Over the course of her wide-ranging career as a musician, artist, and peace activist, Yoko Ono has lived through moments of global fame, devastating loss, and deeply personal triumphs.
But in a reflective interview with BBC Four’s Desert Island Discs in 2007, she recounted a private moment tied to one particular piece of music – or a moment that moved her to the brink of tears.
The song was ‘When I Grow Too Old to Dream’ by Gracie Fields, a 1934 ballad that once connected her to her mother during what would become a life-saving call.
“This is called When I Grow Too Old to Dream. And it has a very personal memory for me,” Ono said. At the time, Ono was living in New York. Her mother remained in Japan. One day, without warning or specific reason, she felt compelled to call her.
“ I just felt like I wanted to call my mother. And I said, ‘Hi.’ And she said, ‘Oh, Yoko.’ And just the way she said it, I felt that there was something very strange about it.”
Her mother had fallen – she mentioned it briefly, adding no urgency to it. But something in her voice told Ono that the situation was serious: “She was saying, ‘I just fell in the kitchen,’ or something like that. And I thought, this is serious.”
In that moment, not knowing what else to do from afar, Yoko suggested something familiar to them both: a song. “So I said, ‘OK, Mommy, let’s sing that song. Remember that song that you used to sing?’ And I started, ‘When I grow too old to dream.’ And she went, ‘When I grow…’ No, no. ‘OK, let’s start again.’ ‘When I grow…’”
Her mother struggled with the words at first. But Yoko persisted, gently repeating the line until her mother finally joined her.
“She finally sang the whole line. And I was so choked up,” she recounted. The moment made something clear to her – her mother needed help. Immediately, she took action. “I told my assistant to call Tokyo and get the hospital and get the ambulance, go to my mother. And she was saved.”
The Gracie Fields classic was just one of several tracks Ono selected as part of the soundtrack of her life.
She opened with ‘Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien’ by Édith Piaf. It was a reminder of her father’s early nickname for her: “My dad always told me that I was so small. Well, I was small even for Japanese, actually. And feisty, like a Japanese Edith Piaf.”
The song, released in 1960, became a form of internal strength for Ono in difficult times. “Whenever I was down, I listened to this song in my mind and just felt better… Yes, I regret nothing too.”
As a child in Tokyo in the 1930s, another song resonated with her: ‘Lili Marlene’, sung by Lale Andersen. Though associated with World War II, the melody had earlier origins and was tied in her mind to a story told by her mother: “During the First World War, the soldiers on both sides of the trenches in Christmas… came out of the trenches and hugged each other, kissed each other… singing songs together.”
Her mother told the story to her when she was “five, six, seven years old,” and the sentiment stuck: “I just thought, why didn’t they just stay as friends instead of fighting them?”
A lullaby associated with John Lennon’s childhood also made her list: ‘Liverpool Lou’, by Dominic Behan. “It’s a lullaby. And I don’t know why, but just one day, John in England sung ‘Liverpool Lou’ and said, you know, beautiful”.
Another classic, ‘One Love / People Get Ready’ by Bob Marley & The Wailers, brought back memories of their honeymoon in 1969. Rather than a private escape, they staged a bed-in for peace in a Hilton hotel in Amsterdam: “Well, we thought that we were doing a good thing, you know. And we were very narcissistic about it.”
The most emotionally significant choice of all, though, may have been ‘Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy)’ by John Lennon – a lullaby he wrote for their son, Sean.
“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.”
The playlist also included two more contemporary choices: ‘Magic’ by Sean Lennon himself and ‘Seoul’ by the Icelandic group Amiina.