"Instant Karma!" (also titled "Instant Karma! (We All Shine On)") is a song by English musician John Lennon, released as a single on Apple Records in February 1970. The lyrics focus on a concept in which the consequences of one's actions are immediate rather than borne out over a lifetime. The single was credited to "Lennon/Ono with the Plastic Ono Band", apart from in the US, where the credit was "John Ono Lennon". The song reached the top five in the British and American charts, competing with the Beatles' "Let It Be" in the US, where it became the first solo single by a member of the band to sell a million copies.
"Instant Karma!" was conceived, written, recorded, and released within a period of ten days, making it one of the fastest-released songs in pop music history. The recording was produced by Phil Spector, marking a comeback for the American producer after his self-imposed retirement in 1966, and leading to him being offered the producer's role on the Beatles' Let It Be album. Recorded at London's EMI Studios (now Abbey Road Studios), "Instant Karma!" employs Spector's signature Wall of Sound technique and features contributions from George Harrison, Klaus Voormann, Alan White, and Billy Preston. The B-side was "Who Has Seen the Wind?", a song composed and performed by Ono. When released in the US, the single was given a minor remix by Spector.
Recently shorn of the long hair synonymous with their 1969 campaign for world peace, Lennon and Ono promoted the single with an appearance on Britain's Top of the Pops five days after its release. The song received positive reviews and is considered by some music critics to be among the finest recordings from Lennon's solo career. A live performance recorded at his and Ono's "One to One" concerts in August 1972 was included on the posthumously released Live in New York City (1986). Paul Weller, Duran Duran, and U2 are among the acts who have recorded or performed "Instant Karma!" Its chorus also inspired the title to Stephen King's 1977 novel The Shining.
Background
Together with his wife, Yoko Ono, John Lennon spent New Year 1970 in Aalborg, Denmark,Miles, p. 363. establishing a relationship with Ono's former husband, artist Tony Cox, and visiting Cox's and Ono's daughter Kyoko.Madinger & Easter, p. 33. The visit coincided with the start of what Lennon termed "Year 1 AP (After Peace)",Miles, pp. 363–64. following his and Ono's heavily publicised Bed-Ins and other peace-campaign activities throughout 1969.Doggett, pp. 89–90. To mark the new era,Woffinden, p. 39. on 20 January 1970, the couple shaved off their shoulder-length hair – an act that Britain's Daily Mirror described as "the most sensational scalpings since the Red Indians went out of business." Having been recognised for his peace efforts in a segment on ITV's Man of the Decade documentary, and then chosen as Rolling Stone magazine's "Man of the Year" for 1969, Lennon said he cut his hair to "stop being hyped by revolutionary image and long hair."Frontani, pp. 168–69. Lennon and Ono promised to auction the shorn hair for a charitable cause.Doggett, p. 118. This pledge followed the couple's announcement, on 5 January, that they would donate all future royalties from their recordings to the peace movement.Miles, p. 364.
While in Denmark, the Lennons, Cox, and Cox's current partner, Melinde Kendall, discussed the concept of "instant karma", whereby the causality of one's actions is immediate rather than borne out over a lifetime.Rodriguez 2010, pp. 8, 21.Urish & Bielen, pp. 15–16. Author Philip Norman writes of the concept's appeal: "The idea was quintessential Lennon – the age-old Buddhist law of cause and effect turned into something as modern and synthetic as instant coffee and, simultaneously, into a bogey under the stairs that can get you if you don't watch out." On 27 January, two days after returning to the UK,Miles, p. 367. Lennon woke up with the beginnings of a song inspired by his conversations with Cox and Kendall.Rodriguez 2010, p. 21. Working at home on a piano, he developed the idea and came up with a melody for the composition, which he titled "Instant Karma!"Browne, p. 76.Blake, p. 97.
Lennon completed the writing of "Instant Karma!" in an hour. Eager to record the song immediately, he then telephoned his Beatles bandmate George Harrison and American producer Phil Spector, who was in London at the invitation of Allen Klein, the manager of the Beatles' Apple Corps organisation.Brown, p. 240. According to Lennon's recollection, he told Spector: "Come over to Apple quick, I've just written a monster."
