Walls and Bridges is the fourth solo studio album by the 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.

The album was certified silver in the UK, and gold in the US. It was Lennon's last album of self-penned material released solely under his own name during his lifetime.

Background In June 1973, as Lennon was about to record Mind Games, Ono suggested that she and Lennon should separate. Lennon soon moved to California with his and Ono's personal assistant May Pang with Ono's encouragementEdmondson 2010, p. 152 and they embarked on an 18-month relationship he would later refer to as his "Lost Weekend". While he and Pang were living in Los Angeles,Blaney 2005, p. 139 Lennon took the opportunity to get reacquainted with his son Julian, whom he had not seen in two years.

Lennon had planned to begin recording Rock 'n' Roll with producer Phil Spector, but these sessions became legendary not for the music produced but for alcohol-fuelled antics.Blaney 2005, p. 142 Lennon and Pang returned to New York and Spector disappeared with these session tapes. Around this time, Lennon had written several new songs during a stay at The Pierre and started recording a few home demos.Norman 2008, p. 735

Recording Lennon began rehearsing his new material with studio musicians at Record Plant East in New York City in June 1974Pang, May (1983). Loving John. Warner Books. which included Jim Keltner on drums, Klaus Voormann on bass guitar, Jesse Ed Davis on guitar and Arthur Jenkins on percussion. The core players were billed on the album as the Plastic Ono Nuclear Band, a variation on Plastic Ono Band, the conceptual group to which many of Lennon's solo efforts were credited.

The musicians worked out their own arrangements in a short time, and the recording advanced quickly.Blaney 2005, p. 143 Ron Aprea, the saxophonist from the Little Big Horns, said that "Since he had no formal training in arranging, he would sit in the control room and let us make up our own parts. If he liked what we played, he would let us know ... If we thought we could get it better, he would say 'go for it'." Aprea also said that the brass section was recorded over a two-week period. Lennon later said that it had been "an extraordinary year for me personally. And I'm almost amazed that I could get anything out. But I enjoyed doing Walls and Bridges and it wasn't hard when I had the whole thing to go into the studio and do it. I'm surprised it wasn't just all bluuuuuuggggghhhhh." Rehearsals were released on the posthumous albums Menlove Ave. and John Lennon Anthology.

Engineer Jimmy Iovine said that the sessions were "the most professional I have still been on ... John knew what he wanted, he knew how to get what he was going for, he was going after a noise and he knew how to get it ... His solo thing had an incredible sound to it. And he really had his own sound." Despite Record Plant being one of the most state-of-the-art recording studios in New York at that point, Lennon's vocal overdubs were done with an old stage microphone, which had been left in a bass drum for years. Iovine said that "(it) was an old beat up one ... so it was dull in a way, but John's voice was so bright, that it sounded incredible on it. It turned out to be great vocal sound, like on '#9 Dream'."

Music and lyrics

Walls and Bridges has a variety of musical stylings and many of the lyrics make it clear that Lennon both enjoyed his new-found freedom and also missed Ono. The album title refers to the barriers that Lennon had constructed between himself and others and his hope that those barriers could be surmounted.Schaffner 1978, p. 174 Lennon said, "Walls keep you in either protectively or otherwise, and bridges get you somewhere else."

"Going Down on Love", the album's opening track, incorporates a sexual punUrish & Bielen 2007, p. 57Jackson 2012, p. 145 and the lyrics reflect Lennon's feelings about his separation from Ono. The second track, "Whatever Gets You thru the Night" was issued as the album's first single. The inspiration for the lyrics came from late-night television. In December 2005, May Pang told Radio Times: "At night he loved to channel-surf, and would pick up phrases from all the shows. One time, he was watching Reverend Ike, a famous black evangelist, who was saying, "Let me tell you guys, it doesn't matter, it's whatever gets you through the night." John loved it and said, "I've got to write it down or I'll forget it." He always kept a pad and pen by the bed. That was the beginning of 'Whatever Gets You Thru the Night'." The music was inspired by the number one single at the time, "Rock Your Baby" by George McCrae.Playboy Interview, Sheff, 1981 Although the released track bears little resemblance, the inspiration is more apparent on the alternative version released on John Lennon Anthology. The third track is the Lennon/Harry Nilsson composition "Old Dirt Road" which features Nilsson on harmony vocal.

The next two tracks, "What You Got" and "Bless You", are again songs addressing his feelings about his separation from Ono.Blaney 2005, p. 146 Lennon later called the jazzy "Bless You" the "best piece of work on the album ... that seems to be the best track, to me."Blaney 2005, p. 147 Side one closes with "Scared", a haunting track which explores Lennon's fear of ageing, loneliness and the emptiness of success.

