"The Ballad of John and Yoko"

Backdated, archival post

[link to original on tumblr]

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When I listened to Past Masters, Volume Two yester-day, the bass part for "The Ballad of John and Yoko" sounded easy to figure out.  And once I had that, I was pretty sure I knew the chords too (which The Beatles Complete Chord Songbook confirmed).

This was never my favorite Beatles song, and after learning how to play it (and paying attention to the lyrics), I actually sort of dislike it.  It's just John Lennon complaining about his life in a way that seems to trivialize religion.  I think it's even worse than his comment about the Beatles' being "More popular than Jesus."

Musically, it's not much better.  The chord progression is a standard I IV V (which stays on an E major for eight whole measures), and the bass plays almost the same figure under each chord, just raised a certain number of steps so that the lowest note is the root of whatever chord it's played beneath.

In my recording, I have only a verse, the bridge, and then an-other verse.