Posted on 12/25/2005 6:26:51 PM PST by Aussie Dasher
IT'S no secret that Paul McCartney and John Lennon's widow Yoko Ono are not good friends.
The pair have been rowing on and off since they first met when McCartney's fellow Beatle fell for Ono in the late 1960s.
But in recent weeks their failure to reach common ground has escalated, with a string of veiled - and not so veiled - swipes from both camps.
Last month, when McCartney played at Madison Square Garden, he included Too Many People, a song which reportedly contains a sour message for Ono.
The track - which was written by Macca in 1971 - allegedly accuses Ono of hijacking her husband's career.
The cryptic song includes the lyrics: "Too many people pulled and pushed around/Too many waiting for that lucky break/That was your first mistake/You took your lucky break and broke it in two."
A source at McCartney's record label, EMI, revealed: "It's well known Paul and Yoko have never been mates and never will be."
He added: "Too Many People is a very elaborate way of saying, 'What the f**k have you got to do with me and John? You were only his wife so stop interfering'. Paul has always said, 'I took abuse from John, who called me a lot worse when he was alive, but I'm not going to take it from Yoko now he's gone'."
The row was stepped up earlier this month when 72-year-old Yoko launched an attack against McCartney at the star-studded Q awards - branding him an inferior musician to John Lennon.
The Japanese artist was at the prestigious ceremony to collect the Q Special Award on behalf of her late husband.
As she went up to collect the prize, she said: "I wish John was here today as he would have really loved it. But I'd like to tell you a story about me and John.
"He always found it extraordinary that people would always cover Paul's songs, and I used to tell him not to worry about all those June and Spoon songs."
McCartney, 63, quickly hit back - saying his bandmate's widow has always said "daft" things about him.
The legendary musician said: "She's John's wife so I have to respect her for that, but I don't have to go any further. I don't want to get into a bun fight but she's said some particularly daft things in her time.
"Yoko is something else. Her life is dedicated to putting me down, that's what she seems to do all the time."
McCartney and Ono's fraught and rocky history began in 1968, when Lennon was embroiled in a romance with the petite artist.
After falling for Ono, Lennon is said to have insisted she attend several recording sessions for The Beatles White Album.
It has been claimed there were tensions during the gatherings, with Ono trying to divide the band and suggesting they alter their songs.
Before long, Lennon and McCartney's songwriting partnership was flagging, and Lennon had started recording music with his girlfriend - the smitten pair went on to make three albums together.
When the group made their last public appearance on the roof of their Apple record label headquarters, Paul is said to have glared angrily at Yoko every time he sang the well-known chorus to the band's hit Get Back.
He later denied it, but the band's split was within sight.
After The Beatles broke up in 1970, Lennon wrote to Paul and his wife Linda, accusing them of treating his lover badly.
He said: "I hope you realise what s**t you, and the rest of my kind and unselfish friends, laid on Yoko and me since we have been together.
"It might have sometimes been a bit more subtle or should I say 'middle class' - but not often."
He also hinted that Paul's own marriage was doomed.
McCartney unleashed his own attack when he included the acidic track Too Many People on his second album Ram.
Lennon seemed to retaliate with How Do You Sleep?, which slated his former partner's solo material.
McCartney was left fuming after being told Yoko had helped Lennon think up the words to the song.
The feud didn't die when Lennon was murdered by unhinged fan Mark Chapman in 1980, and has frequently resurfaced in the past 25 years.
In the late 1990s, Ono - who is also at loggerheads with Lennon's first wife, Cynthia - compared her late husband to Mozart but said McCartney was more similar to one of the composer's lesser talented rivals.
The widow also once revealed Lennon used to worry about why so few musicians covered his songs compared to how many reinterpreted the McCartney's work.
There was another row five years ago when the remaining Beatles compiled their greatest hits package.
In order for any Beatles song to be released McCartney, Yoko, former Beatle Ringo Starr and George Harrison's widow must agree on the details.
The hit song Yesterday had always been credited Lennon-McCartney, as all Beatles songs written by the pair, but McCartney said it was all his work and asked for his name to go first.
He said: "I felt that after 30 years this would be a nice gesture and something that might be easy for Yoko to agree with. At first she said yes, but then she rang back a couple of hours later and reversed her decision."
Yesterday sparked another row last year when Ono - who claims she can still sense Lennon's ghostly presence - reportedly refused to let McCartney use it on a solo album.
The artist insisted the song was a collaborative effort and denied McCartney access to the track for Paul McCartney Love Songs.
A source revealed at the time: "He can't believe she is being so petty. Even though she knows John did not have a hand in writing Yesterday she insisted that as a Beatles song it should not be included on a Paul McCartney solo album. The situation is becoming more and more petty. And what infuriates Paul the most is that he knows if John were still around there would not even be a problem."
Regardless of who lashes out next, it seems fair to say the rift between McCartney and Ono looks set to drag on and on. In the wake of George's death, Paul, who now regularly includes Beatles hits in his live shows, seems determined to cement his reputation in history as the definitive Beatle.
Yoko is equally determined to maintain her late husband's position as the most revered of the Fab Four. With both parties refusing to give an inch in their feud, the long and winding road to reconciliation is still being trodden.
Thanks! I'll watch for those names.
She sounds like my ex-mother -in-law a total B*t**h controlling one at that.
Come to think of it they both look alike my X-mother-in-law and OnO hmmmmm.
Yoko Ono was just jealous of the relationship or rather friendship that PAUL and JOHN had soooooo she had to break it up.
She has major issues.
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