Out The Blue

One of the highlights of John Lennon’s fourth solo album Mind Games was ‘Out The Blue’, a love song written for Yoko Ono.

The song presented the pair as destined to be together, and presents Ono as a burst of energy coming into his life when he was suffering with “life’s misery”. The theme of “two minds, one destiny” recurs in several places on Mind Games, with a search for completion at the heart of ‘You Are Here’ and ‘One Day (At A Time)’.

Well, that’s just another kinda love song. Nothin’ special.

‘Out The Blue’ was written while Lennon and Ono were undergoing marital problems, and was recorded after they had split up and he had begun an affair with May Pang. Lennon took the temporary break-up harder, pouring his emotions into his songs.

The song was one of the more focused and successful on Mind Games. The initial stripped-down recording wouldn’t have sounded out of place on John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band, but Lennon sweetened it with backing vocals later in the sessions. The result was a recording which would have made a fine second single from the album, but it was not to be.

In the studio

‘Out The Blue’ was recorded on 4 August 1973 at the Record Plant studio in New York City.

Eight tape reels were used. The first began with takes 4-7 of ‘Mind Games’. They were followed by takes 1 and 2 of ‘Out The Blue’, both incomplete and then known as ‘You Came To Me’.

Reel 2 contained takes 3-10, but only take 6 was complete. The third reel had a further five takes, 11-15. The last of these was included in the expanded 2024 reissue of Mind Games.

Takes 16-20 were recorded onto reel 4. Take 18 was temporarily marked best, and was the first complete take with the same arrangement as the final version.

Reel 5 contained takes 21-27, but only take 24 was complete. Reel 6 contained takes 28-30.

Take 31, on the seventh tape reel, was complete, but was followed by two false starts. The musicians then recorded the master version, take 34.

A further four takes were recorded on the eighth tape reel. Takes 36 and 38 were complete, but it was then decided that overdubs would be added to take 34. They included Clavinet, tambourine, double-tracked acoustic guitar, and two vocal parts by Lennon; piano and harmonium by Ken Ascher, including the piano solo; pedal steel guitar by ‘Sneaky’ Pete Kleinow; and backing vocals by Something Different.

‘Out The Blue’ was mixed on 4 and 11 September 1973.