Yoko in the dirty mac..... - The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus (1996) Discussion

[–] CityRocker 20 years ago

My reaction too. Horrible, grating, ugly vocals that go on forever, making everyone acutely aware of how awful she is.

"Do they pay you to *beep* that bear?"

reply

[–] MrBigglesworth999 20 years ago

Yoko is a "WOS" ie. waste of space. But doesn't John do a great live version of "Yer Blues" with Eric & Co.

reply

[–] floating_jetsam 19 years ago

There you go again, trying to fit Yoko's music into the regimental confines of conventional music. It just doesn't work that way.

Unfetter your mind and try again.

Who knows, you might eventually get it... Until then, you should just admit that you can't understand something instead of invalidating the artist.

reply

[–] himynameis 19 years ago

I don't think her music was excellent or anything, but I don't hold it against her. I thought that jam was pretty good though, quite groovy if you ask me. and the audience seemed to enjoy it, either that or they were acting like it for the show.

reply

[–] 19 years ago

[deleted]

[–] unclebubba13 19 years ago

Yoko and her music are now and have ever been arhythmic, atonal, and completely lacking in artistic value. My mind has been "unfetter[ed]" for a very long time but I sincerely hope it never "gets" such trash.

reply

[–] CageM 19 years ago

Exactly.

In an interstellar burst, I'm back to save the universe.

reply

[–] floating_jetsam 19 years ago

Sometimes it helps to think of her music as a aural sculpture and not as a mere song.

reply

[–] guy-113 19 years ago

Am I allowed to fetter my ears whilst unfettering my mind...in the interests of my own sanity?

reply

[–] 19 years ago

[deleted]

[–] 19 years ago

[deleted]

[–] twisn66-1 16 years ago

its a prime example of the rule ..if you are in a band you let your girlfriends stay in the audience and dont get near the stage,,
the guy should have had more sense,, outright embarassing is what it was

reply

[–] himynameis 19 years ago

I just watched it again the other day, and I was thinking...though Yoko's thing isn't beautiful to my ears (it's not painful either) it did make me think. it's art in a way. I was just thinking...how many people think to one day just scream or wail like that, loud. there's nowhere where you can do that without being in the midst of a nervous breakdown or having a temper tantrum as a kid. but when does anyone get the oppurtunity to be free enough to just wail with all your lungs? I couldn't even do it alone in my house, or anywhere...I would be afraid someone would hear me.
so in that sense...it's art, it made me think of something I'd never thought before.

and really...how is it painful to your ears? It's not that high pitched, or even the main thing you hear in that part of the RRC...everyone's ears are different, but I think people like to say things are painful to their ears when really, they just don't find it pretty or beautiful. no, it's not "God Only Knows" by the beach boys...

reply

[–] timthemusicnazi 19 years ago

If you look at Clapton's face throughout the performance, he appears to be cringing.

reply

[–] himynameis 19 years ago

yeah I suppose. I think they're all sort of cringing (I would be too, just because I'd know everyone's thinking "ha...yoko ono. yes she's weird")...but I don't think they're having a bad time necessarily. She's just there...

reply

[–] unclebubba13 19 years ago

You can see the fiddle player keeps looking back at John and Eric as if to say, "Is she supposed to be up here?!", and then he just gives up trying to make his instrument heard in the mike they set up for him to play into. At least we were spared whatever stupidity she was up to during Yer Blues when she climbed into the black bag.

Just as a wise man can say something foolish, a fool can say something wise.

reply

[–] sverker_petersson_100 19 years ago

Who is the fiddle player anyway? Is he one of Lennon's studiomusicians for Beatles records?

reply

[–] unclebubba13 19 years ago

The credits list him as Ivry Gitlis and his IMdB bio says he is a Frenchman (naturalized, maybe) born in Haifa in 1922. Admittedly I'm not a musical scholar, but I'd never heard of him before seeing this show. He can saw on a fiddle (or could then), I'll give him that. He might well have been a studio musician, like Jesse Ed Davis that played lead guitar for Taj Mahal on the show.

