Written in 1977 by john for an unfinished play entitled the ballad of john and yoko, john first recorded in 1979, with his vocal/acoustic guitar version appearing in the 1988 imagine: john lennon film. on the beatles reunion remake, john's original vocals and piano are combined with new tracks by paul, george and ringo. released as a single in 1996, the song goes to #4 in the uk and #11 in the u. s.

the berlin blockade was an international crisis that arose from an attempt by the soviet union, in 1948–49, to force the western allied powers (the united states, the united kingdom, and france) to abandon their post-world war ii jurisdictions in west berlin. in march 1948 the allied powers decided to unite their different occupation zones of germany into a single economic unit. in protest, the soviet representative withdrew from the allied control council. coincident with the introduction of a new deutsche mark in west berlin (as throughout west germany), which the soviets regarded as a violation of agreements with the allies, the soviet occupation forces in eastern germany began a blockade of all rail, road, and water communications between berlin and the west. on june 24 the soviets announced that the four-power administration of berlin had ceased and that the allies no longer had any rights there.