Some Time in New York City

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Some Time in New York City
Studio album by John Lennon and Yoko Ono

Publication
(s)

June 12, 1972 ( US )
September 15, 1972 ( UK )

Label (s) Apple Records , EMI Group

Format (s)

LP , MC , CD , download

Genre (s)

skirt

Title (number)

16

running time

90 min 52 s

occupation
  • Elephant's Memory:
  • Wayne 'Tex' Gabriel - guitar
  • Richard Frank Jr. - drums, percussion
  • John La Boosca - piano
  • Gary Van Scyoc - bass

production

Studio (s)

Record Plant-East , New York, USA

chronology
Imagine by John Lennon
1971

Fly by Yoko Ono
1971

Some Time in New York City Mind Games by John Lennon
1973

Approximately Infinite Universe by Yoko Ono
1973

Sometime in New York City ( English , On occasion, in New York City ') is the third solo album of John Lennon after the separation of the Beatles . At the same time, including the three avant-garde albums with his wife Yoko Ono and the live album by the Plastic Ono Band, it is John Lennon's seventh album and the fifth album with Yoko Ono. It is also the seventh album by Yoko Ono. It was released on June 12, 1972 in the US and on September 15, 1972 in the UK .

The artist named on the cover was John and Yoko / Plastic Ono Band with Elephants Memory and Invisible Strings .

Some Time In New York City is considered the most political work by John Lennon.

History of origin

On September 3, 1971, John Lennon and Yoko Ono left the UK for New York , and checked into the St Regis Hotel , from where they began several artistic projects. By November 1971 the company moved to Greenwich Village at 105 Bank Street.

As their first musical project, they recorded the following Christmas single from October 28 to 31, 1971 with producer Phil Spector and musicians Jim Keltner (drums), Klaus Voormann (bass), Nicky Hopkins (keyboard) and the Harlem Community Choir :

Happy Xmas (War Is Over) / Listen, the Snow is Falling (John & Yoko / Plastic Ono Band with the Harlem Community Choir - Released December 6, 1971 [United Kingdom: November 24, 1972])
Peace campaign poster from 1969

The single was not commercially successful in the USA, unlike in Great Britain, where it was released a year later, but established itself as one of the most played Christmas carols in the following years. The text is based on the slogan of an anti-war campaign by John Lennon and Yoko Ono from December 1969. The line “War is over, if you want it, war is over, now!” sung by the choir in the background comes from this campaign.

John Lennon and Yoko Ono faced various political problems in the United States. As a result, the couple dealt intensively with it and processed these influences in their texts; The Northern Ireland conflict at that time was taken up as a further topic . The lyrics of the new compositions deviated from the general messages of peace such as Give Peace a Chance and Happy Xmas (War is Over) , towards special topics based on current events, the Lennons let themselves be by Jerry Rubin and David among others during this time Politically influencing peel .

John Lennon and Yoko Ono performed on December 10, 1971 at the University of Michigan at the Crisler Arena in Ann Arbor with a specially formed band at the John Sinclair Freedom Rally . The following songs were presented live for the first time at this performance: Attica State , The Luck of the Irish , Sister O Sister and John Sinclair .

The reason for the event was the imprisonment of John Sinclair , an American poet and writer who was a former manager of MC5 and chairman of the White Panther Party . He was sentenced to ten years in prison in July 1969 for selling two joints to undercover police officers. In this piece Lennon demands Sinclair's release and criticizes the CIA and the Vietnam War in his text . (“… If he he'd been a soldier man, shooting gooks in Vietnam, if he was the CIA, selling dope and making haye, he'd be free…”).

The basis for Attica State is the revolt of the inmates of the Attica Correctional Facility in 1971. The inmates demanded better living conditions. On September 9, 1971, inmates held 33 guards hostage in response to the death of George Jackson, one of the inmates at the detention center. 39 people were killed when the hostage situation was violated.

The Luck of the Irish deals with Northern Ireland and Lennon finds harsh words for British politics (“… if you had the luck of the Irish, you'd be sorry and wish you were dead, you should have the luck of the Irish , and you'd wish you was English instead… ”). The British invaded there and "raped" the country ("... was raped by the British brigands ..."). Furthermore, John Lennon accused the English of committing genocide (“As the bastards commit genocide! Aye! Aye! Genocide!”).

In Sisters O Sisters , mainly written by Yoko Ono, Ono demands that the women stand up (“… let's stand up right now…”). It is therefore also about the oppression of women.

The songs sung live The Luck of the Irish and John Sinclair were released in November 1998 on the compilation album John Lennon Anthology . The live version of Attica State appeared in September 2006 on the album The US vs. John Lennon .

On December 16, 1971, the four songs were performed again during the David Frost Show on American television, the broadcast took place on January 13, 1972. A day later, on December 17, 1971, the Lennons performed again during the Attica State Benefit at the Apollo Theater in New York City, where they sang Attica State and Imagine , both live versions were also released on the John Lennon Anthology . From January 14th to January 28th, 1972 followed five appearances with the band Elephant's Memory on the Mike Douglas Show , the broadcast on US television took place from February 14th to 18th, 1972.