Just as a wise man can say something foolish, a fool can say something wise.

reply

[–] 19 years ago

[deleted]

[–] beatlenut8 15 years ago

The Fiddle player. That was a weird choice. He had no idea of how to integrate violin into a rock jam. I wouldnt think Yoko's catterwalling wouldnt help him get into the groove though.

reply

[–] joy_ride_420 19 years ago

She took the microphone from the dude with the violin! You couldn't even hear him, they all looked so pissed off. Die Yoko. Die.

reply

[–] himynameis 19 years ago

hmmmm....would you say that to JOHN? because *he* was the one egging her on...

reply

[–] floating_jetsam 19 years ago

Watch John as the song ends. He is so very happy! The song meant a lot to him.

reply

[–] himynameis 19 years ago

yes!

reply

[–] unclebubba13 18 years ago

John was also stoned out of his mind, as was pretty much everybody else in the show. Well, those who weren't either tripping, coked up, or smacked out, or all of the above, that is.

Just as a wise man can say something foolish, a fool can say something wise.

reply

[–] himynameis 18 years ago

people come up with all sorts of reasons to say that Yoko was horrible and John didn't really love her...there's always an excuse it seems, I do wonder if there is ever a point where these excuses for hating Yoko will stop coming along.

you think the only reason he was egging her on was because he was stoned? is that why they got married? had kids? made music together? did everything together? because John wasn't in his right mind at the moment?

reply

[–] unclebubba13 18 years ago

I was making a joke. I didn't say he didn't love her. He ditched the group of friends he'd made his fame and fortune with, and the songwriting partner he'd written some of the best music the world has ever heard with, because of her, married her, and had a child with her. Of course he loved her. Why? I dunno. He saw something in her that caused him to fall in love. It may have been a reaction to the others dislike of her, the "Well, I think she's the cat's ass, so I'm gonna marry her and screw you and what you think." attitude that's been the impetus behind many a relationship.

I understand how she became popular with certain segments of the intelligentsia and musicians, given the attitudes of the time. Experimentation, pushing the boundaries, art for art's sake, don't be hemmed in by convention, and all that. The rebellion of youth against the sameness they saw in their parents. "The bland leading the bland", they called Eisenhower and the adults of the Fifties. Maybe being stoned out of his mind had something to do with it, maybe not. Drugging up, "freeing your mind", was a part of the scene. Maybe it loosened his enough that her atonal primal scream "let it out of your soul" screeching grooved him. Maybe the attraction, initially for him at least but in all for those who did and didn't drug up, was in her being so completely "anti". Anti-musical, anti-beauty, anti-art that anybody who didn't consider themselves trendy could grasp. Yoko isn't the first and surely won't be the last who have succeeded without an iota of talent. History has not been and will not be kind to her. She'll get a little bit of a break, just as she always has, for being John's wife and widow, but only a little one.

Just as a wise man can say something foolish, a fool can say something wise.

reply

[–] lesg2 12 years ago

She was totally awful but John was mesmerized by her.
Mark David Chapman was definitely crazy, he shot the wrong person and should be forced to watch this daily for the rest of his life,.

Love The Oldies

reply

[–] activista 11 years ago

Oh,please---I'm so sick of people blaming Yoko Ono as the sole reason the Beatles broke up---the truth, from all I've read about the Beatles, they had some serious legal issues around their music after their manager Brian Epstein died. Then there's the fact that the Beatles had been playing together for nearly a decade,they'd all grown up, and their tastes in music were changing. Plus Paul and John were having issues with each other over who got songwriting credit (Paul said about a decade ago that John tended to sometimes take full credit for songs they had co-written together.) The bottom line is, they would have broken up sooner or later, whether Yoko was in the picture or not, for the same reason a lot of groups break up----they either get sick & tired of each other/performing together,the hits just stop coming,or the musical chemistry just isn't there anymore.

"Mark David Chapman was definitely crazy, he shot the wrong person and should be forced to watch this daily for the rest of his life."

