THE DRUG BALLAD OF JOHN & YOKO

54 years ago today, John Lennon and Yoko Ono are arrested for drug possession in London.
Facebook
Twitter
WhatsApp
Email
Print

On this date in 1968, John Lennon and Yoko Ono are arrested for drug possession at their home near Montagu Square in London, England. The arrests came at a tempestuous time for the couple. Only days earlier, an announcement was made that Ono was pregnant, creating a scandal because both Lennon and Ono were still married to other people. Her pregnancy ended in a miscarriage a few days after the arrest.

Detective Sergeant Norman Pilcher, the instigator behind the raid on Lennon and Ono, was an anti-drug zealot who would later arrest George Harrison and his wife, Pattie Boyd, on similar charges. While Lennon was frantically trying to get rid of the evidence, the police read a warrant through a bedroom window and then broke down the front door. Drug-sniffing dogs found 200 grams of hashish, a cigarette rolling machine with traces of marijuana, and half a gram of morphine. However, the couple denied the drugs belonged to them.

John Lennon and Yoko Ono leave Marylebone magistrates’ court after their hearing on drug possession charges, 19 October 1968 | Evening Standard

When the matter finally approached trial, Lennon pleaded guilty because he was worried that Ono would be deported. He was fined £150 and warned that another offense would bring a year in jail.

Christ, you know it ain’t easy
You know how hard it can be
The way things are going
They’re going to crucify me

The video below, Amy Slattery covers one of my most fave Beatles’ songs, the great, happy, scandalous power pop “The Ballad of John and Yoko”.

• Read also ROLLING STONE VERY FIRST ISSUE.

________

Featured image via Vogue.
Sources: History, Pop Matters, Vogue.

Facebook
Twitter
WhatsApp
Email
Print
Picture of Rudolf Dethu

Rudolf Dethu

Music journalist, writer, radio DJ, socio-political activist, creative industry leader, and a qualified librarian, Rudolf Dethu is heavily under the influence of the punk rock philosophy. Often tagged as this country’s version of Malcolm McLaren—or as Rolling Stone Indonesia put it ‘the grand master of music propaganda’—a name based on his successes when managing Bali’s two favourite bands, Superman Is Dead and Navicula, both who have become two of the nation’s biggest rock bands.
Picture of Rudolf Dethu

Rudolf Dethu

Music journalist, writer, radio DJ, socio-political activist, creative industry leader, and a qualified librarian, Rudolf Dethu is heavily under the influence of the punk rock philosophy. Often tagged as this country’s version of Malcolm McLaren—or as Rolling Stone Indonesia put it ‘the grand master of music propaganda’—a name based on his successes when managing Bali’s two favourite bands, Superman Is Dead and Navicula, both who have become two of the nation’s biggest rock bands.

Related

RUDOLF DETHU

Scroll to Top