Beatles - The Ballad Of John & Yoko

In 1969, there was a pretty-fair-sized airplay fuss going on, regarding
this song. It had to do with John Lennon's repeated use of the word
"Christ".

Airplay for it in my neck of the woods (Southern CT) was almost non-
existent, with the two Top 40 stations choosing to hardly play/chart it at
all. But the two primary Hartford Top 40 stations did play it heavily, both
charting it in their Top 10. I could hear one station (also simulcast on FM)
easily, but the other (AM) I couldn't. I do remember hearing a version with
all of the "Christ" references edited out. But I also remember hearing the
song played fully intact. This was the era of powerful Top 40 format
consultants, such as Bill Drake, where he/his people would generally
determine song policy at all "their stations". I certainly don't want to get
into a big to-do about all that now. But it does have some relevance here.

I was always under the impression that the edit I heard was a custom, in-
house edit. Guys like Drake would distribute the occasional special edit to
all their stations, giving these versions more overall exposure.

As I constantly try to hunt down the still-elusive 45 rarities to my
collection, I am all-too-often steered to the collectorsfrenzy.com site.
Where I find expired, expensive auctions for rare promos I want. If you go
to the main site, and key in "beatles john yoko zealand" to the search
field, only one entry pops up. Valuable song insight is provided below the
listing. It explains how approximately 50 "censored" promo copies were
sent to New Zealand stations. Australian radio then noticed, and asked for
similar copies, which they got. It states there that it is now thought that
EMI (UK) was actually responsible for creating this edited version, not Oz
or NZ label branches, despite it never having been issued in England.

Who knows? Perhaps Bill Drake was able to procure an import copy, or a
reel-to-reel dub, and distribute it to his client stations from there. Or at
least knew of it, giving him the idea to do a similar, in-house edit here. It
does reek a bit of the "plausible deniability" Geffen was seeking, when
years later, they allowed Hitmakers to send out a promo CD single of
several Guns N' Roses' "November Rain" edits, while providing radio with
just the LP version themselves.

Luckily, two kind souls have uploaded this rare edit to YouTube. If you'd
like to hear it, use the same four keywords there I suggested for the
auction site. If you think it sounds a little "clunky", you're right. But I
remember hearing other in-house edit attempts that came off far worse -
basically a train wreck. So, although I'll likely never find one of those rare
promo 45s, it's now a fairly easy re-creation for any of our editors, if
interested.

Edited by jimct

I was only three years-old when this song was a hit, but I clearly remember in the early 1980s, one of my local oldies stations playing a version that bleeped out the word "christ". I heard this version so often, that I was shocked when I finally got an actual copy of the 45 and found that it was uncensored! I assume that what they played was an in-house edit, but I'll never know for sure.

Yah Shure wrote: Speaking of Mr. Lennon, the abrupt edits remind me a bit of the skip in the U.S. "Cold Turkey" 45: "cold key has got me on the run." After hearing it like that on the radio during its run, I still half expect it all these years larer.

Was that skip actually on the master for the 45, or did the local radio station just play a crappy 45 and never replaced it?

Toronto's CHUM played a version of the song with "Christ" edited out, while a station an hour away in Hamilton played the song intact.

I can confirm Hykker's comment on the WPTR Albany edit. I emailed the guy who I thought made it, and he confirmed it was his "in house" edit, not something Capitol supplied.