Written by: Frank Zappa (credited to Lennon-Ono)
Recorded: 6 June 1971
Producers: John Lennon, Yoko Ono, Phil Spector
Released: 15 September 1972 (UK), 12 June 1972 (US)
Available on:
Some Time In New York City
Personnel
John Lennon: vocals, electric guitar
Yoko Ono: vocals
Frank Zappa: vocals, electric guitar
Mark Volman: vocals
Howard Kaylan: vocals
Ian Underwood: vocals, woodwind
Jim Pons: vocals, bass guitar
Don Preston: keyboards, Minimoog
Aynsley Dunbar: drums
‘Jamrag’ was a five-minute improvisation recorded by John Lennon and Yoko Ono with Frank Zappa and The Mothers Of Invention in June 1971.
The live recording was part of the encore of a Mothers show that took place at the Fillmore East in New York. ‘Jamrag’ was the second of the four-song encore featuring Lennon and Ono, and followed a cover of The Olympics’ 1958 song ‘Well (Baby Please Don’t Go)’; the other songs played were ‘Scumbag’ and ‘Aü’.
‘Jamrag’ was actually an uncredited Zappa song, ‘King Kong’, from his 1969 album Uncle Meat. The live version featured a prominent keyboard solo by Don Preston, as well as wailing vocals from Ono.
The concert was recorded as Zappa was making the Live At The Fillmore album, the artwork for which Lennon adapted for the inner sleeve of Some Time In New York City.
I thought he [Lennon] had a pretty good sense of humour, so I invited him to come down and jam with us at the Fillmore East. We had already book in a recording truck because we were making the Live At The Fillmore album at the time. After they had sat in with us, an arrangement was made that we would both have access to the tapes. He wanted to release it with his mix and I had the right to release it with my mix – so that’s how that one section came out.
For reasons unknown, the song’s title was listed as ‘Jamrag’ when Some Time In New York City was released, and credited to Lennon-Ono, despite it being a Zappa composition.
The bad part is, there’s a song that I wrote called ‘King Kong’ which we played that night, and I don’t know whether it was Yoko’s idea or John’s idea, but they changed the name of the song to ‘Jamrag’, gave themselves writing and publishing credit on it, stuck it on an album, and never paid me. It was obviously not a jam-session song – it’s got a melody, it’s got a bassline, it’s obviously an organised song.
The Fillmore East encore was also released by Zappa on a 1992 compilation, Playground Psychotics, with a new mix. Curiously, ‘Jamrag’ was split into two songs, titled ‘Say Please’ and ‘Aaawk’, with no mention of ‘King Kong’.
Very good article, but let me point out a couple of things missing or corrections:
– Bob Harris didn’t play on the encore, keyboard duties were 100% taken by Don Preston
– the solo was by Don Preston, not by Ian Underwood
– “King Kong” doesn’t appear on “Playground Psychotics” because Zappa edited out the main theme. “Say Please” is the conducted improv. between “Baby Please Don’t Go” and “King Kong”, while “Aaawk” is the jam with the keyboard solo
Thanks Galeans! That’s really helpful.
There are lots of examples of a less than honorable John Lennon
There are also examples of John Lennon being way above normal niceness. Still doesn’t make up for the bad. But he was exceptionally good as well as bad.
Lennon sang about peace & love but threw his own son (Julian) under the bus.
That’s pretty damn low.
“but you didn’t need me.”
Not true.He has adnitted he wasnt there for him like he was for Sean because he put touring first but as most young people do he evolved when his second son was born and changed and became a better father for both his sons.He was close to Julian before he died and hey jude was written about Julian.He beat his first wife as well but learned to be a better husband with Yoko.In our twenties most of us make many immature mistakes but we start to mature and evolve into more compassionate 30 and 40 somethings.
Hey jude was not written by lennon… it was written by paul mcartney