"Mind Games" | ||||
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Single by John Lennon | ||||
from the album Mind Games | ||||
B-side | "Meat City" | |||
Released | 29 October 1973 (US) 16 November 1973 (UK) [1] | |||
Recorded | July–August 1973 | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 4:13 | |||
Label | Apple | |||
Songwriter(s) | John Lennon | |||
Producer(s) | John Lennon | |||
John Lennon singles chronology | ||||
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Official video | ||||
"Mind Games" on YouTube | ||||
Mind Games track listing | ||||
12 tracks
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"Mind Games" is a song written and performed by John Lennon, released as a single in 1973 on Apple Records. [4] It was the lead single for the album of the same name. The US single and album were released simultaneously on 29 October 1973. The UK single and album were issued simultaneously on 16 November 1973. [5] In the US it peaked at No. 18 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 10 on the Cashbox Top 100. In the UK it peaked at No. 26. [6]
This song, which was begun in 1969 was originally titled "Make Love, Not War", [4] a popular anti-war slogan at that time. [7] Another song, "I Promise", contains the melody that would later appear on "Mind Games". [4] The original Lennon demos for "Make Love, Not War" and "I Promise", recorded in 1970, are available on the John Lennon Anthology . [4] [7] Lennon finished writing the song after reading the book Mind Games: The Guide to Inner Space by Robert Masters and Jean Houston (1972). [8] [9] Lennon later encountered Masters in a restaurant and told him, "I am one of your fans. You wrote Mind Games." [8]
This eloquent track evoked lingering hippie sentiments mixed with the evolving mysticism of the early 1970s. In keeping with the original theme, the lyrics advocate unity, love, and a positive outlook. According to Billboard , the song asserts "that positive thoughts are the answer to happiness. [10] The lyric "YES is the answer" is a nod to his wife Yoko Ono's art piece that brought them together originally. The song was recorded as Lennon split with her for his 18-month "lost weekend" with May Pang. Although it did not involve producer Phil Spector, it nonetheless revealed what Lennon had learned from working with him.
Cash Box said that "top flight vocal performance backed by that steady, yet driving, tempo accentuates some great lyrics, all in making for a great song." [11] Record World called it "one of [Lennon's] best songs in the post-Beatle period." [12]
According to John Lennon's official website: [13]
Weekly charts
| Year-end charts
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"Mind Games" did best in Chicago, where it reached number six on the weekly survey of radio superstation WLS-AM. [24] It was ranked as the 81st biggest hit of 1973. [25]
In 1990 South African musician Ratau Mike Makhalemele released an EP of Lennon covers including a 16-minute-long version of Mind Games. [26]
In 1995, it was recorded by George Clinton for the John Lennon tribute album Working Class Hero: A Tribute to John Lennon .
In 1997, it was recorded by DJ Krush with vocals by Eri Ohno for the album MiLight .
In 2001, Kevin Spacey performed the song in New York as part of the tribute concert Come Together: A Night for John Lennon's Words and Music , shortly after 9/11.
The Irish band Hal covered Mind Games for Q Magazine in 2005.
In 2006, it was covered by German rock /pop group MIA., as well as Australian band, Eskimo Joe, as part of the project Make Some Noise to support Amnesty International. Eskimo Joe's cover would also appear on the International release of "Instant Karma: The Amnesty International Campaign to Save Darfur" as well as the Complete Recordings of the same project.
In 2007, Gavin Rossdale's version appeared on Instant Karma: The Amnesty International Campaign to Save Darfur as an iTunes exclusive bonus track.
In April 2009, Sinéad O'Connor's version of the song recorded in the mid 1990s appeared on the re-released deluxe edition of her second album, I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got .
In 2017, Arcade Fire released a cover on Spotify, and performed the song multiple times live in concert.
In 2020, German singer-songwriter Niels Frevert covered Mind Games for the Rolling Stone magazine tribute album Lennon Re-imagined .
In May 2023, American rock and jazz artist Brian Eaton released a cover version as a single for the song's 50th anniversary.
In June 2023, British band Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds included a cover version as a bonus track on their album Council Skies .
Mind Games is the fourth solo studio album by English musician John Lennon. It was recorded at Record Plant Studios in New York in summer 1973. The album was released in the US on 29 October 1973 and in the UK on 16 November 1973. It was Lennon's first self-produced recording without help from Phil Spector. Like his previous album, the politically topical and somewhat abrasive Some Time in New York City, Mind Games received mixed reviews upon release. It reached number 13 in the UK and number 9 in the US, where it was certified gold.
Rock 'n' Roll is the sixth solo studio album by English musician John Lennon. Released in February 1975, it is an album of late 1950s and early 1960s songs as covered by Lennon. Recording the album was problematic and spanned an entire year: Phil Spector produced sessions in October 1973 at A&M Studios, and Lennon produced sessions in October 1974 at the Record Plant (East). Lennon was being sued by Morris Levy over copyright infringement of one line in his Beatles song "Come Together". As part of an agreement, Lennon had to include three Levy-owned songs on Rock 'n' Roll. Spector disappeared with the session recordings and was subsequently involved in a motor accident, leaving the album's tracks unrecoverable until the beginning of the Walls and Bridges sessions. With Walls and Bridges coming out first, featuring one Levy-owned song, Levy sued Lennon expecting to see Lennon's Rock 'n' Roll album.
Shaved Fish is a compilation album by English rock musician John Lennon with the Plastic Ono Band, issued in October 1975 on Apple Records. It contains all of the singles that he had issued up to that point in the United States as a solo artist, with the exception of "Stand by Me", which had been released earlier that year. The only compilation of Lennon's non-Beatles recordings released during his lifetime, the album peaked at number 8 in the UK and number 12 in the US. It was also Lennon's final album released on Apple Records before it was shut down in 1975, to be revived in the 1990s.
