The heartbreaking Yoko Ono song about John Lennon’s lost dog
Dale Maplethorpe
FAR OUT
Wed 6 August 2025
(Credits: Far Out / Joost Evers / National Archives)
Yoko Ono is often blamed for breaking up The Beatles. A lot of people see her as someone who drove a wedge between the band, which subsequently led to their eventual split. This couldn’t be further from the truth.
John Lennon’s political views were something that manifested because he fancied a girl he met at an art gallery. He has always had these views, in fact, before The Beatles touched down in America for the first time, Lennon was terrified about how he might be perceived by the money-loving States because of recent comments he had made in favour of communism. Not many people were bothered, but this also marked the last time for years that Lennon would publicly discuss his political views.
The truth is, for the band to get as big as they did, there was a lot that Lennon had to compromise on, and the majority of this was genuine parts of his personality. He couldn’t dress how he wanted, do his hair how he wished, or talk about the things he cared for most, and he was at risk of getting in the way of record sales and impacting the band’s success.
“We weren’t as open and as truthful when we didn’t have the power to be,” admitted Lennon, “We had to take it easy. We had to shorten our hair to leave Liverpool. We had to wear suits to get on TV. We had to compromise.”
The more Lennon stayed a part of The Beatles, the more frustrated he became at the fact that he had to write as though he were a Beatles member. He wished to make music that gave listeners a better insight into who he was as a person, where he came from, how he felt, and what his beliefs were. When he met Yoko Ono, she reaffirmed his feelings, and it just made him want to express this more honest side of himself.
Ono felt equally as drawn to Lennon, and the two of them lived a happy life together, albeit it was unfortunately cut short, given that Lennon was assassinated in 1980. Even though he passed away four decades ago, Ono still uses their adoration of Lennon as inspiration, and one of the songs where his memory seeps through in an interesting way is the track ‘Ode to Meadow’, released on her 2016 album Home on the Range.
One of the last presents that Lennon bought his son Sean was their dog, Merry. Merry remained a reminder of John for the family, but sadly, he ran away as well. Ono barely discussed losing the dog with Sean as she thought it would be too painful for him, and she didn’t fully address what had happened until she wrote the song.
“Our dog, Merry, who was the last Xmas present from John to Sean just disappeared from our farm house,” recalled Ono, “We didn’t know what happened. We kept thinking ‘What could have happened?’ Sean and I never discussed it. It was just too painful.”
Ono continued, “Sometime after, Sean got a new dog, so I thought he had forgotten about Merry. But one day ten years later, Sean and I were looking at old family photos and there was Merry… looking so good, just as she used to. Tears rolled down from Sean’s eyes, though he didn’t say anything. Merry is still in our hearts.”
Paul McCartney Admitted The Beatles Had "Lustful Thoughts" About Queen Elizabeth Before "Awkward" Meeting With the "Babe"
"We were like, 'Phwoar!'"
BY KRISTIN CONTINO
Marie Claire
PUBLISHED AUG 8 , 2025
(Image credit: Getty Images)
During her 70-year reign, it would be easier to ask which celebrities Queen Elizabeth didn't meet. She rubbed shoulders with everyone from Elton John to Lady Gaga at events like the Royal Variety Performance, movie premieres and charity galas. She also presented plenty of honors during royal investitures, and in 1965, she awarded the members of The Beatles with their MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire). According to Craig Brown's biography Q: A Voyage Around The Queen, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and George Harrison—who were in their early twenties at the time—had quite the crush on Queen Elizabeth before their trip to Buckingham Palace.
The late Queen was just 27 during her 1953 coronation, and Brown wrote that the four Beatles "had entertained lustful thoughts about the young Princess Elizabeth" when they were teenagers. In 2017, Paul McCartney reflected on their feelings about the monarch during an interview with 60 Minutes Australia, sharing, "They were very formative teenage years, and The Queen was, sort of, 24 or something, so, to us, she was a babe."
"We were like, 'Phowar!'" he continued, adding "there was a certain lustfulness in us teenagers" when it came to Elizabeth. "Just look at the heat on her!" he said, repeating a phrase "we used to say in Liverpool."
The Beatles proudly displayed their MBEs from Queen Elizabeth in 1965.
(Image credit: Getty Images)
A young Queen Elizabeth is seen in 1954.
(Image credit: Getty Images)
When it came to their MBE ceremony, Brown wrote that either the foursome's "teenage infatuations clouded their brains" or else it "might have been the marijuana that John Lennon later claimed they had smoked in the palace loo before the ceremony." No matter what happened, the author noted that the band's "conversation with The Queen proved awkward."
