The Japanese avant-gardeist (Grapefruit, Wish Tree and so much more) was born on 18 February 1933, which makes her 80 today. Golly.
So here she is with her then husband John
Lennon in June 1971 performing the old R&B song “Well”. It’s a remarkable
performance – the band don’t know the song and Lennon hadn’t played it for
years, not since the Cavern. They kick off with Zappa announcing the song:
“For those of you in the band who have no idea what’s about to happen, this is
in A minor and it’s not standard blues changes – but it’s close”. Certainly it
isn’t when Yoko starts singing. Lennon plays great rhythm guitar, there’s a
terrific Zappa solo, and you just have to admire the musicianship of the band.
Ian Underwood and Bob Harris on keyboards, Aynsley Dunbar on drums, plus Jim
Pons (bass) and Mark Volman and Howard Kaylan (vocals) from the Turtles. Yes,
the Turtles. (Volman and Kaylan did the
backing vocals on T Rex’s Electric
Warrior. Has there ever been a better pop album?)
Yoko is, as always, interesting.
Trainspotter alert: these performances
appear on Lennon’s album Sometime in New York City and Zappa’s Playground Psychotics though the mixes are different. Fancy that.
Some of the titles of the improvisations are different too. “A Small Eternity
with Yoko Ono” appears on one but not the other. Can you guess which?
.
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