Capsule Reviewed: Double Fantasy by John Lennon and Yoko Ono

(Capsule Reviewed is a series of song-by-song reviews by non-critics of albums I think more people should check out lol)

Released three weeks before John Lennons’s murder in 1980, Double Fantasy became a huge commercial success and won Album of the Year at the Grammys. Initially, however, and as time has moved away from his death, critical and cultural reception of the album has been pretty cool if not outright dismissive.

The album’s form is an exchange between the two artists trading off songs mostly focused on their relationship and family (one of the many criticisms often thrown at the album is “who cares”). Unlike a lot of their music together, Double Fantasy contains a lot of very accessible song structures and often crosses the line over into cheesy lovey-dovey territory with mixed results. It’s a huge departure from their previous joint effort “Some Time in New York City”, a noisy noisy noisy jam album with songs focused on Angela Davis, the Attica State prison riots, and other political issues of the time.

A “stripped down” version was released in 2010, seemingly trying to reclaim the power of Lennon’s songwriting and vocals, but it also sadly strips away one of the most exciting things the album has going for it: the barrage of electronic noises and the too-many production elements that make a lot of the songs sound simultaneously of their time and unlike anything else.

As is, in the original production, this album is deeply weird. The first two songs set the tone by whiplashing between the old school rock-and-roll vibes of “(Just Like) Starting Over” to the post-punk “Kiss Kiss Kiss” and those sounds meld and separate throughout, between and even in songs. If this is your first dive into Yoko’s music, you’re in for a treat.

I love to think of this album as two weirdos best attempt to make a sweet ode to the life they created together. Is it a great album? Maybe not. But it radiates with both John and Yoko’s energies, it gives you the full double fantasy.

(Because of the way the songs are mixed, I would recommend listening to the album fully through rather than song by song)

“(Just Like) Starting Over”

(Just Like) Starting Over is like John Lennon tried for a second to be Elvis. The song has a very doo-wop feel, it’s in a fast 3 and has a predictable chord progression. He even sounds a bit like Elvis. It has way more of an early Beatles sound but also feels very like Bye Bye Birdie-ish. I read that John Lennon was murdered only like 6 weeks after its release which is kind of insane like this was one of the last songs he ever wrote. I also always like when a song’s title has weird punctuation and I kind of love that part of the song title is in parentheses. It’s like, why? But I also totally get why. It’s a fine song — I think John Lennon has written much more complex and provocative music and this feels kind of basic for what he’s capable of, but I don’t hate it.

-Eileen Hanley

“Kiss Kiss Kiss”

First of all, and maybe MOST of all, this song is sexy. And as a Scorpio that really appeals to me. It’s also by Yoko Ono, which as feminist — and a human who knows how much fuckery is blamed on smart women throughout history — also really appeals to me.

I really like the way this song blends a bouncy ska rhythm with big swells of vocals and drums, and ends with a heavy female orgasm. No joke. It’s kind of like Blondie meets X Ray Spex meets a goth punk tropical-themed sex party (does such a thing exist? I hope so).

The lyric “It’s that faint, faint sound of the childhood bell ringing in my soul” created this image in my head of a classic red school bell with the little hand on the side, going off in a person’s insides as they cum. Like we’re all just walking around with little clocks and bells in our bodies that go off depending on how we feel.

I’ll end with the thing that really sits with you after listening to this song and that is Yoko’s orgasmic writhing vocals at the end of it. There is a very high-pitched voice in the back that *literally* sounds like a dolphin. Like, I thought for a second it was a dolphin. But it’s Yoko baby. And honestly? 10/10.

There’s also an amazing version of this song by Yoko and Peaches that I highly recommend! If you listen to one, listen to both. It’s worth it to see how the song evolves but really stays the same.

-Sophie Yalkezian

“Cleanup Time”

After Yoko finishes moaning, it’s Cleanup Time.

The first time I heard this, it sounded familiar, like a cover band struggling through a song I faintly recognized.

It starts with a chunky rhythm, straining desperately to be funky. It’s the sound of a white guy copying old R&B Atlantic/Stax records, like a poor man’s David Bowie. In fact, compare it to Bowie’s Fame, released 5 years earlier: very similar rhythm, except Bowie had Carlos Alomar on rhythm guitar, an exceptional guitarist who’d played with James Brown, Luther Vandross, and others. Lennon had one of the least funky guitar players possible on rhythm: John Lennon. (Lennon may have remembered the riff to Fame because he was in the studio when Bowie recorded it: Lennon came up with the vocal hook for Fame, singing “aim!” which Bowie then changed to “fame!”)

