Yoko Ono has always defied convention, but during a rare interview on BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs in 2007, she made an unexpected claim – that she felt John Lennon’s presence with her in the studio while the programme was being recorded.
Ono, now in her 80s, appeared on the long-running show hosted by Kirsty Young, selecting eight records that shaped her life, and among them was ‘Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy)’ – John Lennon’s 1980 lullaby for their son Sean.
But it wasn’t just the song itself that stirred emotion. According to Yoko, John was around them in that moment, agreeing with her choice as she listened back.
“When I was listening to ‘Beautiful Boy’, I felt that John just jumped out from the corner saying, ‘Good idea,’” she explained. “That was a good idea to select ‘Beautiful Boy’. And he’s always somehow sort of jumping out and saying things”.
She had introduced ‘Beautiful Boy’ earlier in the programme, saying: “Well, because I love most of John’s songs. Well, I said most of them just to make it sound right. But actually, I love all of his songs, really”.
“I chose this because of Sean, you know. And I really appreciate the fact that John made this song for Sean. And of course, John didn’t know that he was going to pass away very soon. So I think it’s important to play this one”.
The episode aired years after Yoko had largely stepped back from public life, but her appearance on Desert Island Discs was full of the quiet provocation and poetic strangeness that made her one of the most polarising figures in music history.
Ono met John Lennon in 1968, and for decades was blamed – often unfairly – for the break-up of The Beatles. But over the years, attitudes toward Yoko Ono have softened. Her role as the guardian of Lennon’s legacy, and her contributions as an avant-garde artist have been increasingly recognised.
Moments before mentioning she felt Lennon’s presence, Ono spoke openly about the public’s resentment of her relationship with him and the backlash that followed his death in 1980.
“I’m not surprised if I’m vilified again when I pass away,” she said. “But I just want to say to my two children not to defend me. I don’t want them to waste their time defending me. Don’t even think about the past or your mother, because your mother had a great life, and you should know that”.
“I think that after John’s passing it was my pleasure, actually, to keep on protecting his work. And I cherish the fact that I feel that I did my best”.
But it came with a cost: “At the same time, most of my time was spent on that. And I feel that Sean should not be bothered with it. It’s too much of a burden for him. I mean, there’s such a heavy past that he’s already burdened with”.