<p id=”par-1_59″><a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/tag/bob-dylan/?swcfpc=1″>Bob Dylan</a> and <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/tag/john-lennon/?swcfpc=1″>John Lennon</a> spent time together over the years, but he reportedly wasn’t a fan of his wife, Yoko Ono. Early in Lennon and Ono’s relationship, Dylan told George Harrison that she had “bad vibes.” Years after this, Lennon publicly humiliated his wife, and someone put on a lengthy Dylan <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/music/”>song</a> to try to cover it up.</p>
<h2 class=”wp-block-heading” id=”h-a-bob-dylan-record-played-as-john-lennon-humiliated-yoko-ono”>A Bob Dylan record played as John Lennon humiliated Yoko Ono</h2>
<p id=”par-2_61″>In 1972, Lennon and Ono attended an election watch party at Jerry Rubin’s New York City apartment. When it became apparent that Richard Nixon would win, many of the guests, including Lennon, began to drink their sorrows away. Lennon became so intoxicated that he slipped away to have sex with another party goer — while Ono was still in the apartment. </p>
<p id=”par-3_72″>“[T]he upshot was that John had indeed hit it off with some girl at the party and had slipped into a bedroom with her, where they proceeded to have such loud, raucous sex that everyone sitting around the TV in Jerry Rubin’s living room — including Yoko — could clearly hear them going at it,” the couple’s friend, Elliot Mintz, wrote in his book <em>We All Shine On: John, Yoko, and Me</em>.</p>
<p id=”par-4_21″>The pair were so loud that another guest tried in vain to cover up the sound with one of Dylan’s songs.</p>
<figure class=”wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio” id=”emb-1″><div class=”wp-block-embed__wrapper”>
<iframe loading=”lazy” title=”Bob Dylan – Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands (Official Audio)” width=”925″ height=”520″ src=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/0c1NJPCN6nA?feature=oembed” frameborder=”0″ allow=”accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share” referrerpolicy=”strict-origin-when-cross-origin” allowfullscreen></iframe>
</div></figure>
<p id=”par-5_76″>“At one point during the noisy indiscretion, a well-meaning party guest put a record on the turntable — Bob Dylan’s eleven-minute ballad ‘<a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/bob-dylan-thought-carried-away-writing-lengthy-song.html/”>Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands</a>’ — and played it at high volume, trying to drown out the rhythmic pounding,” Mintz wrote. “But not even Dylan’s inimitable singing could distract from the racket John and his hookup were making in the bedroom on the other side of what must have been a paper-thin wall.” </p>
<p id=”par-6_20″>To make matters worse, everyone was trapped in the apartment. Lennon was in the room where they placed their coats.</p>
<p id=”par-7_37″>“Throughout it all, Yoko sat on the sofa, in stunned, mortified silence, as other guests began awkwardly getting up to leave — until they realized that their coats were in the bedroom where John was having sex.”</p>
<h2 class=”wp-block-heading” id=”h-the-couple-temporarily-separated-not-long-after-the-incident”>The couple temporarily separated not long after the incident</h2>
<p id=”par-8_12″>The following day, Mintz talked to a devastated Ono on the phone.</p>
<p id=”par-9_58″>“He was placing [his wife] in the most embarrassing position that you could ever place a woman in — having a romp in the hay in another room with thin walls while your wife was attending a small party and could hear everything,” Mintz told <a target=”_blank” href=”https://people.com/john-lennon-had-sex-with-another-woman-party-yoko-ono-overheard-exclusive-8731833″ rel=”noreferrer noopener”>People</a>. “Yoko is a very stoic woman, but it would have severe consequences.”</p>
<p id=”par-10_15″>She wasn’t sure she could move <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/yoko-ono-know-marriage-same-john-lennon-publicly-humiliated.html/”>forward with their marriage</a> as though nothing had happened.</p>
<p id=”par-11_28″>“I can forgive him, but I don’t know if I can ever forget what happened,” she told Mintz. “I don’t know if it will ever be the same.”</p>
<p id=”par-12_19″>Not long after the incident, Ono told Lennon she needed space. For the next 18 months, <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/yoko-ono-revealed-told-john-lennon-needed-separate.html/”>they lived separately</a>. </p>
<h2 class=”wp-block-heading” id=”h-bob-dylan-reportedly-told-george-harrison-not-to-trust-yoko-ono”>Bob Dylan reportedly told George Harrison not to trust Yoko Ono</h2>
<p id=”par-13_28″>To add insult to injury for Ono, Dylan once spoke poorly about her <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/john-lennon-said-forgive-george-harrison-paul-mccartney-treatment-yoko-ono.html/”>to the other Beatles</a>. He warned Harrison not to trust her when she started dating Lennon.</p>
<p id=”par-14_117″>“I’m for Yoko,” Lennon told <a target=”_blank” href=”https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/lennon-remembers-part-one-186693/” rel=”noreferrer noopener”>Rolling Stone</a>. “Why should she take that kind of s*** from those people? They were writing about her looking miserable in the<em> Let It Be </em>film, but you sit through 60 sessions with the most bigheaded, uptight people on earth and see what its f***in’ like and be insulted – just because you love someone – and George, s***, insulted her right to her face in the Apple office at the beginning, just being ‘straight-forward,’ you know that game of ‘I’m going to be upfront,’ because this is what we’ve heard and Dylan and a few people said she’d got a lousy name in New York, and you give off bad vibes.”</p>
<figure class=”wp-block-image size-full” id=”emb-2″><img decoding=”async” src=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Lennon-Ono-1.webp?strip=all&quality=80″ alt=”A black and white picture of Yoko Ono and John Lennon standing in front of a curtain and behind a microphone.” class=”wp-image-3760143″><figcaption class=”wp-element-caption”>Yoko Ono and John Lennon | Bettmann/Contributor via Getty</figcaption></figure>
<div class=”related-article related-article–simple”>
<span class=”related-article-flag”>Related</span>
<p class=”related-article__title”>
<a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/joan-baez-left-insulting-1984-tour-bob-dylan-early.html/”>
Joan Baez Left Her Insulting 1984 Tour With Bob Dylan Early </a>
</p>
</div>
<p id=”par-15_8″>Lennon said he wished he’d <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/john-lennon-wondered-why-he-didnt-punch-george-harrison-in-the-late-beatles-years.html/”>retaliated against Harrison</a>.</p>
<p id=”par-16_22″>“That’s what George said to her!” Lennon said. “And we both sat through it. I didn’t hit him, I don’t know why.”</p>