The lyrics are typical John Lennon: listen to me, I’m a rich bastard who thinks everyone should just be as happy as I am. It’s cleanup time, time to stop doing drugs and just enjoy my money. Lennon was too talented of a songwriter: it was all so fucking easy for him that he never knew when he wrote great lyrics and when he wrote shit. This has a bit of both: the first two verses are middle school crap, vague words meant to fill out vocal lines, a la I Am the Walrus or Come Together. Unlike either of those songs, however, Cleanup Time never gets to a satisfying vocal melody, and instead just meanders along. In parts of the chorus, the drums hit just after Lennon lands the lyric on the one, creating a Talking Heads-like jerk, but then it smoothes out into boredom. At points Lennon wanders into strange vocal affectations (“countin’ out da money”) to try to entertain himself through the whole thing.

Go listen to Fame instead.

-Curtis Retherford

“Give Me Something”

Ok here we go, Yoko dive bombs into the song like a bird of prey before launching into a full-out attack on John. Everything is cold and hard and Jesus can’t you just fucking give her something that isn’t? I love the guitar (or whatever instrument that is?? I have no idea) that does a quick run in between each of her lines. That and the underlying music sound like a 16-bit video game level.

This song rocks hard. At a minute and a half we don’t have time for bullshit. The attack, a great instrumental section, and a sad little outro to remind us she’s not demanding these things with nothing in return.

Give me, Give me! (guttural noise)

-PK

“I’m Losing You”

This song fucking grinds, man. Just listen to that intro: John Lennon moaning “Owwwwwwwwwaaaaaahhhhhh” over some sleazeball bar riff, sounding like he just stumbled out of a strip club at dawn and saw that no one was waiting in the parking lot to take him home.

“I’m Losing You” feels like that point in a relationship when you realize just how alone and vulnerable you really are. It’s about a man who gets ghosted by his wife (maybe) and is immediately consumed by his own insecurities.

There are basically three different ways to look at this song (and, by extension, John Lennon’s entire solo career):

A. As a plea to Yoko

B. As a plea to himself

C. All of the above

John wakes up in a stranger’s room — could be alone, could be with another woman, it doesn’t matter — and tries to call Yoko. When she doesn’t pick up — “Somehow the wires have crossed/Communication’s lost” — he freaks the fuck out. His mind spirals, and he starts to defend himself in the imaginary conversations he’s having in his head:

Well, well, well, I know I hurt you then

But hell, that was way back when

Well, do you still have to carry that cross?

Don’t want to hear about it

Here’s the thing about John Lennon: he wasn’t afraid to be a petty little prick, and I love him for that. Dude gave no fucks. And he certainly wasn’t afraid to be wrong to prove a point. I mean, he’s clearly overreacting in this song. Just imagine if “Read” receipts existed when he was around.

My dad once said he always liked John Lennon better solo than with The Beatles, and while I don’t necessarily agree with that (at all…), I can sympathize with what he meant: the dude was honest. To the point where it made him look bad. And while most people aren’t comfortable with exposing the parts of themselves that are insecure or needy or bitter, on “I’m Losing You”, our boy JL takes those personal flaws and turns them into a big sloppy asset for the rest of us to admire.

-Lane Koivu

“I’m Moving On”

Most of my pretty limited knowledge of Yoko Ono and John Lennon’s relationship comes from bits of pop culture/articles/tv/media I’ve consumed in my life, and I’ve decided not to fact check my memories in order to sustain the authenticity of this review. The same goes for Yoko Ono’s music, which I haven’t listened to a lot of so I have a very broad view of it and honestly one of my first impressions of her music is from this bit that Animaniacs used to do where it was a cartoon of her wailing. My point is that Yoko Ono used to get a lot of shit for “breaking up the Beatles” when any band that started with a bunch of teenage boys is bound to break up at some point and society has a tendency to blame anything bad happening on the nearest woman.

