The Beatles - The Ballad of John & Yoko [HD]

It was released while the couple were in the middle of their second Bed-In at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal.

The song is a ballad in the traditional sense of a narrative poem in a song, not in the sense used in modern pop music where the term usually refers to a slow, sentimental love song.

It was the 17th and final UK number one single for The Beatles, and peaked at number eight in the US

"The Ballad of John and Yoko" was recorded on 14 April 1969, just prior to the sessions for the Abbey Road album which began on 18 April 1969.

It was performed by Lennon and Paul McCartney; George Harrison was on holiday, and Ringo Starr was filming The Magic Christian.

Lennon had a sudden inspiration for the song and called on McCartney, suggesting the two of them record it immediately without waiting for the other Beatles to return.

Lennon was on lead vocal, and played two lead guitars, acoustic guitar and percussion (beating on the back of an acoustic guitar). McCartney sang harmony vocals and played bass, drums, piano, and maracas.

The outro guitar riff was inspired by the Dorsey and Johnny Burnette song, "Lonesome Tears in My Eyes", notably covered by The Beatles in their early years and released on the album Live at the BBC.

The session recordings reveal this exchange between band members:

Lennon (on guitar): "Go a bit faster, Ringo!"
McCartney (on drums): "OK, George!"

The song's working title was "The Ballad of John and Yoko (They're Going to Crucify Me)". It is sometimes listed as "The Ballad of John and Yoko" and sometimes with the shorter title "Ballad of John and Yoko".

For example, the picture sleeve single released in the US on 30 May 1969 shows the latter wording on the A-side and the former wording on the B-side of the disc.

"The Ballad of John and Yoko" was released in the United Kingdom on 30 May 1969 and in the United States on 4 June 1969. The song was later released on the compilation albums Hey Jude, 1967--1970, 1 and Past Masters.

In Britain and Europe, "The Ballad of John and Yoko" / "Old Brown Shoe" was the first Beatles single released in stereo.

The song was banned by several US radio stations, due to the words "Christ" and "crucify" in Lennon's lyric, "Christ, you know it ain't easy, you know how hard it can be; The way things are going — they're gonna crucify me."

The Spanish government under Franco objected to the song due to its statement that Gibraltar was "near Spain". The status of Gibraltar was a subject of debate between Spain and the United Kingdom at that time

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=nVmCbwlRo2Y#t=40s