Play the game of life with our hearts

As the bizarre Yoko Ono arrives in London for the opening of her typically off-the-wall exhibition at the Serpentine Gallery, so I find a good excuse to dig into the far distant corners of my musical mind to play this work of wonder.

Walking On Thin Ice features the last musical appearance of John Lennon (on guitar), and he was apparently holding a proof copy of the track when he was shot in 1980. I raved about this song when it was released in the midst of the New Romantic/electro era of 1981, and in my opinion the original version still sounds as fresh and avant garde as anything released today...

Yoko Ono - Walking On Thin Ice

Walking on thin ice
I'm paying the price
For throwing the dice in the air
Why must we learn it the hard way
And play the game of life with your heart?

I gave you my knife
You gave me my life
Like a gush of wind in my hair
Why do we forget what's been said
And play the game of life with our hearts?

I may cry someday
But the tears will dry whichever way
And when our hearts return to ashes
It'll be just a story
It'll be just a story

Ai-ai-ai-ai-ai-ai-ai-ai...

"I knew a girl who tried to walk across the lake,
'Course it was winter when all this was ice.
That's a hell of a thing to do, you know.
They say the lake is as big as the ocean.
I wonder if she knew about it?"

Ai-ai-ai-ai-ai-ai-ai-ai...

Yoko Ono website