The Ballad of JOHN & YOKO

Yoko was having an art show in London at Indica Gallery. In those days most art put everybody down, got people upset. I walked up the stepladder and picked up the spyglass. In teeny little writing it just said 'Yes'. And I made my decision to go see the rest of the show.

John Lennon

The Mike Douglas Show, 1972

Yoko Ono met John Lennon on 7 November 1966. He was visiting a preview of an exhibition by her at the Indica Gallery, London, when she handed him a card which simply said the word "Breathe".

Lennon was also impressed by a piece at the exhibition which he had to view by climbing a stepladder to look through a magnifying glass.

One of the exhibits was a white board into which gallery visitors were instructed to hammer a nail. Ono refused to let Lennon hammer in a nail, as the exhibition wasn't to open until the following day. When told who he was, she offered to let him do so for five shillings.

Lennon's reported reply was: "I'll give you an imaginary five shillings if you let me hammer in an imaginary nail."

Lennon was intrigued by Ono, and they began corresponding. Their friendship blossomed, and Lennon later claimed that he wanted to take her to Rishikesh, India, where The Beatles studied meditation with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in early 1968.

Their affair began in May 1968. While Lennon's wife Cynthia was in Greece with Magic Alex Mardas, he and Ono recorded an album of experimental sounds at Weybridge, Lennon's Weybridge home. After its completion they made love for the first time. When Cynthia returned to England it was clear that her marriage was over.

The experimental recordings were released in November 1968 as Unfinished Music No 1: Two Virgins. While the music was too avant-garde for most listeners, the cover, featuring a fully nude John and Yoko, made the release one of the most notorious for a mainstream musician.

The sleeve photography was shot in early October 1968 in the basement of Ringo Starr's flat in Montagu Square, London, using a delayed shutter release. Most record labels refused to release Two Virgins, and a number of record stores refused to stock it.

John Lennon and Yoko Ono quickly became inseparable, and the 1969 single The Ballad Of John And Yoko documented their wedding and honeymoon.