When Queen Elizabeth asked them, "Have you been working hard recently?" Lennon didn't know what to say, and replied, "No, we've been having a holiday" when they had actually been spending time in the studio. "Have you been together long?" the late Queen asked McCartney. Apparently, he quoted a song called "My Old Dutch" and said, "Yes, we've been together now for forty years..." with the rest of the band singing the next line. But Queen Elizabeth didn't get the joke.
After asking Ringo if he started the group, and Starr replying he "joined last," she ended their brief interaction by telling them it had been "a pleasure" to present them with their MBEs.
Perhaps that's why they later wrote the song "Her Majesty" a few years later. Brown wrote that in 2002, McCartney performed at the late Queen's 2002 Golden Jubilee, and when he was asked about meeting her later, he quoted the song, in part, remarking, "I don't know how to break this to you, but she doesn't have a lot to say."
Elliot Mintz's friendship with John Lennon and Yoko Ono lasted for nearly a decade until Lennon was murdered in 1980. (Courtesy of Elliot Mintz )
americansongwriter.com
John Lennon Confidant Elliott Mintz Recalls Witnessing What He Thinks Was Lennon’s Final In-Person Meeting with Paul McCartney
BY MATT FRIEDLANDER
American Songwriter
AUGUST 4, 2025
John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s friend and confidant Elliot Mintz was the guest on the latest episode of Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan’s interview podcast The Magnificent Others. Mintz, who was Lennon and Ono’s publicist during their years living at the Dakota building in Manhattan, recently published a memoir about his experiences with the legendary couple titled We All Shine On: John, Yoko, and Me.
During his conversation with Corgan, Mintz discussed being a witness to what he believes was the final time Lennon and fellow Beatles legend Paul McCartney ever spent time together.
March 1974
According to Mintz, the get-together happened around Christmas time in 1978. He told Corgan that John and Yoko had invited him over to the Dakota, and while he was sitting in their living room, some other guests arrived at the building.
As Mintz recalled, “[T]here’s a knock on the door … and [John] opens it, and Paul and Linda McCartney walk in, and they greet each other.”
Elliot noted that this was the first time he’d ever met McCartney.
Continuing his story, Mintz said. “And [Paul and Linda] come in, and John just said, ‘This is our friend Elliot.’ And I said, ‘Nice to meet you. Nice to meet you, Linda.’ And we sat and we talked for a while. … How should I say it? It wasn’t overly jubilant. It wasn’t icy. It was just correct.”
The Couples and Mintz Then Went Out for Dinner
Mintz recalled that it was then decided that the group would get dinner at the Manhattan restaurant Elaine’s. As Elliot noted, Elaine’s was a popular dining spot for celebrities, although its food was notoriously mediocre.
He remembered that no one was particularly thrilled at the menu choices, so Linda suggested that they order a pizza from a nearby pizza place she liked and have it delivered to Elaine’s. Mintz was tasked with getting the pizza to the restaurant.
“I knew what a social faux pas was this, but I also knew that [the restaurant’s owner,] Elaine [Kaufman,] was not gonna escort [us out],” Elliot said. “We had the pizza delivered through the back door. It was taken out of the cardboard box. It was put on beautiful Elaine’s plates and brought out, so a casual observer would think it’s a dish that they hadn’t seen yet. We had the pizza, and it was pretty good.”
Back to the Dakota, and Lennon and McCartney’s Conversation
After dinner, the group then returned to the Dakota building.
Mintz remembered that once there, Yoko and Linda went off to a separate room together. Elliot said that while he sat on a couch, feeling like a fifth wheel, Lennon and McCartney walked over to “a very, very tall window that looked down upon the west side of Manhattan,” and began chatting.
Mintz said he could hear bits and pieces of what the former Beatles and old friends were saying.
“It was small talk, nothing of substance,” Elliot shared. “And I do remember Paul asking John, ‘So, you making any music these days?’ And John replying to Sir Paul, ‘No, me time is with me baby [Sean]. That’s what I do all the time. I don’t make any music. What about you?’ And Paul said, ‘I’m always making music. I make music every day of my life. I can’t stop making music.’”
Mintz continued, “I thought to myself as I sat on the couch, what would have happened if John bit the bait and said, ‘I got a couple of guitars in the other room. Why don’t I bring them out, you know, just for the hell of it?’ And the two of them could have sat in the living room and maybe changed the face of contemporary music … one more time.”
Mintz told Corgan that after the conversation, Paul and Linda stayed for about another hour and then left. He described the whole evening as “anti-climactic.”
