John Lennon song by song album by album thread.

The ratings for Give Peace A Chance:

3.5/5

 

Same

 

In the UK:

George hit No.1 first with My Sweet Lord in 1971 and again after shortly after his death - his only UK No.1.

Paul took until late 1977 to get there with Mull of Kintyre and made it just twice more with Ebony and Ivory and Pipes of Peace. Maybe Maybe I'm Amazed would have got there in 1970 had it been a single.

John didn't get there until after his death, with Starting Over, Imagine and Woman. Again Imagine might have made No.1 if released in 1971. It actually made it to No. 6 in 1975 when released to promote Shaved Fish.

Ringo has yet to have a UK No.1.

I'm not sure why Maybe I'm Amazed and Imagine weren't released as singles to promote the albums, especially as there was a promo made for the former.

 

Today’s song: Cold Turkey.

Released as a 7” single on 24th October in the U.K.

Credited to The Plastic Ono Band.

John’s decidedly anti-commercial song detailing the pain of withdrawing from heroin; a drug he & Yoko had been dabbling in around the time of the Let It Be sessions.

Though the song reached a respectable number 14 on the U.K singles chart, in a letter to the Queen, John still noted its ‘slipping down the charts’ as one of his reasons for returning his M.B.E; as well as Britain supporting the U.S.A in Vietnam, & ‘the Nigeria/Biafra thing’.

A sparse, raw, stripped back recording, with Ringo on drums, Clapton on lead guitar, & Voorman on bass; this must be the harshest release in Lennon's catalogue; complete with Johns howls of pain.

This track is basically a precursor to the sparse musical & lyrical delivery of the upcoming Plastic Ono Band album. It’s message is unflinching & direct & the music does no more than is necessary: Ringo holding down an insistent, brick-layers beat with Claptons persistent circling riff attacking us throughout.

I often find myself wondering what the world must have thought when John released this single. They already thought he’d lost the plot with his new Japanese artist partner, his silly bed-ins & stunts, growing his hair, talking about peace, & now this? A song about heroin? From one of our loveable mop-tops?

Considering everything, it’s a surprise it charted as high as it did.

I mean, this is hardly pop song material:

Temperatures rising
Fever is high
Can't see no future
Can't see no sky
My feet are so heavy
And so is my head
I wish I was a baby
I wish I was dead
Cold turkey has got me on the run

My body is aching
Goose pimple bone
I can't see nobody
Leave me alone
My eyes are wide open
I can't go to sleep
One thing I'm sure of
I'm in at the deep freeze
Cold turkey has got me on the run

Thirty six hours
Rolling in pain
Praying to someone
Free me again
I'll be a good boy
Please make me well
I promise you anything
Out of this hell
Cold turkey has got me on the run

For me, this track is a highlight of John’s solo career, & a brave departure for Beatle John. I love how direct it is & never tire of its minimal grittiness.

A solid 5/5 from me, for its bravery & gritty delivery.

Here are some various versions of the song:

Firstly, one of my favourite of Johns demo’s, released in 2004 on the Acoustic album:



Followed by its very first live performance at the Live Peace in Toronto festival, September 13th, 1969

Cold Turkey - John Lennon & Plastic Ono Band - Toronto 1969

The opening chords of this version really remind me of the recent single Venus by Shocking Blue. A bit shambolic, but an interesting working version, nonetheless; it’s main riff not yet in place, two weeks before it was recorded at Abbey Road.

Which led to the official single version:

Cold Turkey - Plastic Ono Band (official music video HD)

But there are also two more live versions, the best of which - for my money - is this version played at The Lyceum in London on December 15th 1969, backed by a mega-group that of talent, including: George Harrison, Eric Clapton, Keith Moon, Billy Preston, Nicky Hopkins, & many others.

