"Beef Jerky" | |
---|---|
Single by John Lennon | |
from the album Walls and Bridges | |
A-side | " Whatever Gets You thru the Night" |
Released | 23 September 1974 (US) 4 October 1974 (UK) |
Recorded | 1974 |
Length | 3:25 |
Label | Apple |
Songwriter(s) | John Lennon |
Producer(s) | John Lennon |
Walls and Bridges track listing | |
12 tracks
|
"Beef Jerky" is an instrumental written by John Lennon that was released on his 1974 album Walls and Bridges and also as the b-side of the lead single from that album, the #1 hit " Whatever Gets You thru the Night."
Beatle historian Bruce Spizer describes "Beef Jerky" as a "funky instrumental." [1] "Beef Jerky" developed during the recording sessions for " #9 Dream" from variations Lennon composed based on the music of two songs from Lennon's previous album Mind Games, " Tight A$" and " Meat City." [2] [3] [4] In a nod to his old partner, it also contains a riff that replicates one from Paul McCartney's " Let Me Roll It," which was a song McCartney wrote in a "Lennon style." [3] [5] [6] Uncut contributor David Cavanagh believes Lennon meant no offense by using this riff, and simply "nicked it" because he liked it. [7] The sound of "Beef Jerky" was inspired by the early rhythm and blues songs." [8] At one point during the song's bridge, there is a chorus calling out the song's title "beef jerky" several times [1] mimicking The Bar-kays similar bridge in their instrumental hit " Soul Finger". Lennon acknowledged its debt to earlier rhythm and blues and soul music by including a credit to "Booker Table and the Maitre D's," a pun on Booker T and the MGs. [2] [9] The title comes from the dried meat strips that Lennon and then-girlfriend May Pang used to eat in the recording studio. [1]
Lennon said of the song "I like this one because I don't sing, and I can stand listening to it without hearing me voice all the time." [10]
Music critic Johnny Rogan claims that the horn playing of "Beef Jerky" by Bobby Keys and others is a good imitation of the Stax Records sound, particularly that of The Mar-Keys and Bar-Kays. [4] He also praises the guitar interplay between Lennon and Jesse Ed Davis. [4] Music lecturers Ben Urish and Ken Bielen describe the song as "a brass-laden rocker that that moves through rhythmic variations and distinctive horn riffs with aplomb and ease. [2] Music critic Tim Riley calls the song a "juicy instrumental" that helps give Walls and Bridges a "rocker's pulse." [11]
Beatle biographer John Blaney states that although Lennon incorporates a clever production and a good horn arrangement, he finds the song to be "pedestrian." [8] Blaney particularly criticizes the decision to put the rhythm section low in the mix, but like Rogan he praises Lennon's and Davis' guitar playing. [8] Beatle historians Chip Madinger and Mark Easter call the song "a somewhat pointless instrumental," and felt that like " What You Got," which would be Lennon's next b-side, it doesn't go anywhere after the opening verse. [12] Allmusic critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine considers it "mediocre." [13]
Music journalist Paul Du Noyer finds the song to be "nothing special — just an efficiently funky, bustling rocker" but notes that it plays an important role on Walls and Bridges by relieving some of the tension on the album between "the cold-hearted masterpiece of invective" " Steel and Glass" and what he considers "the most tortured track" on the album, " Nobody Loves You (When You're Down and Out)." [9] Urish and Bielen agree that the instrumental serves as an important role on the album as a " palette cleanser" between those two songs. [2]