| Beef Jerky | |
| Cover: | Beef Jerky label.jpg |
| Type: | single |
| Album: | Walls and Bridges |
| A-Side: | Whatever Gets You thru the Night |
| Released: | 23 September 1974 (US) 4 October 1974 (UK) |
| Recorded: | 1974 |
| Length: | 3:25 |
| Label: | Apple |
| Producer: | John Lennon |
"Beef Jerky" is an instrumental written by John Lennon that was released on his 1974 album Walls and Bridges and also as the b-side of the lead single from that album, the #1 hit "Whatever Gets You thru the Night."
Beatle historian Bruce Spizer describes "Beef Jerky" as a "funky instrumental."[1] "Beef Jerky" developed during the recording sessions for "
Lennon said of the song "I like this one because I don't sing, and I can stand listening to it without hearing me voice all the time."[9]
Music critic Johnny Rogan claims that the horn playing of "Beef Jerky" by Bobby Keys and others is a good imitation of the Stax Records sound, particularly that of The Mar-Keys and Bar-Kays.[4] He also praises the guitar interplay between Lennon and Jesse Ed Davis.[4] Music lecturers Ben Urish and Ken Bielen describe the song as "a brass-laden rocker that moves through rhythmic variations and distinctive horn riffs with aplomb and ease.[2] Music critic Tim Riley calls the song a "juicy instrumental" that helps give Walls and Bridges a "rocker's pulse."[10]
Beatle biographer John Blaney states that although Lennon incorporates a clever production and a good horn arrangement, he finds the song to be "pedestrian."[8] Blaney particularly criticizes the decision to put the rhythm section low in the mix, but like Rogan he praises Lennon's and Davis' guitar playing.[8] Beatle historians Chip Madinger and Mark Easter call the song "a somewhat pointless instrumental," and felt that like "What You Got," which would be Lennon's next b-side, it doesn't go anywhere after the opening verse.[11] Allmusic critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine considers it "mediocre."[12]
Music journalist Paul Du Noyer finds the song to be "nothing special — just an efficiently funky, bustling rocker" but notes that it plays an important role on Walls and Bridges by relieving some of the tension on the album between "the cold-hearted masterpiece of invective" "Steel and Glass" and what he considers "the most tortured track" on the album, "Nobody Loves You (When You're Down and Out)."[13] Urish and Bielen agree that the instrumental serves as an important role on the album as a "palette cleanser" between those two songs.[2]