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Yoko Ono is Not A Witch

March 07, 2007

Millions of people are familiar with the name Yoko Ono -- an icon linked to some of the most memorable moments in pop culture history.

Most people know Ono from her marriage to the late John Lennon, and not from her genre-pushing art and music projects that she has continued to create over the last four decades. Her latest music release "Yes, I'm A Witch" (Astralwerks) features remakes of her songs by some of today's most critically -- acclaimed artists -- or "the superstars of indie music," as Ono likes to call them.

All of the 17 tracks on the album feature Ono's original vocals wrapped in a new production by a participating artist. Included on the disc are classic Ono songs such as "Kiss, Kiss, Kiss" (by Peaches), "Rising" (by DJ Spooky), "Revelations" (by Cat Power), "You And I" (by the Polyphonic Spree) and "Toy Boat" (by Antony and The Johnsons).

This new effort follows her very successful dance music releases in 2004 that included the Billboard Chart-topping remixes for her song "Hell In Paradise" and a remix of "Every Man Has A Woman Who Loves Him" from the 1980 Lennon/Ono "Double Fantasy" album. On the 2004 dance version of "Every Man," Ono tackled the controversial same-sex marriage issue head on. She re-recorded the vocals and included the lyrics "every woman has a woman who loves her" and "every man has a man who loves him" to show her support for gays and lesbians.

Yoko Ono spoke exclusively with OutZoneTV about her latest project, her inspirations, peace in the world and the upcoming film "Chapter 26" about the assassination of John Lennon that stars Jared Leto.

How did the idea for "Yes, I'm A Witch" come about?
There were a lot of creative new versions of my songs that different artists recorded. It started to accumulate so I decided it would be great to put out remakes of my songs on a CD for everyone to hear. I invited artists that previously covered my songs or were a fan of mine to pick a song from my catalogue, and then I gave them the original vocal and instrumental cuts to work with. All of the new versions are so brilliant. I'm thankful to each one of the musicians for recording such great versions of my songs.