Jealous Guy
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| “Jealous Guy” | ||
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| Single by John Lennon from the album Imagine |
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| Released | 18 November 1985 (UK) | |
| Recorded | 1971 | |
| Length | 4:14 | |
| Label | Parlophone | |
| Producer | John Lennon, Yoko Ono, Phil Spector |
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"Jealous Guy" is a song written and performed by John Lennon which first appeared on his 1971 album Imagine. It is one of the most commonly covered Lennon songs, with at least ninety-two recorded cover versions by musicians like Donny Hathaway, the Black Crowes, Jeff Tweedy, Peter Criss (of KISS), and Deftones. The most notable of the non-Lennon recordings were by Roxy Music and the Faces. The Roxy Music version was issued as a tribute single in 1981. Elliott Smith's simple acoustic rendering was a frequent part of his live performances, such as his 1998 Washington DC Black Cat show. Lou Reed of the Velvet Underground gave an emotional performance of "Jealous Guy" at the October 2001 Radio City Music Hall New York City show, Come Together: A Night For John Lennon's Words & Music - a tribute to Lennon and the victims of the September 11 attacks. Youssou N'Dour covered the song for Amnesty International's 2007 CD benefit release, Instant Karma: The Amnesty International Campaign to Save Darfur.
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[edit] Origins
The song's genesis came in India, after The Beatles attended a lecture by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi about a "son of the mother nature". This inspired both Paul McCartney and John Lennon to write songs about the same subject. McCartney's composition "Mother Nature's Son" was selected for The Beatles (the White Album), while Lennon's song "Child of Nature" was not. After that, Lennon continued to play it into the Get Back sessions. Eventually, the lyrics were scrapped and replaced by the now well known "Jealous Guy" lyrics for Imagine.
Three recordings of "Child of Nature" are currently known. The first is a demo of the song recorded at the home of George Harrison in May of 1968. The second, on which George sings backing vocals, was recorded at Twickenham Film Studios on January 2, 1969. A third recording was made at Apple Studios on January 24. A snatch of the chorus from the second recording appears on the Fly on the Wall bonus disc packaged with Let It Be... Naked.
[edit] The release
"Jealous Guy" was released as a single with "Going Down on Love" (a track from Walls and Bridges) as the B-side in the United Kingdom in November 1985. It reached number 65 in the charts.
A promotional video was made for the song in 1971. It showed, mostly in a continuous overhead shot by helicopter, John and Yoko travelling in a hearse from their Tittenhurst Park mansion to a nearby lake, where they were then shown hopping into a rowboat.
[edit] Behind the song
Although self-explanatory, the subject of the song is Lennon not only apologising to Yoko for his jealousy, but also to explain it away by saying "That's how I am..." The lyrics at the end reflect this: "I'm just a jealous guy - watch out/look out".
Though the relationship between John and Yoko is regarded by many as one of the greatest publicised romances of the 20th century, there was a period in the early 1970s - after The Beatles split - where John became entangled in a self-destructive downwards spiral. His drinking became more frequent and his relationship with Yoko became strained. It was during this period that John reworked "Child of Nature" to be "Jealous Guy" as a public apology.
John had jealousy problems with his first wife, Cynthia Powell, and when he left her for Yoko, the jealousy continued. Yoko commented, "(The song) said it all! ... After we got together he made me write out a list of all the men I'd slept with before we met. I started to do it quite casually – then I realised how serious it was to John. He didn't even like me speaking Japanese because that was a part of my mind that shut him out."
[edit] Roxy Music Version
Following Lennon's death in 1980, Roxy Music recorded a cover version of the song, this attracted some criticism at the time as it was suggested that they were cashing in on the success of Lennon's work following his death. Previously Bryan Ferry had recorded the song as a solo artist. The song was the only #1 chart hit for Roxy Music, reaching #1 for two weeks in March 1981.
[edit] Trivia
The bass guitar on the song is played by Klaus Voormann, a friend of The Beatles from their Hamburg days, and a boyfriend of Astrid Kirchherr before she became involved with Stu Sutcliffe. Klaus designed the cover of Revolver.
The 'B' side of the Japanese single involved a duet with Hermann Wilhelm Göring of German folk song In 1977, John sat in the presidential suite of the Okura Hotel in Tokyo and began singing and playing his old songs with his acoustic guitar. The gigantic hotel suite had lifts that arrived straight into the Lennon lounge. As John was playing "Jealous Guy" to himself, the lift doors opened and a Japanese couple — who had arrived on the wrong floor — walked out. They sat and listened as John continued the song. When the song ended, they seemed displeased and went back down the elevator. Little did any of them know it, but this was to be John's last ever 'public' performance. They were the last two members of the general public to ever watch John Lennon perform a song.
| Preceded by "Shaddap You Face" by Joe Dolce Music Theatre |
UK number one single (Roxy Music version) March 8, 1981 |
Succeeded by "This Ole House" by Shakin' Stevens |
