Yoko is 80 today, I love her because she’s independent, withstood racism, misogyny, ageism and snobbery. How could I not be drawn to someone so hated, someone so reviled, who has never killed anyone, started a war, raped, or molested anyone.
I was bound to admire her. If all she had done in 1967 was to want to make a film of everyone in the world smiling, which to this day she’s STILL filming, then that would have been enough to earn my admiration.
Everyone mocked her concept of people sitting, and walking around in bags, they were too busy hating a free thinker to understand the message, that if ‘everyone’ did that, you couldn’t see if the person was black, white, young, old, abled, disabled etc, you would have to treat them as an equal.
Obviously she knew the whole world couldn’t walk around in bags, but to acknowledge, and imagine the concept that it IS possible not to judge on appearances and race etc. Btw, it was actually Yoko who came up with the concept of ‘Imagine’, she’s too gracious to take the credit now.
I also genuinely enjoy her music and art, obviously others mileage may vary, but this is about me, not them, so any hating, best you be taking it to another location 
Yoko, long may you rock, and piss people off (Just so long as it’s not Paul, Hahaha).
Happy 80th Yoko!
Wishing you PEACE!
Well said, Tammy! Happy 80th to the Grand Lady!
couldn’t have said it better, my friend! rock on, yoko! you are an inspiration to me. i hope to reach 80 with half your energy and love of life! xxx
Wishing a … HAPPY 80 Ocean Child !
Sorry, while I am not a Yoko basher out of respect to John and Sean, I am NOT a Yoko fan either. Lets get real people, she was nothing more than an opportunist who jumped on board John’s train, derailed him in many ways, and blocked the truth about many events in their lives thru her connections ($$$) in the media. Lets go back to the very start, when the story started out after their meeting at Indica Gallery going something like this…”I didn’t even know who this John Beatle was…” yea, right. Was it cold in that cave you lived in? Give me a break. Let the Jann Wenners, David Geffens and Mark Lapidos’ of the world kiss her ass, not me. She has single handedly ruined the Lennon legacy. Ugh.
Sorry, Tammy, but its only fair that you allow comments from both sides of the Yoko fence, right?
Happy 80th Birthday, Yoko. Thanks for making the last years of John’s life happy.
Polarity shift!
Lennon knew his own unhappiness was based on not having a true soulmate in Cynthia. The greatest mother but a non-companion no matter how she might try.
So, what kind of odds exist for the literary Beatle…the leader…The Motherless…The bitter cynic with too much wit…near-sighted/blind but able the x-ray any situation…DOES THIS MAN HAVE A CHANCE AT HAPPINESS?
I’m positive that John thought himself an island…there couldn’t possibly be a female peer of John Lennon. I, myself, never would have believed it…but, thankfully pessimism is just a symptom. I can’t imagine what Yoko was doing to have been so arty. Her ideas were pretty daring and way ahead. If the in-crowd really did comprehend what was up…how was it that she ever became available. I would have thought her to be the hippest and the hottest and extremely in demand by all guys. I sure have never met anyone that had such open minded concepts…none that would admit them anyway. Yoko was one of a kind in those days…I’m considering John to have beaten the odds when she actually saw herself in him.
On a current note…I am a little shocked and dismayed to find the hip Ocean Child to be in proud endorsement of The Georgia Guidestones. These are monolithic tablets of granite which are engraved with some elitest gibberish…mainly to do with population reduction…
Huh???
Happy 80th birthday Yoko. Wishing you peace, love, joy, health, and many more birthdays!
I always think that If she was good enough for John Lennon, who are we to judge? I am sorry, I actually like her.
Well said, Nick. BTW, R.I.P. Tony Sheridan.
I need help…ANYONE!
