4 Deep Tracks From John Lennon That Are Worth Rediscovering

Although his solo work made an immeasurable impact, there wasn’t a lot of John Lennon’s post-Beatles output when you get right down to it. If you don’t count the two experimental albums with Yoko Ono before the band broke up (and you do count the posthumous Milk And Honey), there are just eight solo albums in his catalog.

And yet there are still some amazing songs that flew somewhat under the radar. Here are four that we love that you might not know that well.

“Look At Me”

More than most artists, John Lennon realized that a song could feature a relatively simple structure and still turn out to be quite affecting. Of course, it didn’t hurt that he had a voice that could pierce through even the humblest backing to create something haunting. That kind of effect certainly comes to the fore on “Look At Me”. Whereas much of the John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band album in 1970 features Lennon grinding out tough arrangements with Klaus Voorman and Ringo Starr, this track is just John and his finger-picked acoustic guitar. Originally written in India, you could easily imagine “Look At Me” sneaking onto The White Album. But it works just fine in the solo setting as well.

“Crippled Inside”

Lennon was intensely proud of John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band. But he was also competitive enough to want to score the hits that some of his other Beatles were delivering as solo artists. As such, he made Imagine much more pop-friendly. “Crippled Inside”, in a lyrical sense, easily could have fit with the previous record. The song speaks of putting on a show on the outside while unsuccessfully trying to hide the void within. But instead of primal screaming it, Lennon counterintuitively turns the song into a bit of a hoedown. Nicky Hopkins on tack piano and George Harrison on dobro helped to bring about that effect. It makes the medicine of the lyrics go down much smoother.

“Nobody Loves You (When You’re Down And Out)”

When it comes to Lennon’s most underrated solo record, we’re firmly in the camp of Walls And Bridges, released in 1974. While most associate that era with Lennon’s so-called “lost weekend” in Los Angeles, the making of that album actually represented a brief period of clarity for Lennon. He insisted upon it from himself and his collaborators to get the best results. “Nobody Loves You (When You’re Down And Out)” was Lennon’s attempt to pen a Frank Sinatra song. The lyrics certainly seem to be in the vein of Sinatra classics like “One For My Baby (And One More For The Road)”, based on the way they sound like a barfly’s gin-soaked lament. That setting allows Lennon to sneak in just how lost he was feeling at that time.

“I’m Losing You”

The tragedy of Lennon’s death somewhat obscured the original intent of Double Fantasy. Although it became a sort of farewell, it was intended as a dialogue between Lennon and Yoko Ono depicting the ups and downs of their relationship over the years. “I’m Losing You” represented the stretch in the 70s when they were separated. Because the sentiment is somewhat sour, the song didn’t receive the same kind of attention as the hit singles did. But it features Lennon howling his way convincingly through a bluesy rock arrangement. Interestingly, members of Cheap Trick backed Lennon on an early version of this song, a take that was eventually shelved in favor of the official one.

Photo by Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images

The post 4 Deep Tracks From John Lennon That Are Worth Rediscovering appeared first on American Songwriter.