Document with portions of text blacked out, dated 1972.
Censored letter from J. Edgar Hoover regarding FBI surveillance of John Lennon

John Lennon and Yoko Ono decided to record an album together, which contains mostly political lyrics. For Some Time in New York City , John Lennon, Yoko Ono and Phil Spector hired the Elephant's Memory Band and Jim Keltner as studio musicians, the recordings took place from February to March 1972. During this time Lennon had problems with the residence permit in the USA, he was threatened with expulsion, the reason was the growing fears of the Nixon administration about a "radicalizing" artist John Lennon. During this time Lennon was under surveillance by the FBI .

On March 20, 1972, the recordings were stopped, but a release was delayed due to music law problems of the companies Maclen (company of John Lennon and Paul McCartney ) and Ono Music (company of John Lennon and Yoko Ono). In addition, John Lennon's manager Allen Klein did not want the album to be released. Allen Klein feared that the album would sell badly and that such a special payment from Capitol Records would not be paid. The condition of the special payment was that the last two solo albums by ex-Beatles, which are released before August 31, 1972, had to sell at least 500,000 copies in the USA. Some Time in New York City was released in the United States on June 15, 1972 and sold less than 200,000 copies, making it the most commercially unsuccessful studio album by John Lennon during his lifetime. In Europe, the album also sold poorly compared to the previous album Imagine , where the album was only released on September 15, 1972. At that time, the majority of the sung events were no longer current. Whether the political texts or the music were not accepted by the audience remains speculative.

In addition to the four previously mentioned songs Attica State , The Luck of the Irish , Sisters, O Sisters and John Sinclair , the album also contained the following pieces of music:

  • In Woman Is the Nigger of the World, Lennon complains about the grievances surrounding the topic of "women". He later described his youth as chauvinistic , but this changed his mind when he met Yoko Ono.
  • The Yoko Ono song Born in a Prison reflects the author's socially critical opinion, in which life is compared to a stay in prison.
  • In New York City , Lennon describes the couple's experiences and encounters when they moved to New York. To be named David Peel and Jerry Rubin , with whom the couple were musically and politically active.
  • In Sunday Bloody Sunday John Lennon describes his thoughts on the so-called Bloody Sunday on January 30, 1972 in Northern Ireland , were shot dead while 13 demonstrators by British paratroopers.
  • Angela was co-written by John Lennon and Yoko Ono, is about Angela Davis , who is a political activist in the United States and was arrested in 1970 for alleged involvement in the liberation of prisoners. Angela was Lennon and Ono's contribution to the Free Angela Davis campaign.
  • Yoko Ono's We're All Water is about the apparent differences between people, which on closer inspection are only superficial; Mao Zedong and Richard Nixon differ only slightly after they have been undressed. (“… There may not be much difference between chairman Mao and Richard Nixon, if we strip them naked…”).

After the end of the recording, John Lennon and Yoko Ono had an appearance with Elephant's Memory on May 11, 1972 on the Dick Cavett Show, followed by two concerts in Madison Square Garden in New York on August 30, 1972 under the title One to One - Concert, the corresponding live album Live in New York City did not appear until January 1986. The last joint appearance with the Elephant's Memory took place on September 6, 1972 during the benefit TV show Jerry Lewis Muscular Dystrophy Telethon where they played three songs. The last joint studio recordings with the Elephant's Memory Band took place in October / November 1972 for the Yoko-Ono double album Approximately Infinite Universe , which was produced by John Lennon and Yoko Ono.

John Lennon also produced the album The Pope Smokes Dope for David Peel in January / February 1972 (release: April 1972) and in April / May 1972 the album Elephant's Memory by the Elephant's Memory Band (release: September 1972), he was active on both albums also partly as a musician.

The album Some Time in New York City also contains a live recording of a joint appearance on June 6, 1971 by John Lennon, Yoko Ono and Frank Zappa's Mothers of Invention at the Fillmore East in New York on page 4, as well as another concert recording by the Plastic Ono Band in the Lyceum Ballroom in London on December 15, 1969, under the motto peace for christmas (Benefit for UNICEF ), on page 3. In addition to Eric Clapton , Klaus Voormann , Alan White , Billy Preston and George Harrison were among the performers with, the music group name was Plastic Ono Supergroup . Originally it was planned to release the two live performances as a separate album under the title Live Jam , but eventually it was combined with the studio album Some Time in New York City .

Rock'n Roll and the song Down In the Caribbean were recorded while recording Some Time in New York City . The songs have been published on bootlegs .

The next joint album by John Lennon and Yoko Ono came out with Double Fantasy in November 1980.

Cover design

The cover design was done by John Lennon, Yoko Ono and Al Steckler. The cover design was done by Michael Gross.

