God (John Lennon song)

"God"

Cover to promo single issued by Odeon in Spain in 1988
Song by John Lennon from the album John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band
Released 11 December 1970
Recorded 26 September – 9 October 1970
Genre Rock
Length 4:09
Label Apple/EMI
Writer(s) John Lennon
Producer(s) John Lennon, Yoko Ono, Phil Spector
John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band track listing

"God" is a song from John Lennon's first post-Beatles solo album, John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band. The album was released on 11 December 1970 in the United States and the United Kingdom.

The song was considered controversial upon release, dealing with anti-religious themes.

Meaning

There are three sections in the song:

In the first section, John Lennon describes God as "a concept by which we measure our pain".

In the second, Lennon lists many idols that he does not believe in, ending by stating that he just believes in himself (individuality) and Yoko (his wife). The idols he lists are: magic, I Ching, Bible, tarot, Hitler, Jesus, Kennedy (which he also sang as "Kennedys", referring to both John F. Kennedy and Robert F. Kennedy), Buddha, mantra, Gita, yoga, kings, Elvis, Zimmerman (Bob Dylan) and Beatles.

The final section describes Lennon's change since the break-up of The Beatles. He states that he is no longer the "Dreamweaver" or "The Walrus", but just "John". The final line of the song, "The dream is over" represents Lennon's stance that the myth "the Beatles were God" had come to an end. "If there is a God," Lennon explained, "we're all it."[1]

Personnel

The musicians who performed on the original recording were as follows:[2]

Appearances and allusions in pop culture

Notes

  1. Wenner, Jann S. (2000). Lennon Remembers. London: Verso. p. 48. ISBN 1-85984-376-X.
  2. Blaney, John (2005). John Lennon: Listen To This Book. Guildford, Great Britain: Biddles Ltd. p. 61. ISBN 0-9544528-1-X.
  3. God (the dream is over) at the Wayback Machine (archived 15 May 2008)
  4. Rupert Loydell, "Larry Norman – Stranded in Babylon", CR Mag 11 (1 July 1992), http://www.crossrhythms.co.uk/products/Larry_Norman/Stranded_In_Babylon/5267/
  5. For lyrics, see "God Part III", http://www.onlyvisiting.com/gallery/lyrics/songs/godIII/godIII.html
  6. "Magical Misery Tour" appears on the compilation CD Greatest Hits of the National Lampoon, and can be heard in its entirety at this site: http://blogfiles.wfmu.org/KF/0512/Magical_Misery_Tour.mp3
  7. http://wilcoworld.net/#!/roadcase/moore-theatre-seattle-wa
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/17/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.