Yoko Ono - Hell In Paradise

On the Starpeace album, we used musicians from different cultures to represent the world. There were some behind-the-scenes concerns with the album because of the then Reagan’s Star Wars program. Some people advised me against making the album. The timing wasn’t right, they said. The timing was right, I thought.

The more they argued, the more it helped to solidify my feelings that I should go ahead with it. I told Sean I was going to do it. He was the only one who would have been affected by whatever happened to me. I even went on a concert tour with the album right smack in the middle of the strong anti-peace sentiment in the USA and Europe. It was truly HELL IN PARADISE.

Then things started to turn around. It seemed to have inspired some heavy people. as you may know, and made me feel good.

In hindsight, I don’t know how I did it. (I’m a coward.) But I’m glad I did.

yoko

(from the liner notes of ONOBOX.)

HELL IN PARADISE

This is hell in paradise
We're all asleep or paralyzed
Why are we scared to verbalize
Our multicolor dreams

When will we come to realize
We're all stoned or pacified
While the boogie men organize
Their multilevel schemes

Underqualified for love
Overqualified for life
Sticking our heads in slime
Thinking we're in our prime

Mesmerized by mythology
Hypnotized by ideology
Antagonized by reality
Vandalized by insanity
Desensitized by fraternity
Sanitized by policy
Jeopardized by lunacy

Penalized by apathy
And living in the world of fantasy
Dancing on hot coal
Waiting for the last call
It's Adam's ball
Eve's call

Wake up, shake up
Check out, work out
Speak out, reach out
It's time to, time to,
Time to, to, to, to, to....

This is hell in paradise
None of us wish to recognize
But do we want them to materialize
An endangered species

Exorcise institution
Exercise intuition
Mobilize transition
With inspiration for life

STARPEACE
Starpeace is Yoko Ono's 1985 concept album, designed to spread a message of peace around the world as an opposition to Ronald Reagan's "Star Wars" missile defense system.
The single release of "Hell in Paradise" reached #16 in the US dance charts in 1985.

Vocals - YOKO ONO
Keyboards - Bernie Worrell, Jeff Bova
Guitar - Eddie Martinez
Violin - Shankar
Bass - Robbie Shakespeare
Percussion - Sly Dunbar, Tony Williams, Aïyb Dieng, Daniel Ponce, Anton Fier
Whistle - Tony Levin
Background Vocals - Bernard Fowler, Yolanda Lee Lewis and Nona Hendryx
Produced by Bill Laswell and Yoko Ono
Recorded and mixed by Rob Stevens