This IS very Yoko related…and concerns the original release of Unfinished Music No.1…Two Virgins. I need to know about the UK release on Track Records. Can anyone tell me exactly what kind of brown paper wrapper this album was placed in to avoid retail mayhem. In the U.S., Two Virgins…as Apple T-5001…received a unique brown sleeve that opened on the right-hand side to receive the album cover. It was sealed with a large adhesive ‘white dot’ that folded over the center of the brown-bag opening. No shrink wrap…the brown bag was actually printed to appear as if it had holes cut in to reveal the cover beneath. Finally, the back of the brown bag had 5-verses worth of scripture from the book of Genesis…
Is this Tetragrammaton version AT ALL SIMILAR to Track’s version for the UK??? Over the years, I have located many stereo UK copies of Two Virgins…none had a brown-bag to hide the controversy…I am beginning to think that if Track had anything going on to appease the public, that it was some generic brown paper bag that could be obtained (and installed) cheaply and quickly…LIKE NOTHING to identify it as being part of an Apple product…and certainly not a sub-contracted work order that required paste-up/printing. Instinct tells me that there was nothing as fancy as in the U.S.
This brings me to a couple other points of contention:
Why did the(ULTRA RARE) mono version of the album from UK (“APCOR”) display the McCartney quote on the front cover…but the common stereo copies from UK are text-free on the front cover. I wonder what happened…did Paul have reservations about his moniker/endorsement?
Obviously, potential profit was never a motivating factor…but where are the UK brown bags…and why is the mono version so damned rare???
There is a huge difference in prices paid. Was the first run MONO only? Or, if mono and stereo had concurrent releases…why the different covers?
AND, does anyone have verifiable info that suggests Two Virgins was ever available in any other country as anything but an imported US or UK copy?
ANY HELP IS APPRECIATED!!!
(half of what I say is meaningless…but the other half is well intended and legitimate attempts to know everything about the stuff I collect…so I sing the song of Love for Beatles…Beatles…B-e-a-t-l-e-s)
Happy birthday, Yoko…
I’m planning to live to be 125 years old…Yoko will easily reach 100!!!
Just wanted to say that I loved what you wrote and couldn’t agree more. : ) Thanks so much for sharing your words and, as always, all these beautiful photos with us. : ) <3
I”d like to think that over the years people’s opinion of Yoko has changed. I remember being very young (11 years of age) when Yoko and Linda entered the lives of our beloved John & Paul and the negativity that followed. We were so accustomed to Cyn & Jane that we couldn’t see beyond anything other than that.
In time we came to see (hopefully) what John & Paul saw. That these ladies allowed them to be something other than Beatles. They let them simply be themselves. John found his artistic counterpart and Paul found a woman that gave him a home and a family. Both men found their happiness and that is what we should remember and appreciate about them.
Happy 80th Birthday, Yoko!! (Actually, the time stamp on this comment will be Kurt Cobain’s 46th birthday… so good wishes to him in rock & roll heaven/hell with John and Jimi and them.)
One of my favorite quotes about Yoko came from Paul himself: “I think she’s just more determined than most people to be herself.” I think that’s what John fell in love with… and it’s what I admire most about her and what I have learned from her.
Kwai, in the UK, from the people I know who bought it when it was released it was sold as is with no brown wrapper. The mono and stereo were released simultaneously although (apparently but it seems hard to believe) most of the monos were only avaialable via mail order. It was still on Apple in UK (with small Track logo on label as the distributor)
@ Kwai Chang : the “Two Virgins” album was also issued in Holland, as a local pressing. See http://www.applerecords.nl/Holland%20LP%20John.pdf for pictures.
@A Car…
beep, beep!
@Calico…
Another variation to find…very awesome!
There’s a Canadian Two Virgins on ebay right now…
I believe it to be from U.S.
(I don’t think it was pressed/printed there…)
Thank you, BOTH, ever so kindly!
Wow, she doesn’t look or act 80… That’s some nice pictures of Yoko too.
Yokos 80th birthday concert in Berlin with Sean and Plastic Ono Band, was outstanding and wonderful, so much good energy and vibrations, true LOVE, “give peace a chance” and “happy birthday Yoko”, finishing with standing ovations… God bless the Fab4 family!