Be My Yoko Ono
"Be My Yoko Ono" | ||||
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Single by Barenaked Ladies | ||||
from the album The Yellow Tape and Gordon | ||||
Released | February 1992 | |||
Recorded | 1991 | |||
Genre | Alternative rock | |||
Length | 2:45 | |||
Label | Page Publications, Reprise Records (US), Cheree Records (UK) | |||
Songwriter(s) | Ed Robertson, Steven Page | |||
Producer(s) | Barenaked Ladies, Scott Dibble, Everett Ravestein | |||
Barenaked Ladies singles chronology | ||||
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Music video | ||||
"Be My Yoko Ono" on YouTube | ||||
"Be My Yoko Ono" is the debut single by Canadian band Barenaked Ladies.[1]
The song was written by Steven Page and Ed Robertson and first appeared on their 1989 demo tape, Buck Naked. It was also included on their second and third tapes, Barenaked Lunch and The Yellow Tape, as well as their major-label debut Gordon, and 2001 compilation, Disc One: All Their Greatest Hits.
Background and content
In the song the narrator explains that he would be willing to give up everything to be with the person he loves by comparing their relationship to the one between Yoko Ono and John Lennon.
In 1991, the band entered the song in CFNY-FM's annual "Discovery to Disc" contest. When the station asked Steven Page for the master tape, he "didn't have the heart" to tell them that they already had it: a cassette that they had recorded in his basement. He told them that they would have it by next week, and submitted a studio re-recording within the week. This version of the song would later end up on The Yellow Tape, which achieved platinum status in Canada. The song became the band's first single and won the band the grand prize of $100,000 to record a full-length album, which became Gordon.
Music video
The song was also the band's first "video"; in 1990, the band squeezed into Citytv's Speaker's Corner booth (which allows anyone to film a two-minute movie of themselves for one dollar) and performed a shortened version of "Be My Yoko Ono," with the introduction (as done by Steven Page) "Hi! We're Barenaked Ladies, and we're a little too cheap to make our own video so here you go." The clip, which was re-aired extensively, greatly popularized the band across Canada. Later, in 1993, a professional video, directed by Larry Jordan, was made. It features the band playing in a dark room and imitating many of Yoko Ono's avant-garde performance art pieces, including "Cut Piece" in which audience members used scissors to cut off her clothing until she was completely naked. The video is also interspersed with various film clips of Yoko and John, which she sent to the band herself after her son, Sean Lennon, who had seen the band perform, brought her a tape of the song.
The song was featured during a montage sequence in "The Cooper-Nowitzki Theorem", a second-season episode of The Big Bang Theory.
Yoko Ono's reaction
In 1992, MuchMusic produced a television special about Barenaked Ladies to celebrate the release of Gordon. In the special, MuchMusic was able to interview Yoko Ono to gauge her reaction to the song. Ono said she enjoyed it, but that she liked "If I Had $1000000" more.[2]
Personnel
- Steven Page – lead vocals
- Ed Robertson – acoustic guitar, background vocals
- Andy Creeggan – congas, tambourine, background vocals
- Jim Creeggan – double bass, background vocals
- Tyler Stewart – drums
- Everett Ravenstein – engineering
Charts
Chart (1992) | Peak position |
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Canadian Singles Chart | 77[citation needed] |
References
- v
- t
- e
- Gordon
- Maybe You Should Drive
- Born on a Pirate Ship
- Stunt
- Maroon
- Everything to Everyone
- Barenaked for the Holidays
- As You Like It
- Barenaked Ladies Are Me
- Barenaked Ladies Are Men
- Snacktime!
- All in Good Time
- Grinning Streak
- Silverball
- Ladies and Gentlemen: Barenaked Ladies and The Persuasions
- Fake Nudes
- Detour de Force
- Rock Spectacle
- Talk to the Hand: Live in Michigan
- BNL Rocks Red Rocks
- Shoe Box EP
- Everything Acoustic
- Barenaked For Hanukkah
- The Long Weekend EP
- Fake Nudes: Naked
- Disc One: All Their Greatest Hits (1991–2001)
- Hits from Yesterday & the Day Before
- Stop Us If You've Heard This One Before
- Barenaked in America
- Barelaked Nadies
- Talk to the Hand: Live in Michigan
- "Lovers in a Dangerous Time"
- "Be My Yoko Ono"
- "Enid"
- "What a Good Boy"
- "Brian Wilson"
- "If I Had $1000000"
- "Jane"
- "Alternative Girlfriend"
- "Shoe Box"
- "The Old Apartment"
- "One Week"
- "It's All Been Done"
- "Call and Answer"
- "Get in Line"
- "Pinch Me"
- "Too Little Too Late"
- "Falling for the First Time"
- "Thanks That Was Fun"
- "Another Postcard"
- "Testing 1,2,3"
- "For You"
- "Celebrity"
- "Maybe Katie"
- "Easy"
- "Wind It Up"
- "You Run Away"
- "Every Subway Car"
- "Boomerang"
- "Odds Are"
- "Did I Say That Out Loud?"
- "Say What You Want"
- "Silverball"
- "Duct Tape Heart"
- "Lookin' Up"
- "Bringing It Home"
- "Navigate"
- "Flip"
- "New Disaster"
- "Good Life"
- Discography
- Chris Brown
- Greg Kurstin
- Barenaked on a Stick
- Demo tapes
- Barenaked Ladies
- Public Stunts Private Stories
- Category
- Commons