Mintz Asked Lennon How He Felt About Seeing McCartney After He Left
Elliot also told Corgan that, after the McCartneys had left, he recalled asking Lennon how he felt about seeing Paul that day.
“He said, ‘What do you mean, how did it feel to me?’” Mintz said John responded. “And I said, ‘Was there any tension?’ He … was dismissive. He said, ‘You were with us all afternoon.’ I mean, the two of them have known each other since they were nine years old, practically.”
Wrapping up his comments about the meeting, Elliot said, “So … I’ve mentioned this story to a couple of the real Beatle historian people who believe that that was the last time that [John and Paul] were together. I can’t attest to that, and it’s my point of view. Sir Paul has not discussed that visit at all.”
You can check out Corgan’s full interview with Mintz at Billy’s official YouTubechannel
(Photo by Don Paulsen/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)
George Harrison welcomed his only child, son Dhani, in 1978
By Ellie Beeck
People
Updated on August 1, 2025
George Harrison in Cannes, France for the Midem music industry trade fair on January 30, 1976. ; Dhani Harrison attends attend the UK Premiere of "The Beatles: Get Back" on November 16, 2021 in London, England.
Credit : Michael Putland/Getty ; Karwai Tang/WireImage
George Harrison found inspiration in many people throughout his storied career, including his son.
The late Beatles singer and his then-fiancée (soon-to-be wife) Olivia Harrison welcomed their only child, Dhani, on Aug. 1, 1978. Harrison, who was a follower of the Hare Krishna sect of Hinduism, named his son after the sixth and seventh notes on the Indian music scale, "dha" and "ni."
Though The Beatles disbanded years before his birth, Dhani still grew up around music thanks to his dad’s solo career. “He’s lovely,” Harrison told PEOPLE in 1987 of his then-9-year-old son. “He’s good fun, good company. He can play ‘When We Was Fab’ on the piano.”
Harrison wrote several songs for Dhani over the years, including 1982’s “Unknown Delight.” “He was saying, ‘What should I write about? What should I write a song about?’ ” Olivia told NPR of her husband in a 2004 interview. “I said, ‘Write a song about Dhani.’ And he wrote this beautiful song which was very prescient, actually.”
Now 47, Dhani is following in Harrison’s footsteps as a musician while working to keep his dad's legacy alive following his untimely death in November 2001.
From working as an aerodynamicist to winning a Grammy Award, here's everything to know about George Harrison's son.
George Harrison and son Dhani Harrison at Christie's London for a guitar auction in 1999.
Credit : Richard Young/Shutterstock
He was born in August 1978
Dhani was born on Aug. 1, 1978, in Berkshire, England, and was raised on his dad's estate, Friar Park. His birth came eight years after The Beatles broke up and Harrison moved on to a more quiet life on his 62-acre home.
“My earliest memory of my dad is probably of him somewhere in a garden covered in dirt, somewhere hot, a tropical garden, in jeans, khakis covered in dirt, just continuously planting trees,” Dhani said in Martin Scorsese’s 2011 documentary, George Harrison: Living in the Material World. “I think that’s what I thought he did for the first seven years of my life.”
Eric Idle, Paul McCartney, Olivia Harrison, Tom Hanks and Dhani Harrison attend the ceremony honoring the late George Harrison with a star on The Hollywood Walk of Fame on April 14, 2009.
Credit : Lester Cohen/WireImage
He went to military school
As an act of teenage rebellion, Dhani enrolled at a military school to annoy his openly pacifistic dad.
“To rebel in my family was to go to…a semi-military school. We did CCF [Combined Cadet Force] one day a week,” he told TIME magazine in 2011. “That used to piss him off, me walking around in an Air Force uniform.”
Dhani Harrison attends a private view of "Alice: Curiouser and Curiouser" on June 23, 2021 in London, England.
Credit : David M. Benett/Dave Benett/Getty
He studied physics and industrial design
In 1997, Dhani moved to the United States to attend Brown University for college. While at Brown, he studied physics and industrial design, though he did try his hand at music.
“I did take a course in music and computers — and failed,” he told the Brown Alumni Magazine in 2018. He also joined the school’s rowing team, where he served as a coxswain.
After graduating in 2001, Dhani worked as an aerodynamicist for British sports-car company McLaren before turning to music, he told the Daily Mail in 2012.
George Harrison poses for a portrait in 1964 in London, England. ; Dhani Harrison arrives at the Friends And Family GRAMMY Event on January 29, 2010 in Los Angeles, California.
Credit : Cyrus Andrews/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty ; Dr. Billy Ingram/WireImage
He “freaked out” when he found out his dad was a member of The Beatles
Despite his global fame, Harrison didn’t tell Dhani that he was a member of The Beatles until he was in elementary school.
