At a time when live music remains a distant memory amid strict social distancing measures, we’re dipping back into the Far Out Magazine vault in order to get our musical fix. Here, we revisit a rare audio recording of Yoko Ono, which emerged online and dated back to 1968.
The audio was first discovered by cultural historian Simon Wells who has, throughout his career, dedicated his time to writing multiple books on The Beatles, cult films, Charles Manson, The Stones and more.
Having uploaded the audio to YouTube, Wells noted: “During the early days of her relationship with John Lennon, Yoko Ono would dictate her thoughts on life with Lennon into her own personal recorder – presumably to be given to John later.”
He added: “This, often personal, tape was made during the overdub session for ‘Revolution 1’ at EMI Studio number 3 on 4th June 1968. Parts of Yoko’s tape would be later used in the sound collage ‘Revolution 9’.”
Given the intense amount of time Lennon and The Beatles spent in the recording studio, Ono appeared to fill the time by overdubbing parts of Lennon’s songs and offered a glimpse into her mindset at the time.
“I miss you already again. I miss you very much,” she says at one point regarding her love for Lennon. In another turn, Ono details some uncertainty, saying: “I wonder maybe it’s just my paranoia to think that you don’t understand me.”
Ono, then discussing Lennon’s bandmate Paul McCartney, says he is “being very nice to me, he’s nice and a very, str- on the level, straight, sense.”
The audio has since caused quite a debate among Ono and Beatles fans. Some fans believe the ‘diary’ is not legit, and some fans, who insist that the audio is real, question Ono’s motive.