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Yoko Ono says she didn't break up The Beatles

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Didn't you just love her screaming art? :-(

-1 ( +5 / -6 )

Sorry she did, John left because of her. She also auctioned off all personal items of John's, his son had to buy back personal items at auction, she refused to share anything and even refused to admit the son's existence for many years. Sorry Ono you are just selfish and weird putting it nicely.

15 ( +23 / -8 )

No, but you intentionally broke up John's marriage, viciously and maliciously cut Julian Lennon out from his father's life and refused to share his father's memorabilia with him. She ruined a family (John did, too).

That's far worse than breaking up one of the greatest bands of all time.

15 ( +21 / -6 )

Being English, born in the early 1960's, and with Japanese family, this is a well-known subject for me.

John Lennon was always going to end up divorcing his first wife with whoever. His life had a huge change when the Beatles took off yet he was already married with a son. Yoko Ono just happened to be that person. Yoko Ono was blamed for breaking up the Beatles and still is. Back then she was the recipient of some pretty nasty and racist reactions to a Japanese woman marrying one of Britain's favourite sons. Cutting off Julian was not nice. But it is a personal family matter not a public one. And in Japan it is pretty standard to cut off children when second marriages happen. Not that it is an excuse for that. John Lennon fell madly in love with Yoko Ono. Simple as that. And Yoko Ono is not the first woman in history to have a relationship with a married man believe it or not.. Despite what people say about Yoko Ono she has fiercely defended John Lennon's legacy and estate. She hasnt exactly sold off the family jewels.
6 ( +12 / -6 )

She's the POS eveybody THINKS she is....no "'Sorry " about it.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

It had been reported that their marriage was on the rocks when John was assassinated. And it was also reported at the time that she was the big factor in the breakup of the Beatles. Guess that all these years later Yoko is still trying to shake off the "breakup image."

Never have put much faith in what she has said over the years ... and still don't. But in any event, let her have her say ...

0 ( +4 / -4 )

Sorry Ono you are just selfish and weird putting it nicely.

Quite, and what's more, if she had not selfishly insisted on returning to New York when John wanted to stay in Japan then he would not have been killed; she should never be forgiven for that. In case you're wondering how I know that, George Harrison told me).

-4 ( +4 / -8 )

SURE she did.

-3 ( +2 / -5 )

"No, but you intentionally broke up John's marriage, viciously and maliciously cut Julian Lennon out from his father's life and refused to share his father's memorabilia with him. She ruined a family (John did, too)."

It's worth pointing out that Lennon admitted neglecting Julian before he met Yoko Ono. He was hardly a great husband to Cynthia before meeting Yoko Ono either.

2 ( +5 / -3 )

Yoko who?

4 ( +8 / -4 )

There were many things that broke up the Beatles and Yoko wasn't one of them the main thing was that they grew up and wanted a life for themselves and Alan Klein who Paul didn't like very much.

-1 ( +3 / -4 )

If such and such, if this or that, if, if, if. My grannie (believe it or not) once told me IF the queen had _, she would be the king !

-4 ( +1 / -5 )

Yoko Ono says she didn't break up The Beatles

So, what do you expect her to say?

"Yeah! It was me what dunnit! Tee hee hee."

3 ( +6 / -3 )

she didnt break the beatles. john and paul were strongly in need of solo careers already.

2 ( +6 / -4 )

I find it interesting that for some reason the Japanese have collectively decided, "All right: any mention of Yoko's name in print will require the use of the foreign-connotating KATAKANA script, not Kanji."

Even though she was born in Japan (and was actually a classmate of Emperor Akihito at Gakushuin) and has a 100% Japanese name (quite a common one at that, too: 小野 洋子), it's like she's lost the privilege of having her Japanese name written in Kanji!"

I wonder why they would do that?

0 ( +3 / -3 )

She broke my ears, that's for sure.

8 ( +11 / -3 )

There are so many videos on Youtube showing the Beatles working in the studio. And Yoko was right in everyone's face. There are producers behind the glass, the 4 musicians in a room working out songs, and Yoko right in the middle of them giving her musical opinion.

