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"There
are so many ways of using the throat and the vocal chords; you can use different
areas, different parts of the body to express different emotions. As far as influences
in my singing, I got a lot of influence from (Alban)
Berg's operas, like his Lulu. I think you can hear that very strongly on some
of Approximately Infinite Universe, and I think I'm still very influenced by it.
There's also a lot of Japanese kabuki influence, from the old Japanese way of
singing.
There's one particular kabuki singing style called
hetai, a kind of storytelling form that's almost like chanting and requires you
to strain your voice a bit. I also listened to tapes of my voice playing backward
and tried to make sounds like that. And I listened to Indian singing, Tibetan
singing...all that mixed."
"I told John, and he
agreed, that the feminism involves men too. John helped the movement towards equality
more by doing something, like househusbandry, than a million people demonstrating
for it... Initially, feminists thought that the fact that I was married was a
betrayal of the whole idea. As for the idea of really loving John, and saying
so - loving a man, what was this? I wrote a song called I Want My Man To Rest
Tonight, which was addressed to my feminist sisters and said: let's not blame
our men too much. But I think in a male chauvinist society it was just as difficult
for men too. They had to adjust. The reason I did not become an extreme feminist
was a lot to do with living with John. He was a good influence."
"Written
and recorded in New York City with Elephant's Memory, Approximately Infinite Universe
displayed Yoko Ono finally coming into her own write and draw. Showing off her
rock capabilities, she finds the hard spot with such cuts as "Yang Yang"
and "I Felt Like Smashing My Face in a Clear Glass Window." But she
shows gentle sentiment in cuts such as "Song for John" and the wonderful
"Looking Over from My Hotel Window." 
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