“I was completely unaware that he had anything to do with music,” Dhani said of his dad in the 2011 documentary about his dad. “I came home one day from school after being chased by kids singing ‘Yellow Submarine,’ and I didn’t understand why. It just seemed surreal.”
Dhani added that he “freaked out” at his dad when he got back from school that day. “‘Why didn’t you tell me you were in The Beatles?’ " he said in the documentary of the moment. "And he said, ‘Oh, sorry. Probably should have told you that.’ ”
Dhani Harrison, Sir Paul McCartney, Olivia Harrison, Yoko Ono, Barbara Bach and Ringo Starr.
Credit : KMazur/WireImage
He helped his dad make music
Growing up, Dhani often sat in on his dad's recording sessions. “My dad treated me like an adult – I got involved, he taught me how to make records from an early age. I grew up in a recording studio,” he told the Daily Mail.
In 2001, Dhani officially started helping Harrison make music, co-writing the song “Horse to the Water” and performing lead guitar behind his dad’s vocals. Dhani also helped his father produce his final album, Brainwashed, which was released in 2002, nearly a year after his death.
In 2021, Dhani worked as the executive producer on the star-studded music video for Harrison’s “My Sweet Lord,” 51 years after the song's release. He and his mom also made appearances in the video alongside Harrison’s Beatles bandmate Ringo Starr, actors Mark Hamill and Darren Criss, and more.
Dhani Harrison performing on 'Jimmy Kimmel Live'.
Credit : Randy Holmes/Getty
He’s a Grammy-winning musician
Though he studied physics, Dhani quickly realized that he wanted to follow in his dad’s footsteps and pursue music after working on Brainwashed. He started a rock band called thenewno2, and released their first album, You Are Here, in 2009.
“I did everything I could to not be a musician,” he told Billboard at the time. “It’s in the DNA, I guess.”
Dhani started another band, Fistful of Mercy, in 2010 with Ben Harper. In 2017, he released his first solo album, IN///PARALLEL.
Dhani honored his dad at the 2004 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ceremony – when he was posthumously inducted – by performing a rendition of “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” alongside Tom Petty, ELO frontman Jeff Lynne and Prince.
In 2022, Dhani won his first Grammy Award for his work remastering Harrison’s album All Things Must Pass for its 50th anniversary.
He loves Star Wars
Dhani has been open about his love of the Star Wars series, saying he “grew up” with the films and collects Star Wars toys and memorabilia.
In a 2017 interview with StarWars.com, Dhani revealed that his dad was also a fan of the series: “I’ve always done martial arts, and I’ve done meditation since I was a kid, so ‘Jedi training’ is a very familiar thing in my family,” he joked.
Hayden Christensen and Danni Harrison attend the Redbull Star Wars Grand Prix Party on May 22, 2005 in Monte Carlo, Monaco.
Credit : Dave Benett/Getty
He’s been married
In 2012, Dhani married former model Sólveig Káradóttir. Per Vogue, Káradóttir’s dress was designed by Stella McCartney, the daughter of Beatle Paul McCartney, who also attended the nuptials along with Starr. Other celebrity guests included Tom Hanks and Clive Owen, according to E! Online.
Dhani and Káradóttir were regular fixtures at red carpet events and even attended Stella’s Ready-to-Wear show at Paris Fashion Week in 2013. In 2016, the couple separated, per TMZ. Dhani is now dating British musician Mereki Beach.
Dhani Harrison and Solveig 'Sola' Karadottir at the LACMA 2015 Art+Film Gala Honoring James Turrell And Alejandro G Inarritu on November 7, 2015 in Los Angeles, California.
Credit : Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic
He says he’s similar to Stella McCartney
Dhani and Stella, are very supportive friends: he’s cheered her on from the front row at fashion shows, and she tapped him to perform at her Autumn 2016 showcase in Los Angeles.
In his 2012 interview with the Daily Mail, Dhani revealed that he and Stella have both worked hard to make names for themselves separate from their famous dads.
“Of all of them, I think I’m most similar to Stella and Mary [McCartney],” he said of all the Beatles children. “I really relate to the way they’ve dealt with their circumstances — they’re like big sisters to me.”
Dhani Harrison speaks onstage at the 32nd Annual Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame Induction Ceremony on April 7, 2017 in New York City. ; Stella McCartney attends The 2023 Met Gala Celebrating "Karl Lagerfeld: A Line Of Beauty" on May 01, 2023 in New York City.
Credit : Kevin Kane/WireImage ; Jamie McCarthy/Getty