In terms of the song, I was really nervous when I first heard it because the first few seconds is this very noisy-experimental sound that I am personally not a fan of, but thankfully that noise was only in the first few seconds before it turns to an actual song, which I enjoyed! I know Yoko and John were anti-war, so I’m going to assume they were also anti-establishment and this song definitely hits that verve. It has a good beat, sort of a good rock song with just a touch of experimental/psychedelic-ness in a song which is the most of those genres I can hand in any song — just sort of a whiff of it, any more than that and I lose interest. I think the song’s lyrics could be interpreted about being a relationship and moving on from that, but given what I believe are Yoko and John’s beliefs, I think it’s more about not believing the lies of society and the establishment and moving on from that, which I definitely find more resonant. It’s also very possible I’m projecting a lot because that’s just how I’m feeling these days. Yoko Ono also makes these “wah-ooh” noises in the end, which was fun.

-Sylvie Wang

“Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy)”

See, here’s the thing (Rule #1 of writing anything, especially in this day and age, is to start any piece by saying ‘see, here’s the thing’) I listen to music A LOT. It’s probably a defense mechanism to block out the harsh sounds of NYC (i.e. cars honking, men catcalling; even just the sound of the WIND reminds me how life is very fleeting and death is imminent etc. etc.). But also I love feeling like I’m in a movie whenever I’m walking down the street. Music sets me up to have a good day, a good date, or even just a less shitty 3-train commute to a comedy show in Bushwick (I’m moving there soon though so yay!) However, I usually end up listening to the same 10 songs over and over again. When I die and scientists inevitably spend years reading all my journals, becoming fascinated by my sketch comedy videos, and going through my entire Spotify listening history (if such a thing is possible), they will see that I am a psychopath when it comes to listening to music.

This is all to say I actually forgot/put off listening to this song until the very last day when I had to turn this piece in. NONETHELESS (another important writer-y word), this morning when I donned my Beats by Dre™ , locked the door to my apartment, and set out to work, I immediately loved the song. It was the perfect soundtrack to this wonderful pre-Memorial Day Weekend Friday in which I have a half day at work!!! That’s the thing about music, you hear it and all of a sudden you’re a new person, who’s now heard this song. And your past isn’t important. It’s about the present and what’s in your ears!!!

Okay fuck I barely listened to this song the first time through because I was walking and “writing” all of that in my phone (ugh, gone are the days of pen and quill!) So I listened again. See, an obsessive listener! I briefly thought about Beautiful Boy (the movie) and how I’m glad Timothee Chalamet is going to have a long beautiful career. Anyways, the best thing about discovering a song for the first time is seeing what song or album it takes you to next. For example last week I listened to “My House” by Flo Rida to choreograph a dance to for a comedy show in a living room (subversive) and then I listened to his 2015 album “My House” which is…so good. So after “Beautiful Boy”, I listened to a song I already knew, “Oh Yoko.”

I’m simultaneously annoyed by and obsessed with John Lennon & Yoko Ono’s relationship. I mean, there are a lot of people out there who automatically don’t like Yoko because they think she broke up The Beatles! But I think John Lennon was just following his heart. And that’s what was meant to happen! And together they formed one of the first ever Power Couples! But also I think I have become averse to monogamy and get a little peeved when couples are obsessed with each other. Then I listened to the whole album “Double Fantasy” and thought it was very sweet. Though I think Yoko Ono should maybe stick to art…? I wasn’t as much a fan of her songs (the orgasms, the monkey noises, not for me.) They do seem like they were really in love. And love famously…is loveisloveislove.

Okay I, as they say, “farted out” this essay; but I am actually very proud given that I never write (that’s going to change this summer…watch this space!).

-Jesse Roth

“Watching the Wheels”

I’m not a lyrics boy, but this is one of the few songs that gets to me. An ode to saying “fuck off” to the world and the obsession people have with participating in our society. Obviously John Lennon’s going to have a bit of a different relationship with all of this. He was one of the biggest music stars of all time and post-Beatles he moved further and further away from “entertainment” and staying on top of it all (Paul could never). Of course he had insane wealth and privilege to do what he did but I love this verse:

People say I’m lazy
Dreaming my life away
Well they give me all kinds of advice
Designed to enlighten me
When I tell them that I’m doing fine watching shadows on the wall
“Don’t you miss the big time boy, you’re no longer on the ball?”

Me too. I’m doing fine.

Even though my love for John’s solo career and Yoko really comes from their noisy experimental work, this is maybe my favorite song on the album (probably 2nd to Every Man…) and one my favorite John Lennon songs. It sounds beautiful. The build up to the chorus, the strings that come in over the chorus, the piano, it’s all good. It feels out of place from the rest of the album and its focus on Yoko and Sean, but I’m glad it’s here.

