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John Lennon - Mother

John Lennon - Mother Youtube Music Videos and Lyrics

Album: John Lennon: Plastic Ono Band
Released: 1970

Mother Lyrics

Mother, you had me
But I never had you
I wanted you
But you didn't want me
So
I just got to tell you
Goodbye
Goodbye

Father, you left me
But I never left you
I needed you
But you didn't need me
So
I just got to tell
Goodbye
Goodbye

Children, don't do
What I have done
I couldn't walk
And I tried to run
So
I just got to tell you
Goodbye
Goodbye

Mama don't go
Daddy come home
Mama don't go
Daddy come home
Mama don't go
Daddy come home
Mama don't go
Daddy come home
Mama don't go
Daddy come home
Mama don't go
Daddy come home
Mama don't go
Daddy come home
Mama don't go
Daddy come home
Mama don't go
Daddy come home
Mama don't go

Writer/s: LENNON
Publisher: Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Mother

Lennon wrote this while he was undergoing "Primal Scream" therapy, where he was dealing with a lot of issues that were detailed in the lyrics: He lost his mother at a crucial period in his life to a drunk-driving, off-duty policeman who ran her over in a crosswalk, and his aunt Mimi raised him, which explains the line, "Mother you had me, but I never had you." His father, a merchant seaman, left him for the sea and for work. "I wanted you, you didn't need me" explains his feelings about his dad. Lennon's primal screaming on this song expresses the pain of his childhood. (thanks, Bob - Boston, MA)

The church bell heard at the start of this track was actually faster and higher-pitched initially, and John actually slowed it down to make it sound spookier and more haunting. His intention was to sound the death knell for his old life with The Beatles.(thanks, Noel - Barrow-In-Furness, England)

This features Klaus Voormann on bass and Ringo Starr on drums. In addition to his work in music, Voorman is an artist, and designed the cover of The Beatles album Revolver. He also played bass with Manfred Mann. (thanks, Bertrand - Paris, France)

On many of his early solo recordings such as this one, Lennon's arrangements are more simpler and sparser than on the Beatles songs. In the January 1971 edition of Rolling Stone, he explained this was because, "I've always liked simple rock." The former Beatle added: "I was influenced by acid and got psychedelic, like the whole generation, but really, I like rock and roll and I express myself best in rock. I had a few ideas to do this with 'Mother' and that with 'Mother' but when you just hear, the piano does it all for you, your mind can do the rest. I think the backings on mine are as complicated as the backings on any record you've ever heard, if you've got an ear.

Anybody knows that. Any musician will tell you, just play a note on a piano, it's got harmonics in it. It got to that. What the hell, I didn't need anything else."

Producer John Leckie explained to Uncut magazine August 2010 that the screams heard on this track were actually edited into the song once the rest of the vocal had been recorded. Lennon would attempt the screaming finale every night, careful never to try it in the daytime in case it destroyed his voice. "The screams were double-tracked," Leckie pointed out. "John didn't like the raw sound of his own voice. He always wanted lots of stuff on it. Spector's contribution, really, was to be generous with reverb and echo."

This is one of three songs which Lennon wrote for his mother, along with "Julia" and "My Mummy's Dead".

The psychologist Arthur Janov created primal scream therapy, which he detailed in his book The Primal Scream. Folks were always sending Lennon books, and a copy of Janov's book found him. Lennon was intrigued because the therapy reminded him of the screaming Yoko would often do in her works, but then he looked into it as a way of helping him resolve issues from his childhood. John and Yoko invited Janov to England, where they met with him to vet his practice. They liked what they heard and decided to try some sessions when they went to Los Angeles. For Lennon, it was a breakthrough, and led to this song.

"It's just a matter of breaking the wall that's there in yourself and come out and let it all hang out to the point that you start crying," Yoko said in describing the therapy (Uncut, 1998). She added: "He was going back to the days of when he wanted to scream, 'Mother.' He was able to go back to that childhood, that memory."

John Lennon - God

John Lennon - God Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: John Lennon: Plastic Ono Band
Released: 1970

God Lyrics

God is a concept
By which we measure
Our pain
I'll say it again
God is a concept
By which we measure
Our pain

I don't believe in magic
I don't believe in I-Ching
I don't believe in Bible
I don't believe in tarot
I don't believe in Hitler
I don't believe in Jesus
I don't believe in Kennedy
I don't believe in Buddha
I don't believe in mantra
I don't believe in Gita
I don't believe in yoga
I don't believe in kings
I don't believe in Elvis
I don't believe in Zimmerman
I don't believe in Beatles
I just believe in me
Yoko and me
And that's reality

The dream is over
What can I say?
The dream is over
Yesterday
I was the dream weaver
But now I'm reborn
I was the Walrus
But now I'm John
And so dear friends
You just have to carry on
The dream is over

Writer/s: LENNON
Publisher: Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

God Song Chart

Lennon wrote this about the worship of false idols. He felt organized religion did more harm than good. In "Imagine," he sang about a better world where there was "no religion."

Lennon was not an atheist, but believed that god was something different to everyone. He also believed that people focus too much on the teacher (God) rather than what is supposed to be taught. In songs like this and "Imagine," Lennon's was trying to send the message that we should not let religion and other things get in the way of how we think life should be lived. In "Imagine," "Living for today" means to live as if there is no afterlife or god and to do the best you can. In this song, "I just believe in me" states his belief in his life regardless of anything else. (thanks, Justin - washington, DC)

Before recording this album, John and Yoko began "Primal Scream therapy," which was a very emotional time for them. Lennon was dealing with the breakup of The Beatles and the death of his mother.

At the time, Lennon had some hard feelings toward The Beatles, especially Paul McCartney. He made a statement that he was moving on with the line, "I don't believe in Beatles."

Billy Preston played piano. He played on some of The Beatles songs, including "Get Back."

Ringo Starr played drums. He and Lennon had a good relationship even after The Beatles broke up.

This contains the classic line, "The Dream Is Over." This summed up the feelings of many who felt their idealistic goals of the '60s were not going to come true.

In the January 1971 edition of Rolling Stone, Lennon said that this, "was put together from three songs almost." He went on to the explain that the words for this "just came out of me mouth." The former Beatle continued: "I had the idea that 'God is the concept by which we measure pain,' so that when you have a word like that, you just sit down and sing the first tune that comes into your head and the tune is simple, because I like that kind of music and then I just rolled into it. It was just going on in my head and I got by the first three or four, the rest just came out. Whatever came out."

Among the list of idols in this song, which Lennon said he didn't believe in was The Beatles. Lennon explained why to Rolling Stone: "I was going to leave a gap, and just fill in your own words: whoever you don't believe in. It had just got out of hand, and Beatles was the final thing because I no longer believe in myth, and Beatles is another myth. I don't believe in it. The dream is over. I'm not just talking about the Beatles, I'm talking about the generation thing. It's over, and we gotta - I have to personally - get down to so-called reality."

Lennon starts this song with the line, "God is a concept by which we measure our pain." He explained to Rolling Stone that, "pain is the pain we go through all the time," Then added: "You're born in pain. Pain is what we are in most of the time, and I think that the bigger the pain, the more God you look for."

When Lennon was recording this stark denunciation of Christianity at Abbey Road studios, George Harrison was next door completing work on All Things Must Pass. "I was in one room singing 'My Sweet Lord'," said Harrison, "and John was in another room singing 'I don't believe in Jesus, I don't believe in nothing'."