This version was later released on disc two of the Sometime in New York City album:

Cold Turkey (Live)

And one final live version from Maddison Square Gardens, New York, August 30th, 1972, which is also pretty blistering, with John I’m fine voice:

John Lennon & Yoko Ono - Cold turkey 30.08.1972

 

Cold Turkey (9/10)
Lennon had a great opening presentation for his solo debut single, now the peaceful singer was on the other side of life dealing with ‘cold turkey’ feelings from trying to kick drugs. His first two singles live on opposite sides of the Earth. A hard rock number with a grinding, dirty, distorted gnarl of a guitar riff ejects itself from a man who’s shaken as he sings of his ills. Unfortunately, he did have a heroin problem in 1969 and also probably did it after this song, but he never became controlled by it and never fell victim to it like a number of other rock singers who didn’t hear the message and the pain stemming out of this. At the time, people really must have been shocked with a song like this, especially as Lennon acts out the screaming and yelling on the long coda. Again, John is looking for ways to push boundaries.

It’s not something quite in The Beatles’ vibes so it makes sense to be a solo record and it also was a hit at #30 US, #14 UK. The chorus is moderately hooky, but the verses are what fascinate. There’s a “Yer Blues” feel to this, a Beatles song that also had Lennon describing his mental and physical ailments. It’s daring to release something this confessional and harrowing about one of rock’s heaviest subjects. In an accidental way, it describes a lot of the rock musicians of the time and a lot from the future. “Thirty-six hours rolling in pain, praying to someone, free me again”. The mental pictures are horrifying but we also get a glimpse of how someone who may not be religious, prays when they’re desperate. “I wish I was a baby, I wish I was dead”. What a couplet for Sigmund Freud.

Lennon’s vocals at the end must have been excruciating for certain Beatlefan ears and the slow, burning heart throbbing rhythm, with its grinding guitar add to the nightmare of a song this is. A fascinating hard rock tour through the dark side of drugs.

 

I actually like Cold Turkey a lot. Not sure if this one would have worked as a Beatles single though. The song reminds me quite a bit of Revolution. 7.5/10.

 

Cold Turkey, gritty song that still sounds great now.
One of the few redeeming things on Sometime in New York City was the live performance he did of this. One of my fave Lennon solo tracks 4.5/5

 

Cold Turkey
One of the most intense expressions of pain he ever recorded, alongside My Mummy's Dead. Yer Blues without the "cover" of irony. Music as powerful as the lyrics. But it is off putting and has no real craft to it - no doubt intentionally.
4/5

I like the live version on STINYC best - and consider it the highlight of that album

 

Cold Turkey 4/5

What's so great about this song is that the form (heavy guitar, screams) mirrors the content. Even if the listener doesn't understand a word English he will get that the song is not about Yoko's new bag designs.
They same goes with the upcoming "POB" band album. The rawness of it is mindblowing. My favourite Lennon solo era even if some songs on "Imagine" and "Walls & Bridges" may be better.

 

More about Cold Turkey...
(@Who Cares ... where are you?)

A great cover version by Lenny Kravitz:

 

It's still true that Lennon had the highest %. The way you worded this response to me shows you're bias and your opinions on his music is affected by your feelings. All you had to say was him being murdered helped sales and chart success but you had to word it so that he purposely got murdered for promotional purposes. Your first post was nasty calling Lennon lazy as f- but that's not over the line. Maybe you're just in a bad mood the last couple of days, we're all going through bad stuff right now. We've been having good vibes on this thread, let's try to keep out comments about his murder.

 

That’s actually not a bad cover version.

Unfortunately, it reminded me of this terrible 1991 rewrite of Give Peace A Chance by Kravitz & Sean Lennon, credited to the Peace Choir & including a line up of American musical stars from the day:

WARNING! TRULY AWFUL!

Peace Choir Give Peace a Chance

but perhaps not quite as awful as this version by Yoko from 2005:

Yoko Ono - Give Peace A Chance (Remix) 2005

My sincerest apologies for subjecting you all to such horrific musical torture...

