyrics copyright 1985 Polygram ]

P.S. The curious crowd of Yoko admirers may be happy to know that there is one book that is recommended reading: STRAWBERRY FIELDS FOREVER: JOHN LENNON REMEMBERED, by Vic Garbarini and Brian Cullman with Barbara Graustark (Bantam Books New York 1980)



Recommended: Yes

Great Music to Play While: Going to Sleep