-PK

“Yes, I’m Your Angel”

Entering softly into the room, followed by a greeting of applause that matches the modest entrance, is how Yoko Ono’s “Yes, I’m Your Angel” begins. As the instruments play in, the comfortable and casual opening continue throughout the song. Floating along for about three carefree minutes, the song has a feeling of being improvised and much like the opening, the listener feels like they are hearing an obscure recording made amongst friends and family. The whimsical lyrics are matched by Yoko’s velvety voice, which flutters softly above the instruments at a singsong pace. The overall feeling of the song brings forward a feeling of an intimate gathering sometime during the 1920s, sitting amongst friends during the summer at their Hamptons Estate. The woman of the house enters to perform a song for her lover’s birthday. The song, much like the woman, is eccentric and theatrical with a captivating presence that is filled with the affection she has for her partner, the ease of having a few drinks, and the celebratory feeling you get inside when honoring the ones you truly love.

-Steven Polletta

“Woman”

I think with a lot of these songs, John and Yoko set out expressly to create a sort of “classic” old-school vibe that can come off as a little basic and boring and that’s on full display here. This song reminds me of the kind of a song that a man would write his wife as an anniversary present, not a song written by the minds behind Plastic Ono Band, and that’s not a bad thing! All the ooo ooos and doo doo doo doos give this song a real simplicity that, in context of the lyrics expressing sorrow and regret for the hurt caused, is very affecting as a sweet love song. You might also just think this is a boring-ass song, and I wouldn’t rush to disagree, but I like it.

Gotta love a nice, gentle key change.

-PK

“Beautiful Boys”

Beautiful Boys by Yoko Ono and John Lennon is a space madrigal call to arms for young men.

Yoko Ono’s warble and dry mouthed delivery is not my speed. That paired with an all too earnest parable warning the trappings of capitalism and generalized manhood gives me the same feeling I have when my mom calls and says, “I pine for you.” I feel guilty that I’m not receiving the message with all the gravity it is intended to deliver.

-Jess Morgan

“Dear Yoko”

This song is a great encapsulation of a bright, happy, I-can’t-believe-I-like-someone-this-much kind of feeling. It reminds me of when you’re with someone and you’re so taken with them in that moment that you want to squeeze their arm or kiss their cheek. It’s sort of wonderfully mundane? The lyrics are pretty basic (rhyming “Yoko” with “let you go”) and the melody is sort of brassy and simple, but that feels true to what it is: he loves her, he’s happy, no need for fancy flourishes. The line, “Even when I watch T.V. / Hole where you’re supposed to be” is so funny to me because these are two mega-famous artists known for their relationship’s tortured lore, yet Lennon’s complaining that he doesn’t have Ono there with him to watch dumb TV shows. Just sort of delightfully ordinary, sunny-day music.

-Caroline Ulwick

“Every Man Has a Woman Who Loves Him”

I’m a sucker for dance-pop bops that are lyrically sad. You know those songs. The ones that can make your body move almost involuntarily and at the same time makes you retreat into yourself mentally. And then somewhere in the middle, your emotions are suspended somewhere in between “WOOO!” and “fuck.” . Examples include: How Will I Know — Whitney Houston, Dancing Own My Own- Robyn, Nobody’s Supposed To Be Here Hex Hector Dance Mix- Deborah Cox. (I guess that’s cheating but whatever.)

That was my reaction to this song. When the song first started, I immediately got a Rick James/ Donna Summer vibe which I wasn’t expecting based on the title. I was like oh, I’m about to dance, WOOO! And then Yoko’s voice came in with these soul-crushing lyrics and wrecked that…in a good way. Her vocals and the weird minor key choices made throughout the song gave it an air of 70s campy spookiness that I love. That adds to the sadness in the lyrics. There was something very effective about the line “If he finds her in this lifetime, he will know when he presses his ear to her breast.” The uncertainty in the “If” made me so very sad. Especially since she is right there. “Why do I roam when I know you’re the one? Why do I run when I feel like holding you?” Loving someone with one foot out of the door but knowing they’re love should be enough… fuck.

-Corin Wells

“Hard Times Are Over”

The pure, but grounded, hopefulness on display here is so touching. It’s been very hard. It’s getting easier now. Hard times are over… over for a while. It’s a wonderful end to the album. It’s forward-looking. The choir sound on the chorus and the piano make the song sound so large. The saxophone rules. It’s so unbelievably sad to listen to this knowing what would happened to John weeks after its release.

-PK