Gimme Some Truth Explained

Gimme Some Truth
Cover:File:Gimmesometruth.png
Caption:UK single B-side label
Artist:John Lennon
Album:Imagine
Released:9 September 1971
Recorded:25 May – 5 July 1971
Studio:Ascot Sound Studios, Berkshire; Record Plant, New York City
Genre:Rock
Length:3:18
Label:Apple
Producer:John Lennon, Yoko Ono, Phil Spector

"Gimme Some Truth" (originally spelled "Give Me Some Truth") is a protest song written and performed by John Lennon. It was first released on his 1971 album Imagine. "Gimme Some Truth" contains various political references emerging from the time it was written, during the latter years of the Vietnam War. Co-produced by Phil Spector, the recording includes a slide guitar solo played by George Harrison, Lennon's former bandmate in the Beatles.

In 1982, "Gimme Some Truth" was issued as the B-side of "Love" on a posthumous single. The song provided the title track for the 2000 documentary film Gimme Some Truth: The Making of John Lennon's Imagine Album.

Origins

Work on the song began as early as January 1969 during the Beatles' Get Back sessions, which would eventually evolve into Let It Be. Bootleg recordings of the group performing songs that would eventually go onto the members' solo recordings feature a few performances of "Gimme Some Truth". A recording of the Beatles performing the song was officially released in 2021, appearing on the reissue, and in documentary.[1] [2]

Lyrics

"Gimme Some Truth" conveys Lennon's frustration with deceptive politicians ("short-haired yellow-bellied sons of Tricky Dicky"), hypocrisy, and chauvinism ("tight-lipped condescending mommy's little chauvinists"). The lyrics encapsulate some widely held feelings of the time, when many people were participating in protest rallies against their governments.

The song also uses a reference to the nursery rhyme "Old Mother Hubbard" (about a woman going to get her dog a bone, only to discover that her cupboard is empty) as a verb. The mention of "soft-soap" employs that slang verb in its classic sense − namely, insincere flattery that attempts to convince someone to do or to think something, as in the case of politicians who use specious or beguiling rhetoric to quell public unrest or to propagandise unfairly.

Lennon employs the recurring lyric "Money for rope/Money for dope", the former phrase being a variation of the British idiom "Money for old rope" (a profit obtained by little or no effort).[3] According to Peter Jackson, it was Paul McCartney who came up with this line during the Get Back sessions. Jackson showed McCartney the footage from his documentary of the Beatles performing the song, who had no memory of working on it.[4] Lennon himself admitted privately that the middle eight was written by McCartney.[5]

Reception

In a review of the Imagine album, music critic Robert Christgau said that the song "unites Lennon unmasked with the Lennon of Blunderland wordplay as it provides a rationale for 'Jealous Guy,' which doesn't need one, and 'How Do You Sleep?,' which may".[6] Lisa Wright of the NME ranked "Gimme Some Truth" as Lennon's fifth greatest solo song, stating that in the song Lennon "tried to sift through the maelstrom of media bullshit to find the light at the end of the tunnel" and concluding that "scorn never sounded so good".[7] Classic Rock critic Rob Hughes rated "Gimme Some Truth" as Lennon's greatest political song, saying "Lennon is at his acerbic best here, taking potshots at hypocrites, bigots, prima donnas and White House incumbent, Richard Nixon: '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.'”[8] Ultimate Classic Rock critic Nick DeRiso rated it as Lennon's 3rd greatest solo political song, and praised its "brilliant wordplay."[9]

Recording

Lennon recorded "Gimme Some Truth" on 25 May 1971 at Ascot Sound Studios. Overdubbing of his lead vocal on 28 May was also captured on film.[10]

Author Robert Rodriguez comments that Imagine is well known for its commercial qualities and "radio-friendly fare", but on the more substantial tracks, George Harrison provides "some of the grittiest playing", particularly on "Gimme Some Truth".[11] Rodriguez highlights Harrison's slide guitar solo as being "equally [as] stinging" as his playing on "How Do You Sleep?" and describes the track as an "acidic attack on governmental hypocrisy".[12]

