Recording, mixing: John And Yoko

Studio Two, EMI Studios, Abbey Road
Engineer: Jeff Jarratt

Following the ceremony on the roof of Apple in which John Lennon changed his name to John Winston Ono Lennon, he and Yoko Ono recorded an experimental piece which made up the first side of their Wedding Album.

The session took place from 11pm to 4.30am, with Jeff Jarratt as balance engineer and John Kurlander operating the tapes. It was documented by photographer David Nutter, who had also been present at the naming ceremony.

Lennon and Ono positioned themselves on the studio floor and their heartbeats were recorded with a hospital microphone. They then stood at a pair of microphones and called each others’ names for 22 minutes.

The nice thing about working with John and Yoko was seeing just how much in love they were. They had a fantastic relationship, even though they took a lot of ‘stick’ for it. The ‘John And Yoko’ recording was fantastic, though quite unpleasant. John managed to get hold of a highly sensitive microphone from a local hospital and we recorded their heart beats. The mike was so good that you heard all the gurgly noises and everything going on inside the stomach!

The heartbeats were looped and overdubbed onto the name-calling tracks. The recording was then mixed in stereo, but proved surprisingly complicated. Another mix was made on 26 April, but the heartbeats were re-recorded the following day. ‘John And Yoko’ was finally mixed on 1 May 1969.