If that happened to a band I was in, I probably would have said she goes or I go. That would be the case even if the woman was a bundle of charm, which Yoko wasn't. She had no business being in the middle of their recording sessions, and should have excused herself.

11 ( +14 / -3 )

".....they grew up and wanted a life for themselves and Alan Klein who Paul didn't like very much."

So did the Rolling Stones by that point. They were also managed by Alan Klein.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

.....but at age 83 she is again answering a familiar question—No, she says, she didn’t break up The Beatles.

Yes, Yoko Ono, you did break up the Beatles. It's what you are most famous for.

2 ( +6 / -4 )

Well.. The greatest bands always split up no matter what. Let her face her demons in peace. At age 83 I am sure she is remorseful and eager to clean out her closet. Shake it up Ms. Ono.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

If you watch "Let it Be" you can see there are tensions - even the quiet George Harrison looks pee'd off. Now whether Yoko had anything to do with that can be debated until the cows come home, but I don't think her constant presence helped much.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Yeah, you didn't break up the Beatles, right. And the Pope doesn't pray either !

1 ( +3 / -2 )

John Lennon grew up and met someone who matched his mind and aspirations. He understood Yoko Ono's art and mind and that is something beyond most of the people who have commented on this page. Jackson Pollock, John Cage, Karl-Heinz Stockhausen, Edvard Munch, Yoko Ono etc. are perhaps all artists who are not easy to appreciate until you understand. P.S. Karl-Heinz Stockhausen is one of the people on the cover of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts' Club Band.

0 ( +3 / -3 )

Patrick Kimura-Macke,

I can see that Jackson Pollock, Karl-Heinz Stockhausen and Edvard Munch have had some influence in the field of art. But I would say that the impact of the Beatles has been far greater.

Yoko Ono? What has her contribution been? What impact has she had? How has she inspired several generations of people?

Her "singing" is an ear-torturing embarrassment and her art works have about as much meaning as the lyrics of "I am the Walrus."

It's not that her "work" is difficult to understand. There is nothing there TO understand.

1 ( +6 / -5 )

John Lennon grew up and met someone who matched his mind and aspirations. He understood Yoko Ono's art and mind and that is something beyond most of the people who have commented on this page. Jackson Pollock, John Cage, Karl-Heinz Stockhausen, Edvard Munch, Yoko Ono etc. are perhaps all artists who are not easy to appreciate until you understand. P.S. Karl-Heinz Stockhausen is one of the people on the cover of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts' Club Band.

Art is subjective - one man's Jackson Pollock is another man's spilt paint. Personally, as a dabbler in fine art rather than the weirder end of the spectrum I find the above remark quite insulting. You're basically calling us philistines for not appreciating their art.

4 ( +5 / -1 )

The Barenaked Ladies did a song called "Be My Yoko Ono" which accepts that she broke up the band but defends her nonetheless. ... That is all

-3 ( +0 / -3 )

Not a fan.

1 ( +3 / -2 )

So many experts here on the Beatles. Offering an opinion is to be appreciated, but condemning Yoko Ono on hearsay, video footage or photos, or her looks, or her art or her appeal is simply shallow. Or I'm assuming some posters on here must have been privy to info that the majority of the world wasn't.

To expect a bunch of teenagers who made it REALLY BIG in the fickle entertainment world, and kept it together for nigh on ten years - during which they grew and developed tremendously as persons and artists - somehow were meant to remain in situ because that's how the fans wanted it.

John Lennon had said openly that he had outgrown the Beatles. He was looking for new challenges, new directions, new frontiers - shock, horror, who'd thought that.

If you believe that he would never had progressed independently if it were not for Yoko, and they'd still be together singing let it be (coz he wouldn't have been in NY and wouldn't have died - eh? ), then keep yourself warm & fuzzy in your thoughts.

And if anyone could point me to that obviously great book, "The Manual on How to Conduct a Band (so fans are happy)" I'd appreciate it.

