BeatRoute Magazine BC Edition June 2019

RE-IMAGINING JOHN AND YOKO
John & Yoko: Above Us Only Sky show’s Ono’s essential role in
imagining Imagine while shining a light on legendary love story
By MICHAEL HOLLETT
W
hen I interviewed Yoko Ono for
the first time, in the office she
once shared with John Lennon
in Manhattan’s gothic Dakota,
it quickly became clear to me
why my favourite Beatle was fascinated by,
and had fallen in love with, this controversial
woman.
Figuring out the legendary and, to some,
perplexing love affair between Ono and Lennon
has been a mystery that has befuddled,
even angered many, and the documentary,
John & Yoko: Above Us Only Sky, now screening
on Netflix, sheds some light on the essence
of their epic connection.
There’s a home movie feel to this film that’s
more like a scrapbook than a traditional documentary.
Lots of candid shots of Lennon and
Ono with family, friends, musicians and hangers
on frolicking on the sprawling Tittenhurst
Park estate outside London. The couple fled
there to escape the pressures of the English
capital and settled in to make one of the greatest
albums ever, Imagine. It’s worth watching
this film just to experience Lennon recording
his achingly confessional, “Jealous Guy.”
The wise woman I experienced that day
in New York City is very evident in the doc
as Lennon leans on her for inspiration, intelligence
and a critical ear. The film makes
clear that a shared commitment to political
activism, especially pacifism, was at the core
of their connection. Lennon and some of the
collaborators interviewed for the film are all
clear that much of the thinking behind the
album and the “imagine” concept came from
Ono – and I’m not surprised.
The film follows the couple to New York
City where they finish the record and edit the
footage that became their somewhat surreal
Imagine movie and yielded much of the material
used for Above Us Only Sky.
This latest look at Lennon and Ono is a
good peak into a great love story. When I got
up to leave that day, after what turned out to
be hours but felt like minutes in Ono’s thrall,
I turned and noticed a huge painting behind
me that almost covered the wall and that Ono
would have been looking at when she wasn’t
setting her engaging and penetrating eyes
on me. It was a beautiful, bright portrait of
Lennon sitting cross-legged on the ground
in Central Park with the couple’s young son
Sean (See story page 19), a toddler at the
time, in his lap, both smiling. She sent me on
my way with a warm goodbye and, of course, I
went up the street to the Park and Strawberry
Fields to pay my respects to John. ,
John & Yoko: Above Us Only Sky is
streaming on Netflix
JUNE 2019 BEATROUTE 41