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Yoko released
"Walking On Thin Ice" as a 45RPM after John Lennon's
death. John and Yoko had been working on the track at the Hit
Factory recording studio in New York when John was killed in December,
1980.
The front of the picture sleeve for the vinyl single is as shown at
left. The back of the sleeve has the same wintry design, with a
note from Yoko as follows:
FINISHING
NOTE:
John and I were gloriously happy in the first week of December.
"Double Fantasy" was in the top ten. It was just a
matter of time for it to go up to number one since we still had
two weeks to Xmas and it was selling well. We kept saying,
"We did it, we did it," and hugged each other.
"What are we going to do when it's number one, John?"
"I'll take you out to dinner." "That's a
date?" "That's a date." That meant
dressing up time: John in his suit and me in drag.
He would put the diamond pin on his lapel, a birthday present
from me. Then we would end up going to a quiet, dark
restaurant where nobody could see us except us. But that
was our idea of fun. "Mother, help me put this diamond pin
on, will you?" I hear him saying.
"Yoko, you paid your dues, and you produced a top ten
record. Don't let them kick you around anymore. When you
talk to them, just remember that. They have to respect you
now. Just look tem in the eye and say I'm to a top ten artist,
in your mind, okay?" he said, over and over again.
"Don't worry, John. I look them in their eyes
anyway." "That's because you're crazy," he
laughed. "But you're a commercial success now, Yoko;
you don't know what that means. It means dollars and cents, and
they understand that." "Sure, John."
"Walking On Thin Ice" was what we were remixing that
night. The past weekend we had listened to the song all
day and night. It was as if we were both haunted by the
song. I remember I woke up in the morning and found John
watching the sunrise and still listening to the song. He said I
had to put it out right away as a single. He wanted to be on the
B-side of it. I didn't think that was wise. "Nobody's going
to listen to the A-side then." "Hey, I've got a
good idea. How about sending just the A-side to the DJs and keep
the B-side a total secret until it's sent to the
shops?" "Nice try, John. You know it's not going
to work." Later, John agreed with me. "You're
probably right. We have to put you out as a solo artist."
In our minds we were a team. In the world's mind it was
John Lennon and his Missus who got lucky. I caught him
looking at the grey streak in my hair. He caught me looking at
his cheekbones. We were old soldiers. "Let's really
give it to them. Let's make it a rule that we won't release any
photo of us unless we are kissing or looking at each
other." "That'll really go down well, I
bet," I laughed. He laughed, too, looking pleased that he
made me laugh. The family who laughs together stays
together, I thought.
"It Happened" was a song John loved. "It's
a hit." "No way." "You wanna
bet? I'll make it a hit," he said. I remember
thinking "Why this one?" John had found the song
amongst my old tapes two weeks before the night.
Getting this together after what happened was hard. But I
knew John would not rest his mind if I hadn't. I hope you
like it, John. I did my best.
Yoko
Jan.24'81
N.Y.C. |
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