What an ignorant,hateful stupid thing to say. You sound pretty *beep* insane yourself. And, I have to admit, like the other posters, if she hadn't been John's spouse, she probably would have gathered a cult following in her own right over the years (which she did regardless.) I think people had a problem with her mainly because she was a Asian woman who didn't fit the quiet submissive little stereotype she was supposed to be,or stay in the background behind her husband,or just be the typical rock star groupie of that time or whatever. So,yeah, there was definitely some racism/sexism mixed in with the hate she got. Plus,a lot of people didn't like the fact that she became John's musical partner and she helped turn him into an activist. Hell, Lennon himself was quoted as saying that he didn't know what he was going to do musicwise after the Beatles broke up, and Yoko was responsible for helping him start his solo career. She's still doing her artistic thing/artwork today (unless she's finally retired,which she probably is,considering she's dang near 80 be now.)

After all, she did have a life and a career as an artist BEFORE she met Lennon

reply

[–] joy_ride_420 18 years ago

Would I say that to John? Why wouldn't I? Her singing was god awefull. He was the only one that was enjoying that noise coming out of her mouth. Come on, no matter how much John loved Yoko it doesn't make up for the fact that her singing was horible that day and she pissed everyone off. The dude playing the violin just stopped for a few seconds because he couldn't be heard because Yoko stole his mic. I don't know why people use John Lennon's love for Yoko as an excuse for her being an un-talented hack. John Lennon was a great man, but he certainly wasn't as perfect as everyone thinks he was. He was human, and his sons have said enough about his character to back that up.

reply

[–] unclebubba13 18 years ago

Well, it was nice of you to call that noise she makes "singing". :)

Just as a wise man can say something foolish, a fool can say something wise.

reply

[–] 18 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Lance925 16 years ago

Her voice is the human equivalent of beginning violin...

Some people never go crazy. What truly horrible lives they must lead. -Chinaski

reply

[–] beatlenut8 15 years ago

I have a Monkees Hits Compilation where the cover notes read they were hailed by their contemporaries at the time while laughed at by critics. I'll quote from the notes "John Lennon thought The Monkees were the greatest comic talent since the Marx Bros. Then again, he thought Yoko Ono could sing".

Enough said.

reply

[–] mr_hunchback 15 years ago

Interesting how, 40 years on, Yoko's artistic legacy would rise with the current generation of music loving kids - while John's solo contribution to "pop music" continues to sink in relevance. Posterity is not treating him like the heavyweight as once was commonly assumed. Ono's music, on the other hand, is accepted as 10 years ahead of the No Wave sound and frequently cited as an influnce on myspace and last.fm band pages. Lennon was the worst thing that could have happened to her - she stopped making music and moved to America to care for her pathetic beatle basket case and even now she's crippled by the weight of carrying his coffin on her back for 30 years.

reply

[–] kenny-164 15 years ago

"Interesting how, 40 years on, Yoko's artistic legacy would rise with the current generation of music loving kids - while John's solo contribution to "pop music" continues to sink in relevance. Posterity is not treating him like the heavyweight as once was commonly assumed. Ono's music, on the other hand, is accepted as 10 years ahead of the No Wave sound and frequently cited as an influnce on myspace and last.fm band pages. Lennon was the worst thing that could have happened to her - she stopped making music and moved to America to care for her pathetic beatle basket case and even now she's crippled by the weight of carrying his coffin on her back for 30 years."

Well, hunchback, one can only wonder what circles you travel in. Lennon was arguably the largest figure in 20th Century music and culture, while Ono continues to appeal to self proclaimed arty types who really don't like or care about music. That pretentious self absorbed types such as yourself are always with us no doubt is true.

At least we both agree on one thing - it would have been far better for all concerned if they had never met.

reply

[–] jkbbr549 13 years ago

Hunchback, that's the funniest thing I've ever read! Hilarious! :)

reply

[–] Dr_Anton_Phibes 15 years ago

I love this performance, specially Eric Clapton's riffs

Please Note: Just Read Intelligent Answers
DARN remakes!

reply

[–] WarpedRecord 14 years ago

Yoko's the only thing that keeps me from rating this film a perfect 10, but I guess every circus needs a sideshow.

reply