standing in the dock at Southampton

Standing in the dock at Southampton,
Trying to get to Holland or France.
The man in the mac said, 
"You've got to turn back" --
You know they didn't even give us a chance...


These lyrics are the beginning of a Beatles song called "The Ballad of John & Yoko."


On You Tube, there are various versions of this song, most of them Not By the Beatles.  It's like the shortage of Bob Dylan songs performed by Bob Dylan -- some kind of song-publishing-copyright-controversy-yadda.  

When people upload Beatles songs, "Someone" takes them down.  (The songs, not the people.  [I think.])  (Greedy Abusive Vile Big Corporations.  Gather some lawyers -- "Send lawyers, guns and money!" -- FREE THE MUSIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

What you can do is, go on You Tube and enjoy four different videos of Ballad of John and Yoko -- the first one, the sound is very tinny and degraded -- it plays (or, appears to play) on an old-fashioned children's type "record player" ... why do we listen to a version of the song when we know the sound is bad?  Because it's the only version up there that I can find where it's actually the Beatles singing it yay!!!


One of the Comments on the video says basically the reason why this one video flies under the radar and doesn't get taken down is because the sound is so bad.  It's sort of that the uploader (Hero!!) in a sense "armor-plated" it with altered sound so that it would possibly survive.

That video is The Beatles, for real.

(By the time you go on You Tube to find it, it might be down, I don't know.  If I could stop the minions from taking it down by aiming a pea-shooter at them, I would...)


Finally made the plane into Paris,
Honeymooning down by the Seine.
Peter Brown called to say,
"You can make it O.K.,
You can be married in Gibraltar, near Spain" --


So, it's in this order:

1.  Type in on Google

the ballad of john and yoko single vinyl, franjalen

and listen

Christ you know it ain't easy,
You know how hard it can be.
The way things are going
They're going to crucify me.

Drove from Paris to the Amsterdam Hilton,
Talking in our beds for a week.
The newspapers said, "Say what you doing in bed?"
I said, "We're only trying to get us some peace" --

2.  Type in 

The Ballad of John and Yoko (Reprise)

(uploader, "AndyBoy 63")
(there's a photo of the Beatles looking out a window) -- when you play that one, it sounds great, and whoever sings it has a voice very like that of John Lennon -- the downside -- not the Beatles -- the upside:  good sound.

Saving up your money for a rainy day,
Giving all your clothes to charity.
Last night the wife said,
"Oh boy, when you're dead
You don't take nothing with you
But your soul - think!"

Made a lightning trip to Vienna,
Eating chocolate cake in a bag...

3.  Type in Dave Edmunds - Ballad of John and Yoko
listen

4.  Type The Ballad of John and Yoko, The Old Brown Shoes
(I don't think this is a real famous band or whatever, but what a lovely live performance!  Spirited, intense, and giving us hope!)

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