‘Walking On Thin Ice’ – Yoko Ono, 1981
With John Lennon barely cold in the grave, this single was released in 1981 by his oft-ridiculed concubine Yoko Ono. Dismissed by many as a cash-in by a lot of people who don’t know their music, this song actually stands up very strongly.
A distant relative to Joy Division and Gang of Four’s mechanised post-punk, and not dissimilar to Bowie’s Scary Monsters… album, this song was also a big influence on current bands such as The Rapture, !!!, LCD Soundsystem, and a host of other “new new wave” (or whatever it’s called, all those bands that sound like Television) groups.
The bass line is snaky, one of the best bass lines I’ve heard in a while. The percussion sounds like drumsticks being slapped together, while the familiar post-punk guitar slashes and chugs are buried deep in the mix. I was stunned to read that it was John Lennon playing guitar on this – it sounds unlike anything he had done before. Surprisingly new wave and dancy, Lennon was apparently very excited about it during the final few recording sessions (he was clutching a copy of the mix when he was shot).
Ono’s lyrics deal with how life is down to chance to a great extent, and how “the throw of the dice” can decide one’s fate. Lennon’s murder of course rendered these lyrics extremely poignant. The disillusionment of these lyrics is obscured (or rendered more pointed, depending on how closely you’re listening) by the danceability of the track- I’d say this was a club favourite back in the day.
Listen to the song here on YouTube, and marvel yet again at the comments underneath by ignorant people. Most of the comments are about how ugly she was, and others bemoan the fact that Lennon’s dead. Although one poster is slightly more charitable: “I saw worster [sic] women”.
Ah, YouTube.
October 14th, 2008 at 11:40 am
Great blog! And thanks for posting this. I’ve always felt like people these days don’t give this song enough credit.