Will Lennon's last song be a hit for Yoko at 70 ?
Feb 17 2003
By Lew Baxter Daily Post Correspondent
BILE and mockery have spilled from music critics over the decades as
Yoko Ono has warbled almost tunelessly through a litany of records in a
bid for chart glory - with usually only her late lamented husband John
Lennon cheering her on.
Well, on the eve of her 70th birthday, he's probably roaring his head
off as Yoko has now apparently found her voice, so to speak, and is
releasing what is tipped for a dance floor smash hit with a gutsy new
version of Lennon's last song.
Contemptuous of her venerable age, Yoko has teamed up with the Pet Shop
Boys and the celebrated American disc jockey Danny Tenaglia to perform
Walking on Thin Ice, the song Lennon was working on the night he was
murdered by Mark Chapman in December 1980.
Later today across The Pond, she joins Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe (Pet
Shop Boys), who say they have admired her work for years, to perform
the underground dance-style track at New York's psychedelic Arc Club,
where Tenaglia spins the labels and talks the talk.
Yoko first put out the song only two months after Lennon's death but it
struggled to reach number 35 in the UK charts.
In some circles she is credited with having an influence over several
post-punk bands, such as Public Image Limited, although her abrasive,
atonal sound is reckoned by others to be more in the experimental vein.
She affects to not give a fig for the critics, convinced that she is
capable of turning out traditional pop and rock music with great
aplomb, albeit in her trademark shrill voice.
This conviction of her superiority most probably stems from her
back-ground in Japan, where she was born on a snowy February morn at
her great-grandmother's palatial estate just outside Tokyo.
Yoko's paternal great-grandfather was the descendant of an emperor.
Little wonder that Lennon, despite his anarchic stance on life, was in
her thrall. She takes no prisoners, mutters Beatles chronicler and
former Mersey Beat magazine editor Bill Harry, who is less than
impressed with her magisterial attitude.
Others, though, have fallen under her spell and now Tenaglia with his
pal Felix Da Housecast has remixed the original track, which is due in
the shops at the end of March. Never one to accommodate modesty, Yoko
reveals she has been swamped with offers to perform at British electro
clubs such as Nag, Nag, Nag and The Cock in London.
"I think I will do that, as I'm very excited that people love the
record," Yoko said. She is appearing at the Arc club at 6am today (US
time). "Even Sean thinks that's pretty good going for his mum," she
added.
"This feels like a new beginning for me, with the dance community
adopting me and my music.
"It's a very exciting time for me, and I'm grateful for everyone's
support."
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