Re-releases

  • It was first published in CD format in August 1987. The CD is accompanied by a 16-page booklet with illustrations containing the lyrics and information about the album.
  • In October 1992 Frank Zappa released the live recordings with John Lennon and Yoko Ono on his album Playground Psychotics in a different mix.
  • In November 2005 the album Some Time was re-released in New York City as a single CD in a remastered and remixed version with two bonus tracks, but only the live recordings with Frank Zappa ( We're All Water and Don't Worry Kyoko were also added edited). The remix took place in 2005 at Abbey Road Studios under the supervision of Yoko Ono. The remix engineer was Peter Cobbin. Steve Rooke was responsible for the remastering. Allan Rouse was the project coordinator. Further live recordings of studio tracks from the album had already been released on the John Lennon Anthology box set . The CD comes with a 16-page illustrated booklet containing information about the album and the lyrics to the song.
  • In October 2010 the album was re-released in a remastered version, this time in the original mix, but re-released again with the live recordings with Frank Zappa. The remastering took place in 2010 at Abbey Road Studios by Paul Hicks and Sean Magee. Allan Rouse was the project coordinator. The album has a double fold-out cardboard cover with a twelve-page illustrated booklet enclosed, which contains information about the album and the lyrics. The design comes from the company Peacock and Karla Merrifield.

Track list

  • page 1
  1. Woman Is the Nigger of the World (Lennon / Ono) - 5:12
  2. Sisters, O Sisters (Ono) - 3:45
  3. Attica State (Lennon / Ono) - 2:53
  4. Born in a Prison (Ono) - 4:05
  5. New York City (Lennon) - 4:27
  • Page 2
  1. Sunday Bloody Sunday (Lennon / Ono) - 4:58
  2. The Luck of the Irish (Lennon / Ono) - 2:55
  3. John Sinclair (Lennon) - 3:26
  4. Angela (Lennon / Ono) - 4:04
  5. We're All Water (Ono) - 7:10
  • Page 3
  1. Cold Turkey (Live) (Lennon) - 8:35
  2. Don't Worry Kyoko (Live) (Ono) - 16:01
  • page 4
  1. Well (Baby Please Don't Go) (Live Jam) (Walter Ward) - 4:41
  2. Jamrag (Live) (Lennon / Ono) - 5:36
  3. Scumbag (Live) (Lennon / Ono / Frank Zappa ) - 4:08
  4. Aü (Live) (Lennon / Ono) - 6:23

Re-release from 2005

  1. Woman Is the Nigger Of The World (Lennon / Ono) - 5:17
  2. Sisters, O Sisters (Ono) - 3:48
  3. Attica State (Lennon / Ono) - 2:55
  4. Born in a Prison (Ono) - 4:05
  5. New York City (Lennon) - 4:29
  6. Sunday Bloody Sunday (Lennon / Ono) - 5:03
  7. The Luck of the Irish (Lennon / Ono) - 2:59
  8. John Sinclair (Lennon) - 3:30
  9. Angela (Lennon / Ono) - 4:08
  10. We're All Water (Ono) - 5:19
  11. Cold Turkey [Live Jam] (John Lennon) - 8:35
  12. Don't Worry Kyoko (Yoko Ono) - 15:20
  13. Well (Baby Please Don't Go) (Walter Ward) - 4:33

Bonus title

  1. Listen, the Snow Is Falling (Ono) - 3:06
  2. Happy Xmas (War Is Over) (Lennon / Ono) - 3:34

Single release

As a single, Woman Is the Nigger of the World / Sister O Sister was released from the album in advance on April 24, 1972 in the USA and Germany . A publication in Great Britain did not take place.

Chart placements

year album Chart placements
DE AT CH UK US
1972 Some Time in New York City - - - 11 48
year Single release Chart placements
DE AT CH UK US
1972 Woman is the nigger of the world - - - nv 57
year Separate single Chart placements
DE AT CH UK US
1971 Happy Xmas (War Is Over) 45 54 57 2 -

literature

  • John Lennon the biography of Philipp Norman
  • Chip Madinger, Mark Easter: Eight Arms To Hold You - The Solo Compendium . 44.1 Productions 2000, ISBN 0-615-11724-4 , pp. 32-33, 57-58 and 71-73.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. 7 "-Single Happy Xmas (War is Over)
  2. ^ Text: John Sinclair
  3. ^ Text: Attica State
  4. ^ Text: The Luck of the Irish
  5. ^ FBI surveillance of John Lennon
  6. Text: Woman Is the Nigger of the World
  7. ^ Text: Born in a Prison
  8. ^ Text: New York City
  9. Text: Sunday Bloody Sunday
  10. Text: Angela
  11. Album: Approximately Infinite Universe
  12. ^ Frank Zappa: Playground Psychotics
  13. US 7 ″ vinyl single: Woman Is the Nigger of the World
  14. German 7 ″ vinyl single: Woman Is the Nigger of the World