Post by Emerald City on Nov 8, 2004 15:58:30 GMT -5
By Charlie Amter
You're never too old to rule the dance charts. Just ask Yoko Ono .
John Lennon's vocally challenged 71-year-old widow has just scored her second number one of the year on Billboard's dance chart with "Everyman/Everywoman (Basement Jaxx Club Mix)"
The track is a new take on her song "Every Man Has A Woman Who Loves Him," released almost 25 years ago.
The pulsing hit has been burning up dance floors across the U.S.
It success is due in part to its political agenda--Ono was opposed to the gay-marriage ban that was just passed in 11 states on election day.
And her fans in the gay-friendly club scene have adopted the song as an anthem.
"This is a victory not just for me but for all Americans who are against the administration's decision to ban gay marriage," Ono, who's better known for her avant-garde art and her role in breaking up the Beatles than her shrieking, off-key vocal stylings, says of her updated song.
"Everyman/Everywoman" is Ono's second number one on Billboard's dance chart in 2004; she held the top position earlier this year with the track "Walking on Thin Ice."
The Tokyo-born Ono has been keeping busy of late. In addition to dropping dance hits, she helped put together two new Lennon records that came out Tuesday on Capitol Records. Acoustic features 16 stripped-down live and demo tracks, including seven previously unreleased songs, while Rock 'n' Roll updates Lennon's 1974 collection of covers of songs by his musical idols and includes four previously unreleased cuts.
"It's very dramatic to have Acoustic and Rock 'n' Roll together," Ono told Billboard this week. "They're the totally opposite sides of John's character."
Ono told the magazine that going though the old Lennon recordings was inspirational for her, and perhaps will be for others.
"I realized what an incredible acoustic guitar player he was," she said. "We're so used to listening to his electric guitar. But I thought this album has to go out because I want to encourage kids who want to learn guitar."
Ono also recently staged an exhibition of Lennon's art in New York to mark what would have been the former Beatle's 64th birthday.
Up next for Ono is a retooled version of Lennon's classic anti-war anthem "Give Peace a Chance."
