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12.24am
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17 December 2012
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This cropped up in another thread, and since @Joe doesn’t have an article about it on the main site, and there’s no thread here for it, here’s a thread for it.
Written by Yoko Ono, it was originally released with her lead vocal on 1980’s Double Fantasy , clocking in at 4:02.
In 1984, a version with a John lead vocal appeared on a various artists album, Every Man Has a Woman, celebrating Yoko’s 50th birthday the previous year. The album featured artists other than Yoko performing her songs, and was one of the last projects John had in mind before his death (according to Yoko, which could be true, though I find it hard to imagine John planning it in 1980, three years before Yoko’s 50th). The album contained covers of Yoko songs by Harry Nilsson, Eddie Money, Rosanne Cash, Alternating Boxes, Roberta Flack, Elvis Costello & The Attractions, Trio, and Spirit Choir, along with this Lennon version, and a track from Sean with a “little” help from Yoko.
John’s version and Yoko’s version are one and the same, with Yoko’s vocal removed from John’s version, and John’s backing vocal (little of which was used on Yoko’s version) brought up in the mix to become the lead vocal. Obviously, the first single off the album was this, released 16 November 1984, with Sean’s Yoko-assisted version of It’s Alright on the b-side.
Lennon’s version clocks in 3:32, and was later included on the Mark Lewisohn compiled 1990 box set Lennon, with an edited version (3:19) appearing as a bonus track on the 2001 reissue of Milk And Honey .
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6.35am
14 June 2016
Offline It’s amazing how good John’s backing vocal is when it’s made to be the lead vocal. It would’ve been completely understandable if his vocals were unpolished or not as distinct, but nope, they’re damned good.
I always find this song haunting because it’s one of his last efforts, and the “rain or shine or life or death” lyric.
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8.35pm
18 April 2013
Offline I finally got around to hearing the song and I have to say I really enjoy it. I really wish we had gotten to see what John and Yoko had planned for us next. They seemed to be moving in a more new wave direction.
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11.49pm
14 June 2016
Offline Expert Textpert said
I finally got around to hearing the song and I have to say I really enjoy it. I really wish we had gotten to see what John and Yoko had planned for us next. They seemed to be moving in a more new wave direction.
It’s funny, John today probably would look back at his unrecorded 1980s/1990s work and say it was all crap. 
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11.55am
14 June 2016
Offline Timothy said
Expert Textpert said
I finally got around to hearing the song and I have to say I really enjoy it. I really wish we had gotten to see what John and Yoko had planned for us next. They seemed to be moving in a more new wave direction.
It’s funny, John today probably would look back at his unrecorded 1980s/1990s work and say it was all crap.
That’s pretty true. I wonder what kind of things John would’ve ventured into later. Would he have dabbled in hip hop or dubstep some other music genre that came after his time?
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3.00am
14 June 2016
Offline William Shears Campbell said
Timothy said
Expert Textpert said
I finally got around to hearing the song and I have to say I really enjoy it. I really wish we had gotten to see what John and Yoko had planned for us next. They seemed to be moving in a more new wave direction.
It’s funny, John today probably would look back at his unrecorded 1980s/1990s work and say it was all crap.
That’s pretty true. I wonder what kind of things John would’ve ventured into later. Would he have dabbled in hip hop or dubstep some other music genre that came after his time?
He was very keen about reggae. It’s possible he would’ve explored other stuff. I think for sure he would’ve done more writing and art.
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11.33am
Reviewers
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1 May 2011
Offline I really like this song, even if it’s a created John song due to the efforts made to get it to exist. A really good backing track as well.
Done nowadays I’d probably hate it and be complaining bitterly every time it was brought up as it was recreating history and not something John set out to do.
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3.07pm
17 June 2021
Offline It’s a very good track. I like the version on Double Fantasy with Yoko’s voice at the forefront, but the 2020 Ultimate Mix is my favourite.
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