 

Cold Turkey is pretty cool track. It does drag a bit too long though with the screams and moans in the second half.

Rating 4/5

Actually, two separate bass parts! One in left channel, and another one, slightly different in a few places, in the right channel. This was quite surprising to me when I was transcribing it, but then I saw interview with Klaus and he confirmed they recorded two separate bass parts to add to a 'shivering' feeling.

 

I’d like to second this.

I chose to ignore your snide & uncalled for comments but it would be nice to keep this thread free of cruel & unnecessary remarks, thanks.

 

Clearly I was joking that he got assasinated to promote his records - sorry you are offended by a joke even 40 years later.

But the % of his singles that charted is entirely due to them coming out either in the first half of his 70s or in proximity to his death and ignoring that fact to argue that this makes him the best singles artist of the 4 is absurd.

 

Re: Give Peace a Chance.
I have asked the better half and she said it was Yoko's influence. I quote:
"Give Peas a Chance...it is as sad as that. Not worth anything. -1/5"

 

The 45 is great till the last minute or more of screaming moaning etc (reminds of stones monkey man) .
The cool links posted show the live version at 3.17 . this version is good but what is yoko doing schreeching etc . It is beyond me that crazy stuff The song is better at that length. I know the moans and screaming are about the suffering of withdrawals but i dont care it goes on too long. I give the single a 4 .

 

Re: Cold Turkey
It is a legacy song for anyone struggling to quit anything.
For addicts out there, listen to Cold Turkey.
I give it 5/5. My better half gave it 6/5.

 

That is the best bit

 

Give Peace a Chance: 3/5
Cold Turkey: 2/5

As daring works of art with flashes of brilliant wordplay, both these tracks are giants. Neither however fit the description of something I’d enjoy putting on the record player. My ratings reflect that but again, nothing but the utmost respect for both compositions, performances and recordings.

I do love the weird percussion in GPAC and all the guitar work in CT.

 

For this Beatles fan in the UK in 1969, Give Peace a Chance was the first indication that one of the great songwriting Beatles could produce something musically banal. His musical contribution to the B side, Remember Love (nominally written by Yoko) had a great deal more merit.

Cold Turkey, in addition to being a very difficult listen, sounded to me as if it could have been written by any one of half a dozen songwriters who weren’t John Lennon. I didn’t like that; it might well have been cathartic for him, but it felt like a waste of his talent.

 

We're not offended, it's just etiquette when it goes too far, someone reminds us there's a limit. If I see some guy yelling at his wife in a restaurant okay fine, but if he puts his hands on her then I'll feel compelled to do something. I don't even know the woman, or John.

Back to the music, you're equating highest % successful singles to best singles artist but I don't think John's the best singles artist. I had written he hadn't released many singles cause his album tracks probably aren't single material and then held back stuff like "Jealous Guy". Paul was the best singles artist. % and quantity should be taken into account. Doesn't matter like you said they all had success and that's the best part, that they still had a grip on the public for a long time after The Beatles. That's why going through their solo careers is fun - so many of us know the songs cause they were prominent in the 70's.

 

I hope this thread stays fun.
Methinks some taking it too seriously. Maybe they been locked down too long

 

Cold Turkey scares me and that was Lennon’s intention. When I’m in the mood for it, it’s a 4/5.

 

I'm glad that someone finally opened this thread. I had thought about doing this, but I'm not a fan of everything John did after the Beatles, even though he's my favorite member of the Fab Four (with my favorite solo career too). I will have wider participation when the thread reaches the albums Imagine, Mind Games, Walls And Bridges and Rock 'N' Roll.

By the way, I think "Give Peace A Chance" worked quite well for its purpose. It's not a great accomplishment as a song or recording, though I do like that live vibe. But it's still a classic and I rate it as 4/5.

With regard to "Cold Turkey", I like it well enough, and I understand its importance in the context of John's solo carrer. But I think it's an average song for him, which I rate as 3/5.