Initially, the team tried different styles for the video, using graphic and visual representatives of musical waveforms, but ultimately what felt the most authentic to the song was to visually show the love John and Yoko felt for one another. “There were a couple of reels of old Super 8 film from when they first moved into Tittenhurst Park in Ascot and from a holiday in Spetses Island in Greece, both in late 1969,” says Simon. “It was footage filmed and directed by John and Yoko, with John filming Yoko, and Yoko filming John, really relaxed and happy and intimate with one another – Yoko’s smile is particularly beautiful and unguarded – and when we put the footage to the music, it was the most perfect fit.”
The video is gorgeous, as is nearly anything shot on Super 8 film. The particular, otherworldly glows in some very old film stocks are preserved here, the glow of love itself, if you will. The heavy film grain, paired with the low shutter speed, recreates the visuals of a long-gone memory – not quite smooth, not recollected in its entirety, but remembered in its most important moments: a smile, sunlight glittering through hair, cerulean waves crashing up against the boat. It feels like a tribute to Yoko, especially as the kanji letters of ‘Yōko’ mean ‘ocean child’. It’s a rarity that fans of the famous duo see brand new footage, even when it’s as fleeting as these remastered home movies. Sometimes, it’s stuff like this, rather than the huge productions, that mean the most.
Pick up Love (Meditation Mix) on vinyl exclusively on Record Store Day, Saturday 18 April.