Side two leads off with the album's second single, "#9 Dream", which features May Pang on background vocals. According to Pang, two working titles for the song were "So Long Ago" and "Walls & Bridges". The song was notable as a favourite of Lennon's, despite his later claim that the song was a "throwaway". Pang recalled, "This was one of John's favorite songs, because it literally came to him in a dream. He woke up and wrote down those words along with the melody. He had no idea what [Ah, Bowakawa pousse] meant, but he thought it sounded beautiful." The next track is a song Lennon wrote for Pang, "Surprise, Surprise (Sweet Bird of Paradox)" which features Elton John on harmony vocal.Blaney 2005, p. 148Edmondson 2010, p. 155 "Steel and Glass" includes a sinister riff reminiscent of "How Do You Sleep?", Lennon's audio argument with Paul McCartney from the Imagine album, although the digs this time were thought to be directed at the former Beatles manager Allen Klein.Blaney 2005, p. 149Madinger & Easter 2000, p. 102 "Beef Jerky", a rare Lennon instrumental, is a funky, R&B-inspired track. 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."

The penultimate track, "Nobody Loves You (When You're Down and Out)", was written in 1973 when he and Pang first arrived in Los Angeles. He envisioned Frank Sinatra recording it, saying, "I don't know why. It's kind of a Sinatraesque song, really. He would do a perfect job with it. Are you listening Frank? You need one song that isn't a piece of nothing. Here's one for you, the horn arrangement and everything's made for you. But don't ask me to produce it!"

The final track is a cover version of Lee Dorsey's "Ya Ya", with Lennon (billed as "Dad") on piano and vocals and son Julian on drums. Lennon surprised Julian with its inclusion on the album, prompting the young Lennon to remark, "If I'd known it was going on the album, I would have played better!"Pang, May (1983). Loving John. Warner Books. pg 241

When discussing the recording of the album, in an interview the following year with Pete Hamill in Rolling Stone, Lennon recalled, "Elton sort of popped in on the sessions for Walls and Bridges and sort of zapped in and played the piano and ended up singing 'Whatever Gets You Thru the Night' with me. Which was a great shot in the arm. I'd done three quarters of it, 'Now what do we do?' Should we put a camel on it or a xylophone? That sort of thing. And he came in and said, 'Hey, I'll play some piano!'"

Album artwork Originally, Lennon planned to use some of his childhood drawings for the cover of an oldies album he had begun in 1973, but when he put that on hold to record Walls and Bridges, he decided to use the artwork already in production.John Lennon, Interview, WNEW-FM New York, September 1974 The album's elaborate outer jacket featured some of his drawings, including one portraying a game of football, specifically the goal scored by George Robledo in the 1952 FA Cup Final. That drawing also featured Newcastle United's number 9 Jackie Milburn; Lennon lived as a child at 9 Newcastle Road and had a lifelong fascination with the number. There is also a series of photos of Lennon's face with different expressions. The front cover contained two flaps which, when folded, created several interchangeable "Lennon faces", some of them silly.

The album's art direction was credited to Capitol's in-house designer, Roy Kohara.Spizer 2005, p. 88 The booklet inside the LP included a front photo of Lennon with no glasses and a back photo of Lennon with five pairs of glasses piled on top of one another, both by the American photographer Bob Gruen. The inner sleeve contained another portrait as well as a horizontal melange of the other photos.

Inside the booklet were lyrics and instrumental credits for the songs, which conveyed Lennon's trademark sense of humour, with many aliases for himself including Rev. Thumbs Ghurkin, Kaptain Kundalini, Dwarf McDougal, Mel Torment (a pun on Mel Tormé), Hon. John St. John Johnson, Dr. Dream, Dr. Winston O'Boogie and Dad. More 1952 colour drawings from the 11-year-old Lennon were included, with subjects including the American Old West (dedicated to his aunt and guardian, Mimi Smith), landscapes and a portrait of his schoolteacher, Mr. Bolt. Also included was a genealogical treatise on the surname Lennon and related forms from one of Edward MacLysaght's books. While mentioning the British sailor John Lennon and the American labour leader John Brown Lennon of many decades past, the entry ends with a slight about the surname family generally being undistinguished, to which Lennon offered a hand-written "Oh Yeh?". Finally, the booklet contains a claim that Lennon saw an unidentified flying object on the evening of 23 August 1974.

Release and promotion