John Lennon and Yoko Ono: love out of the box

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

He is 26, she is 33. He is a half-orphan from a poor Liverpool quarter, a former poor student and a bully who made his way only thanks to his own talent and intuition. She is a wealthy Japanese aristocrat with an excellent education and refined taste. However, they were both rebels and experimenters. Both were constantly looking for something new. Perhaps that is why they could not avoid meeting.

The life of Yoko and John was a real happening: quarrels, scandals, suicide attempts, psychiatric treatment, holding bed strikes, participating in demonstrations, fighting for the rights of Indians. But this was their love - real, although it did not fit into the framework. But can there be standards in love?

He

John Winston Lennon, who was raised by his aunt after his parents divorced, seemed to have embodied all the boyish sins - he was slovenly, aggressive, impudent and malicious. In class, he drew pornographic pictures, and during recess he smoked, chased girls and pulled off their panties. Classmates from respectable families avoided him, but this did not bother the boy much.

Aunt Mimi worried most of all that she would never be able to raise a gentleman out of John. When there was not enough strength for threats and shouts, which should have forced her nephew to sit down at the textbooks, she began to cry and said: “The guitar is wonderful. But with her you will never earn yourself a piece of bread. Later, when the Beatles became mega popular, Lennon bought her a mansion, the hall of which was decorated with a marble slab with these very words.

She

Yoko came from a wealthy and noble Japanese family. Her fate was somewhat unusual for a Japanese woman - she was willful from childhood and possessed a character as hard as flint.

She married a talented but practically impoverished Japanese composer, although her parents were against it. Her husband's career did not work out, but thanks to him, Yoko entered the circle of avant-garde artists in New York and decided that she would devote her life to this art form. True, all of her installations, happenings and performances caused only grins from critics. Yoko was often depressed and tried to commit suicide more than once. But she was always close by and saved her faithful husband.

But rumors about the adventures of the unlucky daughter reached Japan. Yoko's father forcibly returns to his homeland and places him in a psychiatric clinic for treatment for depression. There, Anthony Cox, a great connoisseur of her work, finds her and takes her back to New York. In Japan, they managed to get married. Yoko's exhibitions in America begin to enjoy popularity, the couple has a daughter. Life seemed to be getting better. But then John appeared.

John and Yoko

Their first meeting at the exhibition did not catch John at all. Returning home, he told his wife that "Opening Day is a fucking dregs." And Yoko immediately realized that this man was sent to her by fate, and began to seek his attention in the most incredible ways. She sat for hours at the Lennon house, bombarded John with letters, demands for money and threats, sent postcards with the messages "Breathe and remember", "I am a cloud", "Look at the lights until dawn." And somehow she frightened Lennon's wife by sending her a broken cup stained with paint in a box from under the gaskets.

The meek Cynthia, John's wife, was put into a stupor by the antics of the Japanese woman, and John himself was at first annoyed, then surprised, and then interested. In addition, Yoko often called him on the phone, and they had many topics for conversation, usually about social issues. He was bewitched and delighted. And although his girlfriend was 7 years older, he decided that she needed his strong shoulder and advice. And besides, Yoko's lovemaking was fantastic!

In the summer of 1968, the couple began living together. They spent their honeymoon in Amsterdam. And somehow they invited journalists into their own bedroom, who were given interviews without leaving their bed.

John began to bring his girlfriend to rehearsals, which caused a real storm of protest and indignation from the quartet members. Women at rehearsals - it was an unspoken taboo that no one broke. Such an unfriendly reception deeply offended John. Disagreements have long been brewing in the group, which over time only worsened, until they completely led to a breakup. Yoko's appearance only accelerated this decay.

But John and Yoko felt good together. The musician never tired of repeating that they have one soul for two. Even when he got married, he changed his middle name - Winston - to Ono. And although critics declared that his songs were getting worse from year to year, he didn't seem to care about that. He fell in love with the house and turned into a well-fed and contented person.

Shot

Mark David Chapman was the most ordinary person, if not for a manic desire to be like John Lennon in everything. Chapman was also married to a Japanese woman. He lived practically on her maintenance and at the same time suffered from schizophrenia. All he had of value was Lennon's old tapes. But Lennon ceased to be a rebel, and, according to Chapman, had to pay for it.

On December 8, 1980, Lennon, as usual, left the house. His head was full of things to do, and, immersed in his thoughts, he did not pay attention to the man who took a step towards him. The killer called out to him by name - and a shot rang out.

After the death of her husband, Yoko put on mourning forever. It may seem strange, but when Lennon passed away, the attitude of society towards her changed. Yoko bitterly asked: "Did people really have to lose John in order to accept me." However, even today, many accuse her of excessive ambition, activity and arrogance. But that was what attracted Lennon to her.

And in continuation of the theme, a real exclusive for Beatle fans: 24 photos of John Lennon taken by fans of the musician.