John loved his descending piano phrases, from "All You Need Is Love" to "Oh Yoko!"
I could use this space to contemplate the relationship of John Lennon and Yoko. It's their business. The Beatles were breaking up no matter what. By the late '60s, the incentive to stay together was diminishing because they all knew how to write and record songs on their own.
Or so they thought.
I wonder how much more "Oh Yoko!" could've been developed with Paul's ear for expanding root ideas of songs. (I also think much of Paul's solo work was over-expanded, to the point of coming completely untethered.) As it stands, "Oh Yoko!" has these pretty root verse and chorus ideas, with a cooing John vocal that I adore - and in fragmentary form, I still consider the result to be one of the great songs. The harmonica break at the end is a creative idea for an ending. But it still feels like there should be something more.
There is this interesting story I once read about John Lennon in this post-Beatles period. He came out with these few albums in the late '60s and early '70s, think of them what you want.
Then his son Sean was born, and he completely retired from the entertainment business to raise Sean as a "house husband." That is an amazing, beautiful sacrifice, and he could surely afford to do it.
But that's not to say he wasn't still a musician in his soul.
In the story I read, John is spending time with Sean and a friend or two over to play. They go into the piano parlor of their New York City apartment, and John asks the kids to write a song with him. It's all a big joke just to get these kids to enjoy making some music.
So John is bashing around on the piano with them, coming up with silly things to play, all of them singing together and having a good time. And then he accidentally hits on something he truly likes. And he keeps playing it a little. He fixes the melody a bit. He starts improvising around, trying to find the next good change. He ruminates a moment.
That's when the kids get bored and restless. They want to go play somewhere else. John growls as they pull him out of his trance. He follows them to the next activity.
He was a house husband now.
And there was no Paul.