| "Touch Me" | |
|---|---|
 | |
| SinglebyYoko Ono & Plastic Ono Band | |
| from the album Yoko Ono/Plastic Ono Band | |
| A-side | "Power to the People" (John Lennon & Plastic Ono Band) |
| Released | March 22, 1971 (US only) |
| Recorded | September–October 1970, Abbey Road Studios, London[1] |
| Length | 3:40 |
| Label | Apple |
| Songwriter(s) | Yoko Ono |
| Producer(s) | John Lennon Yoko Ono |
"Touch Me" is a song written by Yoko Ono that was first released on her 1970 album Yoko Ono/Plastic Ono Band. An edited version was later released in the U.S. as the b-side to John Lennon's single "Power to the People."
"Touch Me" was recorded at Abbey Road Studios in London during recording sessions in September and October 1970.[1][2]
"Touch Me" features vocals by Ono backed by Lennon on guitar, Klaus Voormannonbass guitar and Ringo Starr on drums.[1] Beatle biographer John Blaney describes the instrumentation provided by Lennon, Voormann and Starr as a "jazz-rock fusion" and states that "their investigations into group dynamics [produce] a wave of sound to support Ono's vocal modulations."[1] On the other hand, Beatle biographer Bruce Spizer states that the song consists of "little more than Yoko wailing over a changing and disjointed musical backdrop."[2] Music lecturers Ben Urish and Ken Bielen describe the song as "a gritty effort, with grumbling and staccato guitar work from Lennon under Ono's alternately fractured and wavering vocals."[3] Music critic Johnny Rogan describes the song as a "highly wrought performance by Yoko, reinforced by instrumental contributions from Lennon, Voormann and Starr."[4] In addition to instrumentation, the song includes the sound of a tree falling early on.[3]
Pop Matters critic Adam Mason interprets "Touch Me" as an outpouring of Ono's inner torment.[5] Musician Thollem McDonas described "Touch Me" as "a desperate plea for connectivity."[6] He went on to state that:
John's guitar seems to ascend, going on infinitely, while Ringo plays the drums like orchestral timpani. The pause at 3:25 is so pregnant. It makes you wonder, where is this piece going? It's like the beginning of the end...Sweet anticipation that is ultimately unfulfilled, before dissolving into the sound of joyful, or wrathful, creatures.[6]
According to Blaney, the song was improvised.[1] Blaney describes Ono's improvisations as being "the first step in Ono's creative praxis," and that she intends for the listener to add to her work and thus "elicit positive reciprocity."[1] Ono has stated that "I called it Unfinished Music, which meant that you were supposed to put your own thing on, in the same way that remixers do today."[1]
While in the UK Ono's "Open Your Box" appeared as the b-side of "Power to the People," that song was censored by the record company in the US as a result of a belief that it promoted promiscuity, particularly a line suggesting that Lennon should open his legs.[2][7][8] As a result, "Touch Me" replaced "Open Your Box" as the b-side to "Power to the People" in the US.[2][3][8] According to Ono biographer Jerry Hopkins, "Touch Me" was selected largely because it was a track from Yoko Ono/Plastic Ono Band that was short enough to fit.[8] Nonetheless, the version on the single was edited down to 3:40, from 4:37 on the album version.[2]
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
|
| |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lifetime |
| ||||||||||||||||||
| Posthumous |
| ||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||
| Members |
| ||||
| Albums |
| ||||
| Singles |
| ||||
| Related articles |
| ||||
| |||||
