YOKO ONO'S AUSTRALIAN INTERVIEW
 Imagine: My Side Of The Story
 

 

It is easy to dismiss John and Yoko's utopian views as just well-intentioned beliefs of a couple whose extraordinary fame and wealth made them utterly remote from the realities of daily living. On the other hand, it was that very position which so determined Lennon to denounce all forms of gurus, from Buddha to the Beatles, and return to the uncompromising attitudes of his youth. His career would be a balancing act between the desire to rebel and his suspicion of all forms of organised belief. "I just believe in me - Yoko and me," as he sang on God.

For Yoko, as the administrator of Lennon's cultural legacy, there is a constant need to ensure that material is released or repackaged in a way which respects its historic significance and cultural context. This year will see the release of a major documentary about the recording of Imagine the album, overseen by Yoko called Gimme Some Truth. Lennon fans will recognise this title from one of the angriest lyrics on the record. "I'm sick to death of hearing things from uptight, short-sighted, narrow-minded hypocrites - all I want is some truth, just gimme some truth ..."

"Things happen in a mysterious way," Yoko says. "First of all, when we made the  Imagine record, we simply felt that we'd got enough songs and that it was time to go into the studio. And so we had a studio built next to the kitchen in our house at Ascot, so we could just go in there without even putting our shoes on - it was that casual. Then we decided to have somebody filming us recording the album, so there were nearly 14 hours of film. Later, we thought: 'Who's going to want to watch us making an album, at snail's pace - it's the most boring thing in the world'. So we chucked it. Then, about two years ago, I remembered that we had all this film and I wondered what we could do with it - never thinking Imagine was going to be so popular again. But, when I started watching it, even I was interested - and I'd heard the songs a thousand times over.

"So I got a top documentary film-maker from Los Angeles, Andrew Salt, to edit it down, and I went to Abbey Road studios to do the sound. And there are so many people in the film. Phil Spector is there, and George Harrison, Klaus Vormann, Alan White. It's that period of course. Then that's on the film as well. And just about everybody came. You see Jack Nicholson, looking very young. And Andy Warhol was there, of course, and Miles Davis, looking beautiful. At the time, I suppose we just thought it was normal, but looking at it now, it all seems very exciting."

While Yoko is describing the new film, her manner seems to offer a glimmer of the socialite side to her life. Yoko has made a point of never discussing her private life, but has always been open about her political views.

 With regard to her art, she is as literal as it comes: her work makes concrete the term "what you see is what you get" and the titles are always direct descriptions.

That said, her conversation is peppered with a certain visionary mysticism. She believes, for instance, that through information technology we can replicate a god-like status of being both invisible and omnipresent. She can also envisage a time when over-population may be solved by emigration to other planets. Her reasoning evolves from her belief that humankind is gradually solving the four sufferings described by Buddha: illness, poverty, old age and death.

Ultimately, Imagine the track has stood the test of time and her fickleness of public opinion. From the somewhat school-piano-like soft pedalling of its closing sentiments, it is difficult to resist its sincerity. Of course, the song is idealistic, and literal-minded, but what is the whole point;and Yoko Ono remains committed to its creed of simple, "instruction" thinking.

"I really think we will have world peace, to the point where 'peace' won't be used as a word any more because it will just be the normal situation," she says. "There are really only two industries in the world: the peace industry and the war industry. And if the peace industry becomes more viable than the war industry, then we will not have war any more. In the war industry, the people are totally unified - they just want to kill. Whereas the people in the peace industry - we are so critical of one another. We just have to learn to be more forgiving, more caring and more understanding of each other.

"The old idea of love and peace really does work. And if we can come together in the peace industry, then peace will happen. It's just so logical. And so I'll bet on that."