Yoko Ono Albums for song lyrics and biography.

Yoko Ono Lennon is a Japanese-born American musician and artist. She currently resides in New York City. Her first name ("Yoko") translates From Japanese to "ocean child". Born into a privileged background on the 18th of February, 1933 in Tokyo, Japan. She was the oldest child of Yasoko Isuda, a member of one of Japan's wealthiest banking families, and Eisuke Ono, who sacrificed a career as a classically-trained pianist to work as a banker. She attended the exclusive Gakushuin academy in Tokyo from primary school to the college division. During World War II, the Ono family survived the bombing of Tokyo in an underground shelter. Ono and her siblings fled to the countryside, and were forced to beg for food while pulling their belongings in a wheelbarrow. Her father remained in the city and, unbeknownst to them, was incarcerated in a prisoner of war camp in China. After the war, Ono's family moved to Scarsdale, New York. She soon enrolled in Sarah Lawrence College. In 1956, Yoko Ono married composer Toshi Ichiyanagi. They divorced in 1962, and Ono married American Anthony Cox on 28 November 1962. Cox was a jazz musician, film producer, and art promoter. Their marriage was annulled on 1 March 1963; they re-married on 6 June, and finally divorced on 2 February 1969. Their daughter, Kyoko Chan Cox, was born on 8 August 1963. After a bitter legal battle, Ono was awarded permanent custody of Kyoko. However, in 1971 Cox, who had become a Christian fundamentalist after his divorce from Ono, abducted Kyoko and vanished. Ono and her daughter were finally reunited in 1998.

Ono was an early member of Fluxus, a loose association of avant-garde artists that developed in the early 1960s. Ono was among the first artists to explore conceptual art and performance art. An example of her performance art is "Cut Piece", during which she sat on stage and invited the audience to use scissors to cut off her clothing until she was naked. An example of her conceptual art includes her book of instructions called Grapefruit. This book, first produced in 1964, includes instructions that are to be completed in the mind of the reader, for example: "Hide and Go Seek Piece: Hide until everyone forgets about you. Hide until everyone dies." The book was published several times, and most widely distributed by Simon and Schuster in 1971, and reprinted by them again in 2000. Ono was also an experimental filmmaker. She made sixteen films between 1964 and 1972, and gained particular renown for a 1966 film called simply No. 4, but often referred to as "Bottoms". The film consists of a series of close-ups of human buttocks as the subject walks on a treadmill. The crack between the cheeks and the crease between the buttock and the leg divide the screen into four almost equal sections. The soundtrack consists of interviews with those who are being filmed as well as those considering joining the project. In 1996, the watch manufacturing company Swatch produced a limited edition watch that commemorates this film. Ono's work may best be appreciated by an open mind. She has been described as "the world's most famous unknown artist: everybody knows her name, but nobody knows what she does."

Lyrics List has a complete biography of Yoko Ono in addition to song lyrics. This is your complete source for information!

Ono has sometimes been maligned and vilified by critics who condemn her art. For example, Brian Sewell, art critic for the London Evening Standard and television personality said: "She's shaped nothing, she's contributed nothing, she's simply been a reflection of the times...I think she's an amateur, a very rich woman who was married to someone who did have some talent and was the driving force behind the Beatles. If she had not been the widow of John Lennon, she would be totally forgotten by now...Yoko Ono was simply a hanger-on. Have you seen her sculpture or paintings? They're all awful." However, the more common critical opinion is that Ono's work has been misunderstood, and that it deserves attention and respect. Many scholars, art critics and members of the media have begun to reassess her art and to examine it seriously. In the past few years, Ono's work has regularly received recognition and acclaim. For example, Matthew Teitelbaum, director of the Art Gallery of Ontario believes that "Yoko Ono is one of the world's most original and inspirational visual artists." Michael Kimmelman, the chief Art critic of the New York Times wrote: "Yoko Ono's art is a mirror—like her work 'a Box of Smile,' we see ourselves in our reaction to it—a tiny prod toward personal enlightenment, very Zen."

