music.wikisort.org - Composition

Fly is the second album by Yoko Ono, released in 1971. Co-produced by Ono and John Lennon, the original release was a complete avant-garde/Fluxus package in a gatefold sleeve that came with a full-size poster and a postcard to order Ono's 1964 book Grapefruit. Notable songs include the singles "Midsummer New York" and "Mrs. Lennon", "Hirake" (a.k.a. "Open Your Box") and "Don't Worry, Kyoko (Mummy's Only Looking for Her Hand in the Snow)", that was dedicated to Ono's daughter Kyoko Cox. "Airmale", that benefits from the automated noise music machines of Fluxus musician Joe Jones, is the soundtrack to Lennon's film Erection, showing a building being erected in time lapsed photography,[2] while "Fly" is the soundtrack to Lennon and Ono's 1970 film Fly. The entire side three of this LP has Ono performing with various automated sound-machines created by Joe Jones pictured in the gatefold.

Fly
Studio album by Yoko Ono
Released	21 September 1971 (1971-09-21)
Recorded	1969–1971
Studio	Abbey Road, London Ascot, Berkshire The Record Plant, New York City
Genre	Rock, experimental fluxus sound collage musique concrete[1]
Length	94:52
Label	Apple
Producer	John Lennon, Yoko Ono
Yoko Ono chronology
Yoko Ono/Plastic Ono Band (1970) Fly (1971) Some Time in New York City (1972)
Singles from Fly
"Mrs. Lennon" Released: 29 September 1971 (US); 29 October 1971 (UK) "Mind Train" Released: 21 January 1972 (UK)

Recording

The album was recorded around the same time as Lennon's Imagine.[2] Ono had to re-record her vocals on "Open Your Box", on 4 March 1971 at Abbey Road Studios, after a managing director of EMI called the lyrics "distasteful".[2] In the verse "Open your trousers, open your skirt, open your legs and open your thighs",[2] the words "Trousers", "skirt", "legs", and "thighs" were changed to "houses", "church", "lakes", and "eyes".[2] Lennon and Ono didn't complain about the change of words, and only "wanted to get the record out", as a spokesman said.[2]

"Will You Touch Me" was first recorded during the Fly sessions. It was later re-recorded for Yoko's shelved 1974 album A Story and for 1981's Season of Glass. The original demo version was included on the Rykodisc reissue of Fly in 1997.[2]

Each edition of the US, UK and Japanese albums utilized that country's distinctive telephone ring in the track "Telephone Piece" (i.e. each edition of the album used entirely different recordings) – the Rykodisc CD edition used the US variation.

Release

Fly peaked at number 199 in the Billboard charts. On 1 February 1972, Lennon and Ono Lennon performed "Midsummer New York" backed by Elephant's Memory for an episode of The Mike Douglas Show, which aired on 15 February.[2]

Reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[3]
Pitchfork	8.7/10[4]
Rolling Stone	(not rated) [5]
Spill	[6]

The album was a significant influence to British power electronics musician William Bennett of Whitehouse fame.[7] In their 2021 retrospective, Far Out magazine considered it a strong artistic work from the avant-gardist: "Fly is a profoundly visceral record, and in its own unique way, proves to be intensely autobiographical, capturing a woman on the cusp of a nervous breakdown. Despite the occasional use of “studio trickery”, Ono’s songs are so nakedly raw they convey an extraordinary conviction that pushes the numbers along."[8]

Track listing

All songs written by Yoko Ono.

Side one

1. "Midsummer New York" – 3:50
2. "Mind Train" – 16:52

Side two

3. "Mind Holes" – 2:45
4. "Don't Worry, Kyoko (Mummy's Only Looking for Her Hand in the Snow)" – 4:55
5. "Mrs. Lennon" – 4:10
6. "Hirake" (previously released as "Open Your Box") – 3:32
7. "Toilet Piece/Unknown" – 0:30
8. "O'Wind (Body Is the Scar of Your Mind)" – 5:22

Side three

9. "Airmale" – 10:40
10. "Don't Count the Waves" – 5:26
11. "You" – 9:00

Side four

12. "Fly" – 22:53
13. "Telephone Piece" – 0:33

For unknown reasons, John Lennon was credited as co-writer of "Mind Train", "Mind Holes", "Toilet Piece/Unknown" and "Telephone Piece" on the disc faces of the 1997 Rykodisc reissue.[9] Lennon has not been credited as co-writer of these tracks on any other release of Fly.

Personnel

• Yoko Ono – vocals, claves on "Airmale" and "Don't Count the Waves"
• John Lennon – guitar, piano on "Mrs. Lennon", organ, automated music machines on "Airmale" and "Don't Count the Waves"
• Klaus Voormann – guitar, bass guitar, bells on "Mrs. Lennon", cymbal on "O'Wind", percussion on "Don't Count the Waves"
• Bobby Keys – claves on "O'Wind"
• Eric Clapton – guitar on "Don't Worry, Kyoko (Mummy's Only Looking for Her Hand in the Snow)"
• Jim Keltner – drums, tabla, percussion
• Ringo Starr – drums on "Don't Worry, Kyoko (Mummy's Only Looking for Her Hand in the Snow)"
• Jim Gordon – drums on "Hirake", tabla on "O'Wind"
• Chris Osborne – dobro on "Midsummer New York" and "Mind Train"
• Joe Jones – automated music machines on "Airmale", "Don't Count the Waves" and "You"
• George Marino – mastering engineer

Charts

Chart (1971)	Peak position	Total weeks
U.S. Billboard 200	199	2

Release history

Country	Date	Format	Label	Catalog
United States	21 September 1971[10]	2xLP	Apple Records	SVBB 3380[11]
		2x8-Track		8VV 3380[12]
United Kingdom	13 December 1971[10]	2xLP		SAPTU 101/102[13]
Japan	1971			AP-93021B [14]
United States	10 June 1997[15]	2xCD	Rykodisc	RCD 10415/16[16]
United Kingdom	1997
Japan				VACK-5371/2[17]
	24 January 2007		Rykodisc, Apple Records	VACK-1309[18]
United States & Europe	14 July 2017	2xLP	Secretly Canadian, Chimera Music	SC282/CHIM21[19]
		2xLP (White)[19]
		2xCD[20]
Japan	2 August 2017	2xCD	Sony Records International	SICX-84[21]
	9 August 2017	2xLP (White)		SIJP-49[22]

References

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