Editing Instant Karma! (section)

===Promotion===
Following a year of highly publicised peace campaigning by the Lennons in 1969, Apple press officer [[Derek Taylor]] was concerned that they had exhausted the media's interest in their causes.<ref>Doggett, pp. 89, 118.</ref> On 4 February 1970, Lennon and Ono staged a publicity stunt at the Black Centre in north London,<ref name="Winn p 367" /> where they donated a large plastic bag full of their hair, along with Apple's poster for the new single,<ref name="Woffinden p 39" /> to [[black power]] activist [[Michael X]], in return for a pair of [[Muhammad Ali]]'s bloodstained boxing shorts.<ref name="Norman p 636">Norman, p. 636.</ref><ref name="Miles p 368">Miles, p. 368.</ref> The "final proof" of the Lennons' "overexpose[ure]", according to Taylor, was that there was a large press turnout for the event, yet "nobody printed anything."<ref name="Doggett p 118" />{{refn|group=nb|Author [[Jon Wiener]] also writes of the media's disinterest in the couple by the end of 1969. He quotes Apple executive [[Peter Brown (music industry)|Peter Brown]]'s assertion that Lennon's new adopted cause "destroyed his last shred of credibility with the press."<ref>Wiener, pp. 114–15.</ref>}}

On 11 February, Lennon and Ono filmed an appearance on [[BBC Television]]'s ''[[Top of the Pops]]'' to promote "Instant Karma!",<ref name=Stories31/> accompanied by White, Voormann, Evans, and [[BP Fallon]].<ref name=Listen50/> While the other musicians mimed their contributions, Lennon sang a live vocal over a mix of the song's instrumental track,<ref name=Listen50/> prepared by EMI engineer [[Geoff Emerick]].<ref name="Madinger & Easter p 34">Madinger & Easter, p. 34.</ref> It was the first appearance on the program by any member of the Beatles since 1966,<ref name=Listen50>Blaney, p. 50.</ref> as well as the public unveiling of the Lennons' new cropped look.<ref name="Schaffner p 137" /><ref name="Madinger & Easter p 34" /> Two versions of "Instant Karma!" – known as "knitting" and "cue card" – were taped for ''Top of the Pops'', and aired on 12 and 19 February, respectively.<ref name="Rodriguez 2013 pp 1-2">Rodriguez 2013, pp. 1–2.</ref><ref>Miles, pp. 369–70.</ref>

[[File:Instant Karma! 1970 Top of the Pops.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4|left|Lennon and Ono (wearing a white blindfold) performing the song on ''[[Top of the Pops]]'' in February 1970]]
The clips differ in terms of Lennon's attire and the nature of Ono's role as, in author Robert Rodriguez's description, "an onstage focal point around which all activity was staged."{{refn|group=nb|As with the press conference with Michael X, the Lennons' rehearsals and performances for ''Tops of the Pops'' were simultaneously filmed by Tony Cox for a possible [[documentary film]] on the couple.<ref name="Madinger & Easter p 34" />}} In addition, for the 19 February broadcast, Lennon's vocal was treated with echo.<ref>Rodriguez 2013, p. 1.</ref> In the "knitting" clip, Lennon is wearing a black [[polo neck|polo-neck]] jumper as Ono sits beside his piano,<ref name="Madinger & Easter p 34" /> blindfolded, and knitting throughout.<ref>Norman, pp. 635–36.</ref> In "cue card", Lennon wears a flower-pattern shirt under a denim jacket, while Ono, seated on a stool, holds up a series of cryptically worded [[cue card]]s<ref name="Madinger & Easter p 34" /> and speaks into her microphone.<ref name="Rodriguez 2013 p 2" /> The cards' messages include "Smile", "Hope", and "Peace".<ref name="Rodriguez 2013 p 2" /> Although Ono appears to have a more active role, she is again blindfolded and the words she utters cannot be heard.<ref name="Rodriguez 2013 p 2" />{{refn|group=nb|According to Kate Greer, an associate producer of ''Top of the Pops'' at the time, Ono used a [[sanitary towel]] for her blindfold.<ref>{{cite web|first=Dave|last=Simpson|title=Interview: How We Made Top of the Pops|url=https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2014/feb/04/how-we-made-top-of-the-pops|publisher=[[The Guardian|theguardian.com]]|date=4 February 2014|access-date=31 August 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180831174959/https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2014/feb/04/how-we-made-top-of-the-pops|archive-date=31 August 2018|url-status=live}}</ref>}}

Lennon and Ono also promoted the single with an appearance on [[Emperor Rosko]]'s [[BBC Radio 1]] show ''Midday Spin'', shortly after the "cue card" clip aired.<ref name="Winn p 370" /> In response to the many letters asking about her role in the ''Top of the Pops'' performance, Ono said "the blindfold means to me like everybody in the world is like blind ... the stool was like a [[Grove (nature)|grove]] ... And everybody's sitting on the grove blindfolded and trying their best, you know."<ref name="Winn p 370" /> Rodriguez describes both clips as "terrifically engaging, providing suitably dynamic visuals to a powerful song." He says that the "cue card" performance "captures much more of the ambience, with frequent shots of White's stellar work and the studio dancers."<ref name="Rodriguez 2013 p 2">Rodriguez 2013, p. 2.</ref> In the view of media analyst Michael Frontani, Lennon's and Ono's untidy, cropped hairstyle befitted the couple's "new agenda" for 1970 – a year in which Lennon, still mistrusted by the political left for his rejection of their principles in the Beatles' 1968 single "[[Revolution (Beatles song)|Revolution]]", sought "greater confrontation with the system." Frontani writes of Lennon's appearance on ''Top of the Pops'', that it "was a stark picture, one at odds with his Beatles past. For Lennon, ragged and ugly in comparison to the Beatle image, it was a means of breaking even more fully with his pop star past."<ref>Frontani, p. 169.</ref>