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"Jealous Guy" is a song by John Lennon included in the album "Imagine" from 1971. The track was released as a posthumous single on November 18, 1985.
After brief historical/discographical notes, I would like to talk about the song in question.
"Jealous Guy" is a masterpiece ballad, conceivable only by an ex-Beatle. Lennon wrote this song when he no longer seemed like a Beatle; for a long time, that compositional fracture with the group's musical idea had been evident.
That English attitude was no longer in Lennon's notes since the Beatles' "White Album." Lennon had long been traveling on angrier tracks, less solar, more committed, and voluntarily less melodic. I believe that Lennon tried to be a different artist but ultimately couldn't. Being a Beatle and playing the "committed political child of '68" couldn't work. Lennon tried to be the Rocker of which, deep down, he perhaps outlined a spirit, an idea that many misunderstood.
But that doesn't matter, Lennon remains one of the masters of MELODY. That (in my opinion, damned) primal scream crumbles before what he was capable of doing at a piano with such an intense voice, broken, dark, and so damned interpretative ("God," "Love," "Imagine").
"Jealous Guy" originates from the world of the Beatles, from that affinity with McCartney. Where one wrote "Yesterday," the other proposed "Imagine." Where one wrote "Let it be," the other proposed "Give peace a chance." Where one wrote "Hey Jude," the other proposed "Happy Xmass (War is over)."
"Jealous Guy" is a slow piece that still today moves you, leaves you glued to the chair in silence, puts you in an awkward position if you try to sing it because these songs are etched in the mind and vocal cords of this gigantic, unique artist...perhaps the greatest.
"Jealous Guy" is a masterpiece, that's all. There's Lennon's past, which personalizes itself with a homemade recording, simple, pure, with a whistle from someone who, deep down, with such a song, could still believe they could whistle over it like each of us does while walking down the street. However, here a piece was being handed over to history, made immortal by whistling over it. Lennon was "scandalous" precisely for this; he doesn't have that compositional seriousness of McCartney. He records at home, delivers "historic" tracks to history recorded in a basement, that scrape, are imprecise, and the voice is neither clean nor compressed. The greatness of this song and of Lennon lies in this: "being beautiful and simple for what one is." An artistic message that people today call "return to origins," pity that in the end, it means "getting old."
Lennon, on the other hand, cleverly made himself immortal and forever young by staying at home, free from any discographic nonsense. Here's his revolutionary spirit.
Tracklist Lyrics Samples and Videos
01 Imagine (03:02)
Imagine there's no heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today
Imagine there's no countries,
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace
You...you may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope some day you'll join us
And the world will be as one
Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world
You...you may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope some day you'll join us
And the world will live as one
02 Crippled Inside (03:47)
You can shine your shoes and wear a suit
You can comb your hair and look quite cute
You can hide your face behind a smile
One thing you can't hide
is when you're crippled inside
You can wear a mask and paint your face
You can call yourself the human race
You can wear a collar and a tie
One thing you can't hide
is when you're crippled inside
Well now you know that your cat had nine lives babe
Nine lives to itself
But you only got one
And a dog's life ain't fun
Mamma take a look outside.
You can go to church and sing a hymn
Judge me by the colour of my skin
You can live a lie until you die
One thing you can't hide
is when you're crippled inside.
03 Jealous Guy (04:14)
I was dreaming of the past,
And my heart was beating fast,
I began to lose control,
I began to lose control,
I didn't mean to hurt you,
I'm sorry that i made you cry,
I didn't want to hurt you,
I'm just a jealous guy.
I was feeling insecure,
You might not love me anymore,
I was shivering inside,
I was shivering inside,
I didn't mean to hurt you,
I'm sorry that i made you cry,
I didn't want to hurt you,
I'm just a jealous guy.
I didn't mean to hurt you,
I'm sorry that i made you cry,
I didn't want to hurt you,
I'm just a jealous guy.
I was tryin' to catch your eye,
Thought that you was tryin' to hide,
I was swallowing my pain,
I was swallowing my pain,
I didn't mean to hurt you,
I'm sorry that i made you cry,
I didn't want to hurt you,
I'm just a jealous guy.
I'm just a jealous guy,
I'm just a jealous guy,
I'm just a jealous guy.
04 It's So Hard (02:26)
You gotta live
You gotta love
You gotta be somebody
You gotta shove
But it's so hard, it's really hard Sometimes I feel like going down
You gotta eat
You gotta drink
You gotta feel something
You gotta worry
But it's so hard, it's really hard
Sometimes I feel like going down
But when it's good
It's really good
And when I hold you in my arms baby
Sometimes I feel like going down
You gotta run
You gotta hide
You gotta keep your woman satisfied
But it's so hard, it's really hard
Sometimes I feel like going down
06 Gimme Some Truth (03:15)
I'm sick and tired of hearing things
From uptight, short-sighted, narrow-minded hypocritics
All I want is the truth
Just gimme some truth
I've had enough of reading things
By neurotic, psychotic, pig-headed politicians
All I want is the truth
Just gimme some truth
No short-haired, yellow-bellied, son of tricky dicky
Is gonna mother hubbard soft soap me
With just a pocketful of hope
Money for dope
Money for rope
No short-haired, yellow-bellied, son of tricky dicky
Is gonna mother hubbard soft soap me
With just a pocketful of soap
Money for dope
Money for rope
I'm sick to death of seeing things
From tight-lipped, condescending, mama's little chauvinists
All I want is the truth
Just gimme some truth now
I've had enough of watching scenes
Of schizophrenic, ego-centric, paranoiac, prima-donnas
All I want is the truth now
Just gimme some truth
No short-haired, yellow-bellied, son of tricky dicky
Is gonna mother hubbard soft soap me
With just a pocketful of soap
It's money for dope
Money for rope
Ah, I'm sick and tired of hearing things
from uptight, short-sighted, narrow-minded hypocrites
All I want is the truth now
Just gimme some truth now
I've had enough of reading things
by neurotic, psychotic, pig-headed politicians
All I want is the truth now
Just gimme some truth now
All I want is the truth now
Just gimme some truth now
All I want is the truth
Just gimme some truth
All I want is the truth
Just gimme some truth
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Other reviews
By TomSkar
"The album's title track became an epochal anthem with great idealistic, pacifist meaning but an easy and catchy melody."
"Much less original and raw than Plastic Ono Band, Imagine still manages to offer a bunch of enjoyable songs at a good musical and poetic level."
By Kecco
John Lennon, a man, a story, a symbol... sit on a comfortable sofa, close your eyes, and instead of eating a togo, put on this song.
Imagine there's no Heaven... try... it's easy no hell below us above us only sky... imagine all the people living for today...
By katharsys
The pseudo-pacifist and politicized echoes of the flower children’s era were reflected in one of the artists who had made the most genuine part of the beat generation great, ruining the social and mental setup of an undoubtedly influential man.
Honor to John Lennon’s assassin. He freed us from a criminal and much other socialist and repetitive music.
By paolofreddie
Imagine a world where you can make a difference, a world without borders where opportunities come in cascades.
No hatred, no anger, no sadness, no depression! You are in the universe as a world citizen.
