THE BALLAD OF JOHN AND YOKO / OLD BROWN SHOE
Apple A-8793
Released 19 June 1969
Original recommended retail price: $1.00
A controversial Australian release whose A-side was restricted—though not formally banned—from commercial radio broadcast.
Matrix Information
Side 1: (mono) 7XCE 21306 7XAPA1693
Side 2: (mono) 7XCE 21307 7XAPA1694

1969
Side 1: (mono) 7XCE 21306 B 7XAPA1693
Side 2: (mono) 7XCE 21307 B 7XAPA1694

Overview
In true domino effect, this single was also held back a few weeks due to the ongoing chart action of 'Get Back'/'Don't Let Me Down'.

Both tracks appear as folddowns of the stereo mixes. While the term "folddown" tends to equate to the word "avoid", the single sounds quite good, with a nice deep bass and solid sound.

It is commonly believed that broadcasting of this single was banned in Australia. That was not quite the case; broadcasting of the A-side was pro-actively restricted by the Federation of Australian Commercial Broadcasters (FACB), who cited numerous standards by the Australian Broadcasting Control Board (ABCB) as the basis for their recommendation, predominantly that "no program may contain any matter which is blasphemous, indecent, obscene, vulgar, suggestive or of doubtful propriety".

Radio stations could still play the single, however, they risked sanctions and other penalties from the FACB, or ultimately the Government-run ABCB, should they choose to do so (penalties may include delayed access to new releases amongst others).

This created a bit of a kerfuffle with stations, who at the last minute had to find or pull together edited versions of the track to suit broadcast, as EMI (Australia) did not do so. One Sydney station indicated on air on the night of release that they couldn't play the single yet "due to technical difficulties that their engineers needed to rectify".

Some stations created their own edits, each handling the offending word differently: Melbourne's 3AK substituted a drumbeat, 3UZ replaced it with a chord, while 3XY simply deleted it. Brisbane's 4BC replaced it with silence. Other stations obtained the edited version prepared by HMV (New Zealand) for radio broadcast. Anecdotal evidence suggests that EMI (Australia) may also have distributed limited copies of the New Zealand edit, although no supporting documentation has been found within EMI (Australia)’s records.

Written on one edited single that the webmaster has seen was "BLOODY SILLY - DO NOT PLAY", so DJs didn't appear too fond of the edit either!

Copies of this single appeared almost concurrently with either of two cuts (both sides) ('B').

The single remained available until the late 1980s.
Chart Performance

Brisbane

(QLD)

Sydney

(NSW)

Melbourne

(VIC)

Hobart

(TAS)

Adelaide

(SA)

Perth

(WA)

GO-SET

(AUS)

Chart Entry

21-Jun-69

27-Jun-69*

21-Jun-69

18-Jun-69

04-Jul-69

27-Jun-69

05-Jul-69*

Highest Position

1

1

1

1

2

1

1

Weeks In

12

14

17

12

11

12

13
Listed as "The Ballad of John and Yoko" except * "The Ballad of John and Yoko/Old Brown Shoe"
Apple
AUSP8793A.a

Music royalty stamps
AUSP8793A.b

Music royalty stamps
Various horizontal/vertical spacing differences on Side 2 label
AUSP8793A.c

No music publ royalty stamps
Different layout of non-templated elements

Copies with this label variation also exist with a smaller pressing ring; the result of EMI (Australia) installing new Toshiba-EMI automatic presses in 1980 and changing the 7" mould
Silver/Black Style 'C'
AUSP8793SBC.a

First appeared in October 1982 with the release of The Australian 20th Anniversary Singles Collection

Visit AB34 for more information or to see an image of the picture sleeve