In 2001, YES YOKO ONO, a forty-year retrospective of Ono's work received the prestigious International Association of Art Critics USA Award for Best Museum Show Originating in New York City. In 2002 Ono was awarded the Skowhegan Medal for work in assorted media. And in 2005 she received a lifetime achievement award from the Japan Society of New York. Ono received an honorary Doctorate of Laws from Liverpool University in 2001. And in 2002 she was presented with the honorary degree of Doctor of Fine Arts from Bard College. Scott MacDonald, visiting professor of film at Bard said: "She is to be congratulated for the body of work she has made, and celebrated for what she has come to represent, within media history and throughout the world: courage, resilience, persistence, independence, and, above all, imagination, and a belief that peace and love remain the way toward a brighter, ever-more-diverse human future."

Got a blog? Put song lyrics on your blog with Lyrics List! Click here for Yoko Ono Song Lyrics On Your Blog!

Ono is perhaps best known for marrying The Beatles' John Lennon. They first met when Lennon visited a preview of an exhibition of Ono's in London in 1966. He was taken with the attitude and interactivity of her work, such as a ladder leading up to the word "Yes" written on the ceiling, an instruction to hammer a nail into a panel of wood, and a decomposing apple. They began an affair two years later, eventually resulting in Lennon divorcing his first wife, Cynthia. They married in March 1969 on the Rock of Gibraltar. Their son, Sean, was born on Lennon's 35th birthday, on 9 October 1975. Ono and Lennon collaborated on many albums, beginning in 1968 when Lennon was still a Beatle, with Unfinished Music No. 1: Two Virgins, an album of experimental and difficult electronic music. That same year, the couple contributed an experimental piece to The White Album called "Revolution No. 9," which is to this day a love/hate phenomenon among fans. Many of the couple's later albums were released under the name the Plastic Ono Band.

In 1969, the Plastic Ono Band's first album, Live Peace In Toronto, was recorded during the Toronto Rock and Roll Revival Festival. In addition to Lennon and Ono, this first incarnation of the group consisted of guitarist Eric Clapton, bass player Klaus Voorman, and drummer Alan White. The first half of their performance consisted of rock standards, but during the second half, Ono took the microphone and along with the band performed what may be one of the first expressions of the avant garde during a rock concert. The set ended with music that consisted mainly of feedback, while Ono screamed and sang. Ono released her first solo album, Yoko Ono/Plastic Ono Band in 1970, as a companion piece to Lennon's more well-known John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band. The two albums have almost identical covers, and both explore primal scream vocalizations. However, while Lennon's utilized mostly conventional songwriting, Ono's was an all-out screaming assault on the ears - an album including raw and quite harsh vocals that were possibly influenced by Japanese opera. Perhaps, the most famous song on Yoko Ono/Plastic Ono Band is "Why", which features Ono screaming the word "Why" for five minutes. Some critics were receptive of the work, however, declaring her voice "the most interesting instrument since the Moog". It peaked at #83. 1971 saw the followup release, Fly - a double album, which included a poster and a postcard to order Ono's book, Grapefruit. On this release Ono explored slightly more conventional punk rock with tracks like "Midsummer New York" and "Mind Train." She also received minor airplay with the ballad "Mrs. Lennon". Perhaps the most famous track from the album is "Don't Worry, Kyoko (Mummy's Only Looking For Her Hand In The Snow)", an ode to Ono's kidnapped daughter. Ono later released two feminist rock albums, Approximately Infinite Universe and Feeling The Space, which received little attention. Today, they are recognized with much critical respect, particularly for tracks such as "Move on Fast," "Yang Yang" and "Death of Samantha."

Yoko Ono lyrical information home. Come back often!

Ono is often accused by Beatles fans of breaking up the band, although many other Beatles fans argue that she did not. To this day, women who have come between high-profile musicians and their bandmates are compared to Ono, Nancy Spungen and Courtney Love being just two examples. In a 2003 interview with Jay Leno, Ono described the disappointment she felt by the breakup of the Beatles and how it affected the lifestyle that she was used to. There are Lennon fans who, in addition, blame Ono for the experimental phase that Lennon explored in his work immediately following the Beatles' breakup. On the other hand, many fans consider that Ono had a profound and beneficial influence on his body of work. Ono is also sometimes blamed for Lennon's heroin addiction in the early 1970s, as she is widely believed to have introduced him to the drug. Both suffered from addiction on and off for a few years. From the early 1970s until Lennon's public seclusion upon Sean's birth in 1975, Lennon and Ono produced less music as they became increasingly engaged in political activism, which possibly was a cause of Lennon's troubles with U.S. Immigration.

