Fly (Yoko Ono album) – Wikipedia

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1971 studio album by Yoko Ono

Fly is the second album by Yoko Ono, released in 1971. A double album, it was co-produced by Ono and John Lennon. It peaked at No. 199 on the US charts.

The album includes the singles “Mrs. Lennon” and “Mind Train.” The track “Airmale” is the soundtrack to Lennon’s time-lapse film Erection,[3] while “Fly” is the soundtrack to Lennon and Ono’s 1970 film Fly.

Recording[edit]

The album was recorded around the same time as Lennon’s Imagine.[3] “Hirake” was a partially re-recorded version of the B-side “Open Your Box”, completed in response to a managing director of EMI calling the lyrics “distasteful”.[3] The verse “Open your trousers, open your skirt, open your legs and open your thighs“,[3] was changed to “open your houses“, “…church“, “…lakes“, and “…eyes“.[3] Lennon and Ono didn’t complain about the change of words, and only “wanted to get the record out”, as a spokesman said.[3]

The track “Don’t Worry, Kyoko (Mummy’s Only Looking for Her Hand in the Snow)” is dedicated to Ono’s daughter Kyoko Cox.

Side three of the LP features Ono performing with various automated sound machines created by Fluxus musician Joe Jones and pictured in the gatefold.

“Will You Touch Me” was first recorded during the Fly sessions. It was later re-recorded for Yoko’s shelved 1974 album A Story and for 1981’s Season of Glass. The original demo version was included on the Rykodisc reissue of Fly in 1997.[3]

Release[edit]

The original release was a complete avant-garde/Fluxus package in a gatefold sleeve that came with a full-size poster and a postcard to order Ono’s 1964 book Grapefruit.

Each edition of the US, UK and Japanese albums utilized that country’s distinctive telephone ring in the track “Telephone Piece” (i.e. each edition of the album used entirely different recordings) – the Rykodisc CD edition used the US variation.

Fly peaked at number 199 in the Billboard charts. On 1 February 1972, Lennon and Ono Lennon performed “Midsummer New York” backed by Elephant’s Memory for an episode of The Mike Douglas Show, which aired on 15 February.[3]

Reception[edit]

The album was a significant influence to British power electronics musician William Bennett of Whitehouse fame.[8] Ned Raggett of AllMusic stated that “Perhaps the best measure of Fly is how Ono ended up inventing Krautrock, or perhaps more seriously bringing the sense of motorik’s pulse and slow-building tension to an English-language audience. There weren’t many artists of her profile in America getting trancey, heavy-duty songs like “Mindtrain” and the murky ambient howls of “Airmale” out.”[9]

Track listing[edit]

All songs written by Yoko Ono.

Side one

  1. “Midsummer New York” – 3:50
  2. “Mind Train” – 16:52

Side two

  2. “Mind Holes” – 2:45
  3. “Don’t Worry, Kyoko (Mummy’s Only Looking for Her Hand in the Snow)” – 4:55
  4. “Mrs. Lennon” – 4:10
  5. “Hirake” (previously released as “Open Your Box”) – 3:32
  6. “Toilet Piece/Unknown” – 0:30
  7. “O’Wind (Body Is the Scar of Your Mind)” – 5:22

Side three

  2. “Airmale” – 10:40
  3. “Don’t Count the Waves” – 5:26
  4. “You” – 9:00

Side four

  2. “Fly” – 22:53
  3. “Telephone Piece” – 0:33
1997 reissue bonus tracks
Title
6. “Between the Takes” 1:58
7. “Will You Touch Me” (Demo) 2:45
2017 reissue bonus tracks (previously released on Onobox)
Title
8. “The Path” 5:43
9. “Head Play” (Medley: You/Airmale/Fly) 2:35

For unknown reasons, John Lennon was credited as co-writer of “Mind Train”, “Mind Holes”, “Toilet Piece/Unknown” and “Telephone Piece” on the disc faces of the 1997 Rykodisc reissue.[10] Lennon has not been credited as co-writer of these tracks on any other release of Fly.