-3 ( +2 / -5 )

Reports this am that Yoko was hospitalized with a possible case od pneumonia.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

No, but you intentionally broke up John's marriage, viciously and maliciously cut Julian Lennon out from his father's life and refused to share his father's memorabilia with him. She ruined a family (John did, too).

That's far worse than breaking up one of the greatest bands of all time.

Also what is sad is what happened between her and Julian, he always looked so sad as a young child and later as an adult. He said in the past he did try to reach out to Ono from the very beginning, but she was always cold towards him as well as his dad, sadly. I don't think Ono realizes or even cares what and how her actions affected a lot of people and as you said, one of the greatest and most famous bands ever. I heard that it's only been a few years that her and McCartney are on talking terms, but it's something fairly new.

1 ( +3 / -2 )

@deadbeatles

".....origional character roll ..."?

Your username does you no credit either.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

The most interesting comment here is that As @bnenlightened says the japanese media never calls her by her very Japanese family name in kanji in print media but outs her as a out sider by using katakana for her name as a signal to the "we japanese" crowd that she in not part of the people she was born among. Very telling and disgusting. No wonder she left Japan for greener pastures. Sigh

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

I have a number of her albums! "Witch" is my favorite! I never believed that she "broke up the Beatles"! Both her and John were a huge influence on my own life.

The Beatles should have broken up after "Yellow Submarine"! In many ways, they did!

Get well soon, Yoko!

0 ( +2 / -2 )

@Aaron Brummett. I like her music too. I like her album Yoko with the Plastic Ono Band and I like the songs "Kiss, Kiss, Kiss", "Death of Samantha" and "Walking on Thin Ice." I can understand Beatles fans not liking her work because it is very different to the Beatles' sing-a-longs. I like the Beatles but I disagree about breaking up after Yellow Submarine because I think that's when they produced their best material. Someone once said that Yoko stopped the Beatles from becoming mediocre... forget who. Anyway, I hope she gets well. I will admit I had a crush on her when I was about 10 : )

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

I think Siouxsie and the Banshees, B52s, Lene Lovich, Nina Hagen, Sonic Youth etc were influenced by Yoko Ono's "Scream" style vocals as well, of course John Lennon himself ("Mother"). I like "Women Power" from Some Time In New York City, "Mind Train" performed live at the Metropole, Berlin 1996 June 3 matched anything I've heard. These do not feature her scream style, about which if you read her explanation of where the scream style came from you might understand more. Picasso's Guernica may not appear beautiful but once you know what it is about it becomes meaningful. Turner's Slave Ship appears beautiful but within it is horror too. I don't think Yoko Ono has done anything to match them yet but we shouldn't compare. Much of her work, like "Cut Piece" and "Cups" are thought provoking and meaningful. Returning to music, take a listen to a couple of her early contemporaries; Screaming Jay Hawkings and Wild Man Fischer. You don't have to appreciate but at least accept. There is so much out there that we are basically condemned to remain Philistines to some degree.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

the japanese media never calls her by her very Japanese family name in kanji in print media

I have seen her name in Kanji, but her name is very common in Kanji so easier to recognize in Katakana or her nationality may not be Japanese now, I don't know.

a signal to the "we japanese" crowd that she in not part of the people she was born among

Her family is very famous as banker, the founder of a famous bank.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

It's not that her "work" is difficult to understand. There is nothing there TO understand.

I know very little about art, but clearly Bertie here does, and this gave me a good giggle! Thank you BW!

I heard that it's only been a few years that her and McCartney are on talking terms, but it's something fairly new.

I think this is true. I remember about 10-15 years ago Paul wanting to release a compilation of songs and Yoko refusing him permission on any song that was cowritten by John. Paul very publicly made an appeal in an interview to Yoko saying "There's still time". She wouldn't back down.

I find it very hard to believe that, if this woman had never met John, that she would have ever been famous for anything in her own right, at least outside Japan, and even then probably just for being the daughter of a famous banker.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

@Natalie ..famous RICH banker . ! Yoko was born with silver spoon in her mouth so shiny it went to her New Age head. Get well soon, babe.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

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