What Might Have Been: The Plastic Ono Band At Fifty

The Plastic Ono Band, whose formation was officially announced to the world on July 3, 1969, was born of John Lennon’s relationship with Yoko Ono, and of his need for an outlet for his artistic work outside The Beatles. As a conceptual group, the POB had no permanent members save Lennon and Ono.


The first POB record, the single “Give Peace A Chance/Remember Love,” was released on Apple Records (#1809 U.S.) in July, 1969. The A-Side, recorded in John & Yoko’s hotel room during their Montreal bed-in for peace some two months earlier, featured Lennon on guitar on vocals, with backing vocals by members of the local Hare Krishna Temple and Ono, among others. Tommy Smothers of the Smothers Brothers played acoustic along with John. The Ono-composed B-Side featured Yoko on vocals and John on acoustic guitar.


The POB’s follow-up single, Cold Turkey/Don’t Worry Kyoko (Apple 1813), was released October 20 in the U.S. Following the same approach as the previous single, the A-Side featured Lennon, with Ono writing and singing lead on the B-Side. This time around, the POB featured, in addition to Lennon and Ono, Eric Clapton on guitar, Ringo Starr on drums, and Klaus Voorman on bass, on both tracks.


A live performance at the Toronto Rock ‘N Roll Festival in September, and the release of the band’s performance on LP followed in December. But there might have been a third Plastic Ono Band single in its initial year of existence if Lennon had had his way.


That record, “You Know My Name/What’s The New Mary Jane” was scheduled for release in December. It was assigned a U.K. catalog number, “Apples 1002,” but the single never materialized. Consisting of two unused Beatles recordings - “You Know My Name,” begun during the band’s Magical Mystery Tour sessions in 1967, with The Rolling Stones’ Brian Jones on sax, and with overdubs by John and Paul in 1969 – and “What’s The New Mary Jane,” recorded during The Beatles’ (sans Paul and Ringo) White Album sessions in 1968, it would have been the most unconventional single release of Lennon’s career.


Lennon remixed both tracks, with the final mixing/editing sessions occurring on November 26. Release was set for December 5. Although it was shelved, both tracks were eventually issued – You Know My Name as the B-Side of The Beatles “Let It Be” single in 1970, and “What’s The New Mary Jane” on the third installment of The Beatles Anthology in 1996.