On This Day in 1969, John Lennon and Paul McCartney Recorded a Song So Controversial That Radio Stations Banned It

The Beatles started running out of steam towards the end of the 60s. Their fervor for recording wasn’t what it was during their heyday. But one song reignited their passion for the craft, at least among the band’s central songwriting duo, John Lennon and Paul McCartney. On this day in 1969, the pair recorded one of their final efforts together—a song so controversial that it was banned by the radio.  

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The Beatles’ Song, Recorded by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, That Was So Controversial the Radio Banned It

“The Ballad Of John And Yoko” was recorded soon after the namesake couple’s wedding in 1969. The simple ceremony was encapsulated into this track, which ultimately became a non-album Beatles single.

“It was very romantic,” John Lennon once said. “It’s all in the song, ‘The Ballad Of John And Yoko’, if you want to know how it happened, it’s in there. Gibraltar was like a little sunny dream. I couldn’t find a white suit—I had sort of off-white corduroy trousers and a white jacket. Yoko had all white on.”

“It’s a piece of journalism,” he continued. “It’s a folk song. That’s why I called it ‘The Ballad Of.’”

Lennon penned this song, clearly in his honeymoon phase. He then took the track to McCartney, who instantly connected to it. The pair then went to Abbey Road and finished the recording in a single day, without their other bandmates. Though this was a move of necessity rather than exclusion, it did reflect the band’s fracturing state.

This song was a recording feat for Lennon and McCartney, but it wasn’t a runaway hit. Thanks to its touchy subject matter, this song was banned by multiple radio stations.

Radio Controversy

Lennon famously likened himself to Jesus Christ some years earlier, immediately stunting the seemingly unstoppable upward rise of The Beatles. He more or less doubled down on that comment in this song.

“Christ, you know it ain’t easy / You know how hard it can be / The way things are going / They’re gonna crucify me,” the lyrics read.

Lennon anticipated the backlash to this song, urging his team to cut down on talking about it before its release. “Tony—No pre-publicity on ‘Ballad Of John & Yoko’, especially the ‘Christ’ bit—so don’t play it round too much or you’ll frighten people—get it pressed first,” Lennon reportedly wrote in a memo.

Lennon was correct in his worry that the radio would have something to say about mentioning “Christ” after Lennon’s infamous scandal. Many radio stations banned the track or cut it from the chorus altogether.

Despite the backlash at the time, this song became a fan favorite, speaking to one of the most iconic rock love stories of all time. Revisit the controversial yet powerful “The Ballad Of John And Yoko,” above.

(Photo by Andrew Maclear/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)