Songfacts®:

• Ono's fraught lyrics on this disco New Waver talk of the unpredictability of life and death and watching your every step before concluding, "when our hearts return to ashes, it will be just a story...." In our interview with Yoko she explained: "It's a song that came to me music notes and lyrics together."
• John Lennon supplied lead guitar work to accompany Yoko's steely shrieks, and the pair concluded the recording of the song on December 8, 1980. The song's lyrical content proved to be tragically prophetic as it was to be his final creative act. It was upon John and Yoko's return from the recording studio to their The Dakota home that Lennon was murdered by Mark David Chapman.
• The version included on 1992's Onobox features a new intro where John Lennon can be heard remarking "I think you just cut your first number one, Yoko." His prediction proved to be correct, though Yoko had to wait. In 2003 the Japanese artist achieved pole position on the Hot Dance Club Play chart for the first time with a maxi-single of the song with remixes by dance artists including the Pet Shop Boys and Felix Da Housecat. Having turned 70 less than a month earlier, Yoko became the oldest person to top the chart, a record she broke each time she subsequently topped the dance tally.
• There's a part in the middle of the song that sounds like Yoko is saying "ay ay ay ay." But in reality, it is "ai ai ai ai" - "ai" means "love" in Japanese.
• The song returned to #1 on Dance/Club Play Songs in 2013 after Yoko commissioned a series of new remixes from Dave Aude, Emjae and Ralphi Rosario. It marked the third time an artist has taken a song to the dance chart summit summit twice: Jennifer Holliday ruled with "No Frills Love" in 1986 and 1996 and Jody Watley doubled up with "Looking For A New Love" in 1987 and again in 2005.