When Lennon and Ono separated in 1973, Ono "selected" their secretary May Pang to be Lennon's lover while they were apart. Lennon and Pang were together until 1975, when he and Ono reconciled. In 2003 Ono courted controversy by editing herself into the video of the classic song "#9 Dream" for the "Lennon Legend: The Very Best of John Lennon" DVD set. There you will find her mouthing the backup vocals that were sung by May Pang. Pang claimed, "She is trying to erase everyone who had anything to do with John with her alone. I am definitely upset at her misleading everyone into thinking she is on '#9 Dream.' She had nothing to do with this particular album and it was John's only No.1 album and No. 1 single during his lifetime. Boy, do I understand how Paul feels."

Do you have a website? You can have song lyrics on your site with Lyrics List! Click here for Yoko Ono Song Lyrics On Your Website!

Ono achieved success as a musician in her own right. Indeed, years before meeting Lennon, she had her first major public performance in an all-Ono concert at the Carnegie Recital Hall in 1961. This concert featured radical experimental music and performances. Ono's music changed after her marriage. While many of her early songs retain the surreal quality of her art and films, her later songs are usually more conventional. For example, the seven pop songs that she contributed to the album Double Fantasy.

In the spring of 1980, Lennon heard the B-52's' "Rock Lobster" in a nightclub, and it reminded him of Ono's musical soundworld. He ran to a public phone, called Yoko and said "They're finally ready for us, love!" Indeed, many musicians, particularly those of the new wave movement, have paid tribute to Ono. For example, Elvis Costello recorded a version of Ono's song "Walking On Thin Ice", the B-52's covered "Don't Worry, Kyoko (Mummy's Only Looking For Her Hand In The Snow)", and Sonic Youth included a performance of Ono's early conceptual "Voice Piece for Soprano" in their fin de siecle album Goodbye 20th Century. One of Barenaked Ladies's best-known songs is "Be My Yoko Ono," and Dar Williams recorded a song called "I Won't Be Your Yoko Ono." The punk rock singer Patti Smith invited Ono to participate in "Meltdown," a two-week music festival that Smith organized in London during June 2005. Ono performed at Queen Elizabeth Hall.

Did you know that you can bookmark Lyrics List? Hold down the CTRL key and press D. That's it!

On the night of 8 December 1980, Lennon and Ono were in the studio working on Ono's song "Walking On Thin Ice." When they returned to The Dakota, their home in New York City, Lennon was murdered by deranged fan Mark David Chapman. "Walking on Thin Ice (For John)" was released as a single less than a month later, and became Ono's first chart success, peaking at #58 and gaining major underground airplay. In 1981, she released the album Season of Glass with the striking cover photo of Lennon's shattered, bloody spectacles next to a half-filled glass of water, with a window overlooking Central Park in the background. This led some critics to accuse her of being tasteless and exploitative. However, Ono said that she chose such a provocative image because she wanted to remind people that Lennon hadn't just died, but had been murdered. In the liner notes to Season of Glass, Ono explained that the album is not dedicated to Lennon because "he would have been offended - he was one of us."

1982 saw the release of It's Alright (I See Rainbows), a more positive album as Ono began the healing process following the loss of her husband. The cover featured Ono in her famous wrap-around sunglasses, looking boldly towards the sun, while on the back the ghost of Lennon looks over Ono and Sean. The album has been described as Ono's pop sensibilites and avant-garde influences meeting each other halfway. It scored minor chart success and airplay with the singles "My Man" and "Never Say Goodbye." In 1984, a tribute album entitled Every Man Has A Woman was released, featuring Ono classics performed by artists such as Elvis Costello, Roberta Flack, Eddie Money, Roseanne Cash and Harry Nilsson. It was one of Lennon's projects that he never got to finish. Later that year, Ono and Lennon's final album Milk And Honey was released in unfinished demo state.
The program from Ono's 1986 "Starpeace" world tour. Ono's final album of the 1980s was Starpeace, a concept album glowing with positivity that was intended as an antidote to Ronald Reagan's "Star Wars" missile defense system. On the cover, a warm, smiling Ono holds the Earth in the palm of her hand. Despite almost unanimous critical praise for the album, Starpeace received little commercial attention. The single "Hell in Paradise" was a hit, however, reaching No. 16 on the US dance charts.

