Hiroshima Sky Is Always Blue

Song facts

From Daily News, August 6, 1995:

Paul McCartney and Yoko Ono have officially buried the hatchet they’ve collaborated on a song to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the U.S. bombing of Hiroshima. “Hiroshima Sky Is Always Blue” will be broadcast on Japanese television tomorrow on the 50th anniversary of the atomic bomb explosion, a spokeswoman for Japan’s NHK public television said yesterday. The song ends a three-decade feud between the ex-Beatle and John Lennon’s Japanese-born widow, who has been blamed for breaking up the most famous pop group ever. Adding to the spirit of reconciliation, the song was recorded with both Lennon and McCartney’s children. Though McCartney is one of the world’s most famous songwriters, “Hiroshima Sky” was written by Ono. The song was taped in a secret Jan. 28 recording session when Ono and Sean Lennon her son with John spent a weekend at McCartney’s house outside London. McCartney showed them around his private studio and suggested recording a song together. Ono told him about a song she had written from her memories of World War II Japan, when she saw newspaper photographs of bomb victims suffering from burns and leukemia. Ono sang and Sean played the harpsichord his father used on the song “Julia” on the Beatles’ “White Album.

McCartney’s wife, Linda, played the organ, their son James played guitar and their daughters did the percussion. McCartney played bass not the sort everyone remembers from the Beatles, but an upright model used by one of Elvis Presley’s bassists.

Last updated on August 21, 2020