Personnel[edit]

  • Yoko Ono – vocals, claves on “Airmale” and “Don’t Count the Waves”
  • John Lennon – guitar, piano on “Mrs. Lennon”, organ, automated music machines on “Airmale” and “Don’t Count the Waves”
  • Klaus Voormann – guitar, bass guitar, bells on “Mrs. Lennon”, cymbal on “O’Wind”, percussion on “Don’t Count the Waves”
  • Bobby Keys – claves on “O’Wind”
  • Eric Clapton – guitar on “Don’t Worry, Kyoko (Mummy’s Only Looking for Her Hand in the Snow)”
  • Jim Keltner – drums, tabla, percussion
  • Ringo Starr – drums on “Don’t Worry, Kyoko (Mummy’s Only Looking for Her Hand in the Snow)”
  • Jim Gordon – drums on “Hirake”, tabla on “O’Wind”
  • Chris Osborne – dobro on “Midsummer New York” and “Mind Train”
  • Joe Jones – automated music machines on “Airmale”, “Don’t Count the Waves” and “You”
  • George Marino – mastering engineer
Chart (1971) Peak
position 		Total
weeks
U.S. Billboard 200 199 2

Release history[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Doran, John (May 2010). “Yoko Ono: Naked Ambition”. The Stilo Pigeon. Retrieved 29 November 2020.
  2. ^ Fly at AllMusic
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Miles, Barry; Badman, Keith, eds. (2001). The Beatles Diary After the Break-Up: 1970–2001 (reprint ed.). London: Music Sales Group. ISBN 978-0-7119-8307-6.
  4. ^ Fly at AllMusic
  5. ^ Masters, Marc (14 July 2017). “Yoko Ono: Fly / Approximately Infinite Universe / Feeling the Space Album Review”. Pitchfork. Retrieved 15 July 2017.
  6. ^ Ferris, Tim (9 December 1971). “Fly | Album Reviews”. Rolling Stone. Retrieved 3 October 2012.
  7. ^ Badgley, Aaron (2017). “Spill Album Review: Yoko Ono – Fly (Reissue)”. Spill. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
  8. ^ Bennett, William (18 March 2008). “CLUSTER #2”. williambennett.blogspot.com. Archived from the original on 1 October 2021. Retrieved 1 October 2021.
  9. ^ Fly at AllMusic
  10. ^ Fly (Media notes). Yoko Ono. Rykodisc. 1997. RCD 10415/6.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  11. ^ a b Onobox (liner notes). Yoko Ono. Rykodisc. 1992. RCD 10224/29.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  12. ^ “Yoko Ono – Fly (1971, Vinyl)” – via www.discogs.com.
  13. ^ “Yoko Ono – Fly (1971, 8-Track Cartridge)” – via www.discogs.com.
  14. ^ “Yoko Ono – Fly (1971, Vinyl)” – via www.discogs.com.
  15. ^ “Yoko Ono – Fly (1971, Vinyl)” – via www.discogs.com.
  16. ^ Kaufman, Gil. “Ready Or Not: Yoko Ono Albums To Be Reissued”. MTV News.
  17. ^ “Yoko Ono With Plastic Ono Band – Fly (1997, CD)” – via www.discogs.com.
  18. ^ “Yoko Ono – Fly (1997, CD)” – via www.discogs.com.
  19. ^ “Fly [Cardboard Sleeve] [Limited Release] Yoko Ono CD Album”. CDJapan.
  20. ^ a b “Yoko Ono With Plastic Ono Band – Fly (2017, White, Vinyl)” – via www.discogs.com.
  21. ^ “Yoko Ono With Plastic Ono Band – Fly (2017, CD)” – via www.discogs.com.
  22. ^ “Fly Yoko Ono CD Album”. CDJapan.
  23. ^ “Fly [Limited Release] Yoko Ono Vinyl (LP)”. CDJapan.