God (John Lennon song)

"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.[1]

"God"
Cover to promo single issued by Odeon in Spain in 1988
Song by John Lennon
from the album John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band
Released11 December 1970
Recorded26 September – 9 October 1970
Length4:09
LabelApple/EMI
Songwriter(s)John Lennon
Producer(s)John Lennon, Yoko Ono, Phil Spector
John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band track listing
11 tracks
Side one
  1. "Mother"
  2. "Hold On"
  3. "I Found Out"
  4. "Working Class Hero"
  5. "Isolation"
Side two
  1. "Remember"
  2. "Love"
  3. "Well Well Well"
  4. "Look at Me"
  5. "God"
  6. "My Mummy's Dead"

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 movements that he does not believe in, ending by stating that he just believes in himself (individuality) and Yoko (his wife). He rejects magic, the I Ching, the Bible, tarot, Hitler, Jesus, Kennedy (which he also sang as "Kennedys", referring to both John F. Kennedy and Robert F. Kennedy), Buddha, mantra, the Gita, yoga, kings, Elvis, Zimmerman (Bob Dylan) and the Beatles.[2]

The final section describes Lennon's change since the break-up of the Beatles. While the Beatles were basically his family throughout the 1960s,[1] 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,” in effect officially declared the end of the 1960s and its quest for meaning in utopian movements. Lennon is saying that meaning lies within oneself. "If there is a God," Lennon explained, "we're all it."[3]

Personnel

The musicians who performed on the original recording were as follows:[4]

Appearances and allusions in pop culture
  • The line "I don't believe in Beatles, I just believe in me" was referenced in the 1986 film Ferris Bueller's Day Off.
  • The song has been performed by Queen guitarist Brian May, with sweeping lyrical changes.[6]
  • Irish rock band U2 wrote a song entitled "God Part II", referring to the original Lennon song. The lyrics, written by lead singer Bono, continue the pattern of stating things he does not believe in. The song also refers to "Instant Karma!", another one of Lennon's songs, with the line "Instant karma's gonna get him / If I don't get him first" (referring to unauthorized Lennon biographer Albert Goldman).
  • Christian rock pioneer Larry Norman's song "God Part III" on his 1991 Stranded in Babylon album, "draws on John Lennon's "God" and the U2 riposte ("God II")",[7] with lyrics that indicate: "I don't believe in Beatles", and "Don't believe in the revolution or the empty words of peace."[8]
  • Boomtown Rats song "Like Clockwork" has a line saying, "She thinks time is a concept by which we measure our pain (She'll say it again) She wants to say it again, but she don't have time"
  • "God" (and the album Plastic Ono Band generally) was mocked in the National Lampoon Comedy Radio song "Magical Misery Tour", also released on the 1972 National Lampoon Radio Dinner album. This parody consists entirely of actual quotes from Lennon's famous Rolling Stone magazine interview following the break-up of The Beatles. It ends with "Lennon" crying out, "Where are you, Mother!? They're trying to crucify me!", followed by a heavily echoed fadeout of repeated primal screams "Fuck! Fuck!".[9]
  • "God" was covered by Jack's Mannequin and Mick Fleetwood for the 2007 benefit album Instant Karma: The Amnesty International Campaign to Save Darfur.
  • The David Bowie song "Afraid" makes a reference to "God" with the lyric "I believe in Beatles", part of a brief list of statements beginning with "I believe in".
  • Prince's 1981 song "Controversy" includes the line "Do I believe in God, do I believe in me?" in reference to "God".
  • Penn Jillette closed his 5 April 2006 radio show (Penn Radio, on Free FM) with certain selected lyrics from the song "God".
  • On 8 December 2013, the anniversary of John Lennon's death, Jeff Tweedy, of Wilco and Uncle Tupelo fame, closed his solo performance at Seattle's Moore Theater with a performance of "God". He was joined for this encore finale by Scott McCaughey.[10]
  • The Afroman song "Because I Got High" contains a line near the end commenting that the character in the song does not believe in Hitler, possibly in reference to the fact that Hitler's birthday is 20 April, or in other words 4/20

Notes
  1. "God". The Beatles Bible. 2 August 2010. Retrieved 21 July 2017.
  2. Wiener, Jon (1991). Come Together: John Lennon in His Time. University of Illinois Press
  3. Wenner, Jann S. (2000). Lennon Remembers. London: Verso. p. 48. ISBN 1-85984-376-X.
  4. Blaney, John (2005). John Lennon: Listen To This Book. Guildford, Great Britain: Biddles Ltd. p. 61. ISBN 0-9544528-1-X.
  5. https://www.beatlesbible.com/people/john-lennon/songs/god/2/
  6. "God (the dream is over)". Archived from the original on 15 May 2008. Retrieved 15 May 2008.CS1 maint: BOT: original-url status unknown (link)
  7. 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/
  8. For lyrics, see "God Part III", http://www.onlyvisiting.com/gallery/lyrics/songs/godIII/godIII.html
  9. "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
  10. http://wilcoworld.net/#!/roadcase/moore-theatre-seattle-wa
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