The Ballad of John & Yoko
Story behind the song
The famous image of John & Yoko standing in front of the Rock of Gibraltar was very much on brand. What greater symbol of the eternity of their love? It was, however, a wedding location chosen out of necessity rather than a carefully thought out mission statement.
Second time around
In 1962 Brian Epstein was the best man at the hastily arranged wedding of John Lennon and Cynthia Powell in Liverpool. Alas, Brian was no longer around for John’s second wedding. This took place in March 1968 — at even shorter notice.
John popped the question on March 13, the day following the wedding of Paul and Linda. That had taken place a short walk from Abbey Road, without Mr Lennon, Mr Harrison or Mr Starr making the guest list. Paul later conceded that this might have been linked to workplace issues:
“I really don’t remember whether or not I invited any of the band to the wedding,” said McCartney. “Why not? I don’t know, really. Maybe it was because the group was breaking up. We were all pissed off with each other.
John wasn’t bothered about it at all — no way. But by pure one-in-a-million -would-you-believe-it coincidence, the future Lennon-Onos soon had their own special news to declare. The next day, in fact.
“We’re getting married!” John announced from the back of his Rolls. They were driving back to Weybridge after a visit to Aunt Mimi.
“Congratulations, sir!” said his chauffeur, trying to focus on the road. “When is the happy day?”
“As soon as possible! Why not today?”
Why not, indeed? Well…
“Change of plan,” said Lennon. “Drive us to Southampton.’
Paperwork problems
“We wanted to get married on a cross-channel ferry — that was the romantic part. We went to Southampton and then we couldn’t get on because she wasn’t English, and she couldn’t get the day visa to go across.”
Another tricky issue was the legality of an onboard wedding.
They said, ‘Anyway, you can’t get married. The Captain’s not allowed to do it any more.’
This was not cool. Not cool at all. Time to find a working phone box and call Peter Brown. The Beatles Mr Fix-it would make the arrangements for Plan B.
“We’re going to get married in Paris, Pete,” said John, after shovelling coins into the slot. “We’re on our way to the airport now. We need you to sort out the flights and all that paperwork stuff.”
Silence on the end of the crackly line then. “Do you have your passports with you?”
They did not. And much as France loved the Yeah Yeahs, its officials were sticklers for boring rules and paperwork. In fact, the French insisted on a period of residence before any talk of a wedding licence.
Those suits, eh? Always putting the dampers on the groovy people.
Gibraltar near Spain, anyone?
Plans for a swift elopement appeared to have run into the sand. Those suits, eh? Always putting the dampers on the groovy people.
John and Yoko wouldn’t get married in boring England. They couldn’t do so abroad. That didn’t leave a lot of options for Plan C
A lesser Mr Fix-it might have quoted the old song: The difficult, I’ll do right now. The impossible takes a little time. But Pete was a solutions guy
Peter Brown called to say. You can make it okay. You can marry in Gibraltar near Spain
Pulling every string imaginable, Brown arranged for the couple to be married in Gibraltar on March 20, 1969. It earned him immortality in the song shout-out. No little thank-you cut of the royalty, though. This was the new ruthless Alan Klein Apple. Business was business.
Just over a week after Paul and Linda closed the deal, Lennon and Yoko were made one. With cool white suits and that giant rock. Just saying, Paul!
A souvenir
The Rock rocked as far the newly-weds were concerned. They later celebrated with their own wedding present single. A Beatles one — with their names on it!
You might guess that this would not have gone down a storm with Team McCartney. And be surprised that John personally phoned Paul to ask for help with recording his wedding anecdote. Even more surprised that Paul happily agreed.
There followed a remarkable recording session. With George and Ringo both out of the country, the old friends took a couple of days off from snarling at each other and bashed out The Ballad of John and Yoko. Even at the height of the intra-Beatle civil war the old chemistry was still there.
The record
Not everyone was thrilled with the outcome. Understandably, Cynthia Lennon did not want it on her jukebox. Nor did the British Foreign Office. Crossest of all was one Generalissimo Francisco Franco. Especially when he was informed that the song describes Gibraltar as ‘near Spain’.
Geographically, the elderly dictator had a point — the Rock is part of the Spanish mainland. Under international law, however, Gibraltar is a British Overseas Territory. That status has always been disputed by Spain but its population consistently votes to retain its current status.
Franco banned the ballad but there was nothing he could do to stop those monkeys in Gibraltar from bopping along.