Walls and Bridges is the fifth solo studio album by English musician John Lennon. It was issued by Apple Records on 26 September 1974 in the United States and on 4 October in the United Kingdom. Written, recorded and released during his 18-month separation from Yoko Ono, the album captured Lennon in the midst of his "Lost Weekend". Walls and Bridges was an American number-one album on both the Billboard and Record World charts and included two hit singles, "Whatever Gets You thru the Night" and "#9 Dream". The first of these was Lennon's first number-one hit in the United States as a solo artist, and his only solo chart-topping single in either the US or Britain during his lifetime.
Unfinished Music No. 2: Life with the Lions is the second of three experimental albums of avant-garde music by John Lennon and Yoko Ono, released in May 1969 on Zapple, a sub label of Apple. It was a successor to 1968's highly controversial Unfinished Music No. 1: Two Virgins, and was followed by the Wedding Album. The album peaked in the United States at number 174, 50 places lower than the previous album. The album, whose title is a play on words of the BBC Radio show Life with The Lyons, was recorded at Queen Charlotte's Hospital in London and live at Cambridge University, in November 1968 and March 1969, respectively. The Cambridge performance, to which Ono had been invited and to which she brought Lennon, was Lennon and Ono's second as a couple. A few of the album's tracks were previewed by the public, thanks to Aspen magazine. The album was remastered in 1997.
"Give Peace a Chance" is an anti-war song written by John Lennon, and recorded with the participation of a small group of friends in a performance with Yoko Ono in a hotel room in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Released as a single in July 1969 by the Plastic Ono Band on Apple Records, it is the first solo single issued by Lennon, released while he was still a member of the Beatles, and became an anthem of the American anti-war movement during the 1970s. It peaked at number 14 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 2 on the British singles chart.
The Plastic Ono Band were a rock band formed by John Lennon and Yoko Ono in 1969 for their collaborative and solo projects based on their 1968 Fluxus conceptual art project of the same name.
"Cold Turkey" is a song written by English singer-songwriter John Lennon, released as a single in 1969 by the Plastic Ono Band on Apple Records, catalogue Apples 1001 in the United Kingdom, Apple 1813 in the United States. It is the second solo single issued by Lennon and it peaked at number 30 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 14 on the UK Singles Chart. The song's first appearance on an album was Live Peace in Toronto 1969 where the song had been performed live on 13 September 1969 with Lennon reading the lyrics off a clip-board.
"Roll Over Beethoven" is a 1956 song written by Chuck Berry, originally released on Chess Records, with "Drifting Heart" as the B-side. The lyrics of the song mention rock and roll and the desire for rhythm and blues to be as respected as classical music. The song has been covered by many other artists, including the Beatles and the Electric Light Orchestra. Rolling Stone magazine ranked it number 97 on its list of the "500 Greatest Songs of All Time".
"Whatever Gets You thru the Night" is a song written by John Lennon, released as a single in 1974 on Apple Records, catalogue number Apple 1874 in the United States and Apple R5998 in the United Kingdom. In the U.S. it peaked at No. 1 on all three record charts: Billboard Hot 100, Cashbox, and Record World, and at No. 36 in the UK. It was the lead single for Lennon's album Walls and Bridges; in the UK the single was released on the same day as the album. "Whatever Gets You thru the Night" was Lennon's only solo No. 1 single in the United States during his lifetime, making him the last member of the Beatles to finally reach the top of the charts. In Canada, the single spent two weeks at No. 2, and became the 30th biggest hit of 1974.
"Power to the People" is a song written by John Lennon, released as a single in 1971, credited to John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band. It was issued on Apple Records and charted at #6 on the British singles chart, at number 10 on the Cashbox Top 100, and at number 11 on the Billboard Hot 100 The song's first appearance on album was the 1975 compilation Shaved Fish.
"#9 Dream" is a song written by John Lennon and first issued on his 1974 album Walls and Bridges. It was released as the second single from that album months later, on Apple Records catalogue Apple 1878 in the United States and Apple R6003 in the United Kingdom. It peaked at number 9 on the Billboard Hot 100, and it hit number 23 on the British singles chart. A video for the song was made in 2003.
"Mother" is a song by English musician John Lennon, first released on his 1970 album John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band. An edited version of the song was issued as a single in the United States on Apple Records, on 28 December 1970. The single edit runs 1:41 shorter than the album due to removing the tolling bells that start the song and a quicker fade-out. The B-side features "Why" by Yoko Ono. The song peaked in the United States at number 19 on the Cashbox Top 100 and number 43 on the Billboard Hot 100. In Canada the song reached number 12.
"Watching the Wheels" is a single by John Lennon released posthumously in 1981, after his murder. The B-side features Yoko Ono's "Yes, I'm Your Angel." It was the third and final single released from Lennon and Ono's album Double Fantasy, and reached No. 10 in the US on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 7 on Cashbox's Top 100. It peaked at number 30 in the UK.
"Bring on the Lucie (Freda Peeple)" is a protest song written and performed by John Lennon from his 1973 album Mind Games.
"Look at Me" is a song written and performed by John Lennon, from his debut solo album John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band.
"Tight A$" is a song written by John Lennon released on his 1973 album Mind Games. The song is also included in the 2010 compilation album, Gimme Some Truth. A tongue-in-cheek rocker, Lennon managed to get the phrase "tight ass" past the censors.
"Only People" is a song written by John Lennon released on his 1973 album Mind Games.
"Meat City" is a song written by John Lennon, released as the 12th and final track on his 1973 album Mind Games. The song is also the B-side of the single of the same name, and is included on the 2010 album, Gimme Some Truth.