Don't forget to visit our lyrics sponsors. The text Link: in the menu will refer you to other lyrics sources.

In 1986 Ono set out on a goodwill world tour for Starpeace, mostly visiting Eastern European countries that she felt were in need of her message of peace. The media were largely unfair in their coverage of the tour, accusing Ono of "ego-tripping" and ridiculing her for underselling venues. In one case, a photo of Ono rehearsing to an empty hall before the show was printed as if nobody had come to the actual concert. A German DJ was also encouraging people to turn up and throw glass bottles at her. Despite the bad press, however, the fans loved the shows, critics unanimously praised her for her performances, and she filled a venue of 15,000 in Budapest. Ono went on hiatus until signing with Rykodisc in 1992 to release the comprehensive 6-disc box set Onobox. It included remastered highlights from all of Ono's solo albums, as well as unreleased material from the 1974 "lost weekend" sessions. There was also a one-disc "greatest hits" release of highlights from Onobox, simply titled Walking on Thin Ice. In 1994, Yoko produced her own musical entitled New York Rock, featuring Broadway renditions of her songs.

1995 saw Ono's comeback with the release of Rising, a collaboration with her son Sean Lennon and his band Ima. It received wide critical praise and is often considered one of her best albums. Rising spawned a world tour that traveled through Europe, Japan and the United States. The following year, she collaborated with various alternative rock musicians for an EP entitled Rising Mixes. Guest remixers of Rising material included Cibo Matto, Ween, Tricky, and Thurston Moore. In 1997, as public interest was growing in Ono's work, Rykodisc reissued all her solo albums on CD, from Yoko Ono/Plastic Ono Band through Starpeace. Ono and her engineer John Stevens personally remastered the audio, and various bonus tracks were added including outtakes, demos and live cuts. 2001 saw the release of the critically successful feminist concept album Blueprint for a Sunrise. Starting in 2002, cutting-edge DJs began remixing other Ono songs for dance clubs. For the remix project, she dropped her first name and became known as simply "ONO", as a response to the "Oh, no!" jokes that dogged her throughout her career. ONO had great success with new versions of "Walking on Thin Ice", remixed by top DJs and dance artists including Pet Shop Boys, Orange Factory, Peter Rauhofer, and Danny Tenaglia. In April 2003 ONO's Walking On Thin Ice (Remixes) was rated #1 on Billboard Magazine's "Dance/Club Play Chart", gaining ONO her first number one hit. On the 12" mix of the original 1981 version of "Walking on Thin Ice", Lennon can be heard remarking "I think we've just got your first No.1, Yoko." During her career, Ono has collaborated with a diverse group of artists and musicians including John Cage, David Tudor, George Maciunas, Ornette Coleman, Charlotte Moorman, George Brecht, Jackson Mac Low, Jonas Mekas, Yvonne Rainer, La Monte Young, Richard Maxfield, Yo La Tengo, and Andy Warhol. In 1987 Ono was one of the speakers at Warhol's funeral.

Despire our best efforts, we can't possibly cover all the lyrics to all the songs ever written. If you can't find the lyrics that you are looking for, try asking in the Lyrics Forum.

Since the 1960s, Ono has been a consistent and outspoken supporter of peace and human rights. After their wedding, Lennon and Ono held a "Bed-In for Peace" in their honeymoon suite at the Amsterdam Hilton Hotel in March 1969. The press fought to get in, presuming that the two would be having sex for their cameras, but they instead found a pair of newlyweds wearing pajamas and eager to talk about and promote world peace. Another Bed-In in May 1969 in Montreal resulted in the recording of their first single, "Give Peace A Chance," a Top 20 hit for the newly-christened Plastic Ono Band. In 2002 Ono inaugurated her own peace award by giving $50,000 (£31,900) prize money to artists living "in regions of conflict." Israeli and Palestinian artists were the first recipients. In 2004 Ono remade her song "Every Man Has a Woman Who Loves Him" to support same-sex marriage, releasing remixes that included "Every Man Has a Man Who Loves Him" and "Every Woman Has a Woman Who Loves Her."

