Ticket 2 Ride

Everyone knows who Yoko is. That name means different things to different people, but is always connected to John Lennon. I was curious about this bio, so much is already known about Yoko Ono, my hope was to fill in what I didn’t know about her early life before John, and then her shielded life after Lennon’s death.

David Sheff writes that he had interviewed Yoko many times and actually had a friendship with her and John, and was part of her inner circle following his murder. That insider view was what I was looking for.

Yoko (2025, Simon & Schuster) is in fact, valuable on presenting her early and later life, the bookends so to speak, of a very public life. I found her early years, before, during and after World War II to be quite fascinating. She travelled the world, saw the destruction of Japan up close, and struggled with the expectations and gender roles of her culture. If anything, Sheff could have expanded those characters given how important those years and experiences were in Yoko’s wiring.

For many, Yoko Ono is the wedge that broke up the Beatles and whose only musical talent was screeching her songs. This book won’t convince anyone who believes those things to reconsider, but Sheff tells the story of a fascinating person. She was a talented pianist and her art, as strange as it might seem, was very influential in the art world. That’s not me talking, that’s many other people.

At 92, Yoko has retreated from public view and has turned much of her responsibilities over to son Sean. Yoko has lived quite the life, from her early years of privilege, to traveling the world, two marriages before she met John Lennon, and her life as a widow. An astute businesswoman, she presides over the vast Lennon financial estate, his musical legacy, a voting share of the Beatles holdings, and her own investments.

I found out that Yoko had a boyfriend of nearly 20 years. I had never heard of him, which was kind of the point. He was invisible, but according to Sheff, very active in her life and someone she grew to depended on.

Life inside her small world must have been difficult, knowing who to trust, feeling safe, knowing what many people thought of her. She owned lots of properties and traveled extensively, but home was a place she found it difficult to let her guard down. Sheff tells of the theft of many personal items, some were belonging to Lennon. A trusted member of the staff took them. Former staff and friends sold stories to magazines or wrote books. There were constant death threats, break-ins, and people watching her. She had security at her homes and traveling. Sheff said that one year she spent over $1M on security.

Sheff writes that her parents were emotionally and physically unavailable to her, and even isolated her from other children. “She was taught that she was too good for them and they’d take advantage of her. She craved love and connection, but those needs were never fulfilled in her youth, and in response she built walls between herself and others. As she grew older, her aloofness was often seen as arrogance, but it masked a deep longing and sadness.”

One thing I gathered from the book is how Yoko has isolated herself from a world that mostly does not know, or understands her.

Examples of controversies true or not true, so issues used against her: She was not the kind of partner Beatle fans thought appropriate for John. She broke up The Beatles. She was blamed for isolating him from the outside world, and from any chance of mending fences with Paul McCartney. She kicked John out and arranged for him to have an affair with May Pang, when reeled him back in when he embraced his independence. She was the evil stepmother who kept Julian away from his father, then kept him from inheriting much of John’s estate. She consulted astrologists who ran her life.

I’m not a Yoko apologist or promoting this book as a means to change her image. She’s a complex person, that’s not in doubt. Her life is a product of many unusual influences, the result is a person with many different sides, some we see, others we don’t.

When Yoko licensed “Instant Karma” for a television commercial, the criticism poured in for selling out Lennon’s values. What people didn’t know was that the $800K fee was going to the United Negro College Fund. Does knowing that make a difference?

The Beatle songs “Free As A Bird”, “Real Love” and “Now And Then” all started out as home demos made by John. Yoko gave the tape to Paul and in the course of 30 years have those three songs as a part of The Beatles legacy. I like to think of that gesture as an act of healing, and a gift to Beatle fans.

“You change the world by being yourself.”

Yoko Ono