yoko ono
Thursday, June 30th, 2005
Unexpectedly found this great CD by Yoko Ono, Blueprint for a Sunrise, in the crazy sales at Randwick. The first track grabs my attention… it opens with the steady beating rhythm like a heart beat…a woman pleading breathless with fear; an angry nasty voice answers… Yoko wails, wobbles, cries and sings warmly. On the back of the inside booklet she recounts three stories of war and survival, characterising herself as a “Dragon Lady” - the last Chinese Empress.
“a name specially coined for her by the British Press at the time, fueling Britian’s then colonialism. She died disgraced and brokenhearted…” Yoko says “Art is a way of survival.”
Listening to it while watching CSI Las Vegas (sound turned off the Tv) is the best way to listen. Makes Gil Grissom and the team look good. And Yoko has a beautiful almost Bjork-type voice. Really.
And it was only $8.95.
Yoko was an early collaborator beginning in the early 60’s with her associations with Fluxus in New York… and then of course the celebrated collaboration with John Lennon.