Ono has had a turbulent relationship with Beatle Paul McCartney. The dispute has centered on, among other issues, the writing credits for many Beatles songs. While the Beatles were still together, every song written by Lennon or McCartney was credited to Lennon-McCartney regardless of whether the song was collaboration or a solo project. After Lennon's death, McCartney attempted to change the order to "McCartney-Lennon" for songs, such as "Yesterday," that were solely or predominantly written by him, but Ono would not allow it. The only post-Beatles song to be credited to Lennon-McCartney was the anthem "Give Peace a Chance," which was first recorded May 31, 1969 at the "Bed-In" that Lennon and Ono staged in Queen Elizabeth's Hotel in Montreal. This song was released on the Plastic Ono Band album Live Peace In Toronto. Co-writing credit to McCartney is not given on some releases of the song. Despite their differences, in 1995 McCartney and his family collaborated with Ono and Sean Lennon to create the song "Hiroshima Sky is Always Blue," which commemorates the fiftieth anniversary of the dropping of an atomic bomb on the Japanese city. Of Ono, McCartney stated: "I thought she was a cold woman. I think that's wrong ... she's just the opposite ... I think she's just more determined than most people to be herself."

Would you like to link to Lyrics List? You can add links specific to Yoko Ono. Lyrics Links

Ono again proved herself to be a provocative and controversial artist with her contribution to the fourth Liverpool Biennial in 2004. With banners, bags, stickers, postcards, flyers, posters and badges, she flooded the city with two images: one of a woman’s naked breast, the other of her pudendum. The piece, titled "My Mummy Was Beautiful," was dedicated to Lennon's mother, Julia, who had died when Lennon was a teenager. According to Ono the work was meant to be innocent, not shocking. She was attempting to replicate the experience of a baby looking up at his or her mother’s body: the mother’s vagina and breasts are a child’s introduction to humanity. Some in Liverpool, including Lennon's half-sister, Julia Baird, found the citywide installation offensive. Indeed, the BBC program North West Tonight invited viewers to phone in their opinion of the piece, and of the 6,000 viewers who responded 92% wanted the images removed. However, others appreciated the conceptuality of the work. Chris Brown, of Liverpool's Daily Post, wrote: "Many have loved the work… and Yoko Ono has again managed to get the eyes of the world looking in our direction." An editorial in The Times of London wrote: "Her unmissable contribution to the fourth Liverpool Biennial dominates the event and seems also to symbolise the new international Liverpool… Ono manages successfully to get right up the noses of the locals, as she always has. Brilliant… As always with Ono's art, a simple act has become a radical one."

Some local councilors welcomed the removal of Ono's image from the deconsecrated Church of St. Luke. "I'm delighted that it has been removed," said Joe Anderson, leader of the Labour group. "I find it appalling that the picture was put in a place which offended people. St. Luke's is a war memorial and many people felt it was being desecrated with this picture." Ono's art was placed there at the invitation of St Luke's Peace Centre in recognition of John Lennon and Yoko Ono's steadfast promotion of peace. The biennial's chief executive, Lewis Biggs, denied the claim that it was moved due to public pressure: "The banner was taken down to replace the one torn down at the Bluecoat Centre over the weekend. The only banner of the same size was at St. Luke's. If the biennial had the money to replace the one at the church, we would have." He further stated, "There are a great many people who enjoy and support this project." Paul Domela, deputy chief executive of Liverpool Biennial, said: "We were aware that some would object to it. But, at the same time, we realised that a great many would love it as well… We have got bags, stickers and badges that are so popular we cannot give out enough of them because they are going so quickly." He continued, "In the campaign for the election in the European Union, there was an image of a woman breast feeding. The campaign was aired across Europe, including some very Catholic countries. Over here, the difference was that the nipple was removed. This baby had its mouth open into nothingness. What does that say about the relationship we have in this country to motherhood? To begin to think about that and talk about it is very important." In response to the controversy Ono stated, "I wasn't trying to insult Liverpool. In fact, when I thought of the idea and I visualized this beautiful mom's breasts and vagina all around the city I thought, 'Ah, it would be so beautiful', and it's like giving them love, because we are all born from mother's body, and that's the first thing that we were nurtured by- mothers' breasts. Somehow people try to inhibit that memory. Women are put in a position of feeling embarrassed about their bodies. It's so ridiculous, but also astounding. We have to always be apologetic about having created the human race."