Fly (Yoko Ono album)

Fly
Studio album by Yoko Ono
Released	20 September 1971 (1971-09-20)
Recorded	1969–71
Studio	Abbey Road Studios, London Ascot Sound Studios, Berkshire The Record Plant, New York City
Genre	Rock, experimental
Length	94:52
Label	Apple
Producer	John Lennon, Yoko Ono
Yoko Ono chronology
Yoko Ono/Plastic Ono Band (1970) Fly (1971) Some Time in New York City (1972)
Singles from Fly
"Mrs. Lennon" Released: 29 September 1971 "Mind Train" Released: 21 January 1972

Fly is the second album by Yoko Ono, produced by her and John Lennon, and released in 1971. It 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 book Grapefruit. Notable songs include the singles "Midsummer New York" and "Mrs. Lennon", "Hirake" aka "Open Your Box" and "Don't Worry, Kyoko (Mummy's Only Looking for Her Hand in the Snow)", dedicated to Ono's daughter Kyoko Cox. "Airmale" is the soundtrack to Lennon's film Erection, showing a building being erected in time lapsed photography,^[1] while "Fly" is the soundtrack to Ono's film Fly.

Recording

The album was recorded around the same time as Lennon's Imagine.^[1] Ono had to re-record her vocals on "Open Your Box", on 4 March 1971 at Abbey Road Studios, after a managing director of EMI called the lyrics "distasteful";^[1] The song featured a line that went "Open your trousers, open your skirt, open your legs and open your thighs".^[1] "Trousers", "skirt", "legs", and "thighs" were changed to "houses", "church", "lakes", and "eyes".^[1] Lennon and Ono didn't complain about the change of words, and only "wanted to get the record out", as a spokesman said.^[1]

"Will You Touch Me" was first recorded during the Fly sessions and released in remixed form on 1981's Season of Glass. The original version was included on the Rykodisc reissue of Fly in 1998.^[1]

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.

Release

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[2]
Pitchfork	8.7/10[3]
Rolling Stone	(not rated) [4]

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.^[1]

The album is set to be reissued by Secretly Canadian on Vinyl, CD, and for digital download on July 14, 2017.

Track listing

All songs written by Yoko Ono.

Side one

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

Side two

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

Side three

1. "Airmale" – 10:40
2. "Don't Count the Waves" – 5:26
3. "You" – 9:00

Side four

4. "Fly" – 22:53
5. "Telephone Piece" – 1:01

Personnel

• 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

References