Beauty Is an Act of the Mind

Beauty is not an image or a comparison of images. It is an act of the mind – a completely personal act. There is no beauty without context, without a relationship between an I and a you, face to face. If you do not understand, I will have to consider you dangerous, mad, and shameless. For you do not give up easily. You are a modern man. For you, fences are made to be jumped.

Denis de Rougemont

Second Postcard Dialogue: Physical Beauty

The Growl of Deeper Waters (1976)

What is beauty? It’s what you love.

Yoko Ono

Tweet (2011)

Photo by Pierre Choumoff: Rose and Auguste Rodin on their wedding day, Meudon, 29 January 1917

Have You Seen a Horizon Lately?

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Have you seen a horizon lately?
If you have, watch it for a while.
For you never know,
It may not last so long.

Have you seen an evening light lately?
If you have, watch it for a while.
For you never know,
It may not be the same.

Have you seen a snowflake lately?
If you have, hold it in your hand.
For you never know,
It may melt away.

Have you been in love lately?
If you have, hold it in your heart.
For you never know,
It may be the last.

Music by Yoko Ono (1973)

Onobox

Photo by Lentilcia: Impossible Is Nothing (2011)

One of the Fuckin’ Best Rock & Roll Records Ever Made

Listen to Don’t Worry Kyoko. It’s one of the fuckin’ best rock & roll records ever made. …Yoko makes music like you’ve never heard on earth. And when the musicians play with it, they’re inspired out of their skulls…We’ve got a cut of her from the Lyceum in London with fifteen or twenty musicians playing with her, from Bonnie and Delaney and the fuckin’ lot. We played the tracks the other night, and it’s the most fantastic music I’ve ever heard.

John Lennon, Rolling Stone interview, December 1970

PLAY LOUD

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Music: Don’t Worry Kyoko, from a live performance recorded on December 15, 1969 at The Lyceum, London at a concert in aid of UNICEF.

The Plastic Ono Band:
Yoko Ono – vocal
John Lennon – guitar
George Harrison – guitar
Eric Clapton – guitar
Delaney Bramlett – guitar
Klaus Voorman – bass
Keith Moon – drums
Alan White – drums
Jim Gordon – drums
Billy Preston – organ*
Bonnie Bramlett – vocals and percussion
Bobby Keys – saxophone
Jim Price – trumpet

* Billy Preston’s part was lost during the recording process, and had to be replaced by an overdub by Nicky Hopkins on electric piano

Some Time in New York City