Personnel

Cover versions and performances by other artists

Other works named after the song

Notes and References

  1. Web site: 2021-10-12. Producer Giles Martin on remixing The Beatles' 'Let It Be': "I was surprised by the camaraderie". 2021-11-29. NME.
  2. Web site: 2021-11-25. 'The Beatles: Get Back' – what you need to know before watching. 2021-11-29. NME.
  3. Web site: Money for old rope definition and meaning. 2020-09-27. Collins English Dictionary.
  4. Web site: 'The Beatles: Get Back' Reminded Paul McCartney He Co-Wrote a John Lennon Solo Song. Topel. Fred. 17 November 2021. cheatsheet.com. 14 December 2021.
  5. Book: Lennon, John. The John Lennon Letters. Little, Brown and Company . New York . 2012. 9780316200806. 220.
  6. Book: Christgau, Robert. 1981. . Ticknor & Fields. 0899190251. https://www.robertchristgau.com/get_album.php?id=1791. John Lennon: Imagine. 2 November 2018.
  7. Web site: John Lennon – his 10 greatest solo tracks. Wright, Lisa. 9 October 2019. 2019-10-20. NME.
  8. Web site: John Lennon's 10 best political songs. Hughes, Rob. 8 December 2021. Louder Sound. Classic Rock. 2022-06-19.
  9. Web site: Top 10 John Lennon Solo Political Songs. DeRiso, Nick. 2023-01-08. 9 October 2013. Ultimate Classic Rock.
  10. Book: Madinger . Chip . Raile . Scott . LENNONOLOGY: Strange Days Indeed – A Scrapbook of Madness . 2015 . Chesterfield, MO. Open Your Books. 239–40 . 978-1-63110-175-5.
  11. Book: Rodriguez, Robert. Fab Four FAQ 2.0: The Beatles' Solo Years, 1970–1980. Backbeat Books. Milwaukee, WI. 2010. 978-1-4165-9093-4. 153.
  12. Book: Rodriguez, Robert. Fab Four FAQ 2.0: The Beatles' Solo Years, 1970–1980. Backbeat Books. Milwaukee, WI. 2010. 978-1-4165-9093-4. 31.
  13. Web site: Generation X [US] – Generation X : Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards |publisher=AllMusic |access-date=1 January 2013].
  14. Web site: Ankeny . Jason . Martinis & Bikinis – Sam Phillips : Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards . AllMusic . 1 January 2013.
  15. Web site: Thomas . Stephen . Under the Covers, Vol. 2 – Matthew Sweet : Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards . AllMusic . 1 January 2013.
  16. http://www.soundcloud.com/lydiacanaan/gimme-some-truth "Gimme Some Truth"—Lydia Canaan
  17. Web site: CHEAP TRICK Singer Confirms New Album Is on the Way . Blabbermouth . 4 December 2019 . 13 April 2019.
  18. Web site: CHEAP TRICK Gimme Some Truth . Record Store Day . 4 December 2019.
  19. Web site: Gimme Some Truth – 2019 Charity Single . Beyond the Pale . 8 December 2019.
  20. Web site: 'Gimme Some Truth' – The Full Story, feat KT Tunstall. . https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211214/fIHcVslTbW4 . 2021-12-14 . live. YouTube . 8 December 2019.
  21. Web site: MIKE PORTNOY Celebrates JOHN LENNON's 80th Birthday With "Gimme Some Truth" Performance; Video . 2020-10-10 . 10 February 2022 . 19 October 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20201019235829/https://megarockradio.net/2020/10/10/mike-portnoy-celebrates-john-lennons-80th-birthday-with-gimme-some-truth-performance-video/ . dead .
  22. Web site: Gimme Some Truth – Single by Kula Shaker .
  23. Book: Wiener . Jon . Gimme Some Truth: The John Lennon FBI Files . University of California Press . 3 February 2000 . 368 . 978-0-520-21646-4.
  24. Web site: 2011-10-11. Money For Rope. 2020-09-26. Beat Magazine.

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