Writing The song employs a descending three-note melodic progression similar to "Three Blind Mice" and an intro reminiscent of "Some Other Guy".Wiener, p. 114. Lennon had used a similar-sounding chord progression in the Beatles' 1967 single "All You Need Is Love".Edmondson, p. 133. Later in 1970, he would adopt the melody of "Three Blind Mice", an English nursery rhyme, for his song "My Mummy's Dead".Rogan, p. 47.Spizer, p. 36.
In their book The Words and Music of John Lennon, Ben Urish and Kenneth Bielen write that in the first verse of "Instant Karma!", Lennon employs sarcasm as he urges the listener to "Get yourself together / Pretty soon you're gonna be dead" and emphasises "It's up to you – yeah, you!" Norman comments on the "hippie catchphrase of the moment" contained in this instruction to "Get yourself together", and he says that the warning of imminent death is "obviously not to be taken literally." Author Mark Hertsgaard cites the lines "Why in the world are we here? / Surely not to live in pain and fear" as a further example of Lennon "asking what purpose his life on earth was to serve," after his 1966 composition "Strawberry Fields Forever".Herstgaard, p. 203. According to Urish and Bielen, "Instant Karma!" conveys the need to recognise and act upon a shared responsibility for the wellbeing of humankind; the karmic rewards of this mindset are available to all, as implied in Lennon's exhortation to "Come and get your share". The same authors pair the song with Lennon's and Ono's "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)" single from 1971, in terms of how the song "both prods and challenges listeners before providing reassurance."Urish & Bielen, p. 34.
As with "Give Peace a Chance" and "Power to the People"Urish & Bielen, p. 25. – Lennon singles from 1969 and 1971 – the chorus has an anthem-like quality, as he sings: "We all shine on, like the moon and the stars and the sun." Norman describes the chorus as Lennon restating his message of "peace campaigning and non-violent, optimistic togetherness." According to Lennon biographer John Blaney, the song is an appeal "for mankind to take responsibility for its fate" and represents "Lennon developing his own brand of egalitarianism."
Recording
Although still officially a member of the Beatles, Lennon had privately announced his departure from the band in September 1969.Doggett, pp. 101, 103, 108. He was keen to issue "Instant Karma!" immediately as a single,Womack, p. 468. the third under his and Ono's Plastic Ono Band moniker.Schaffner, p. 137. The recording session took place at EMI Studios (now Abbey Road Studios) in north-west London, on the evening of 27 January. Lennon's fellow musicians at the session were Harrison, Klaus Voormann, Alan White,Ribowsky, p. 251. and Billy Preston – all of whom had performed at the December 1969 Peace for Christmas Concert,Leng, p. 67.Madinger & Easter, p. 32. as part of the Plastic Ono Supergroup.Miles, p. 362.Woffinden, p. 30. The recording engineer for "Instant Karma!" was EMI mainstay Phil McDonald.Spizer, p. 28. Spector produced the session, arriving late after Harrison had found him at Apple's office and persuaded him to attend.Doggett, p. 115.
According to author Bruce Spizer, the line-up for the basic track, before overdubs, was Lennon (vocals, acoustic guitar), Harrison (electric guitar), Preston (organ), Voormann (bass), and White (drums). Lennon later recalled of the recording: "Phil (Spector) came in and said, 'How do you want it?' And I said, '1950s' and he said 'Right' and BOOM! ... he played it back and there it was."Blaney, pp. 50–51.Brown, p. 253. The song uses a similar amount of echo to 1950s Sun Records recordings.Urish & Bielen, p. 16.
The musicians recorded ten takes,Norman, p. 635. the last of which was selected for overdubbing. To create what Spector biographer Mark Ribowsky terms a "four-man Wall of Sound" production,Ribowsky, pp. 251–52. Lennon added grand piano onto the basic track,Wiliams, p. 143. while Harrison and White shared another piano and Voormann played electric piano. In addition, Beatles aide Mal Evans overdubbed chimes (or tubular bells) and White added a second, muffled drum part. Rather than an instrumental solo over the third verse, Lennon vocalised a series of what Urish and Bielen term "grunts and moans". Lennon felt that the chorus was missing something, and so Preston and Evans were sent to a nearby nightclub to bring in a group of people to provide backing vocals.Blaney, p. 52. These newcomers and all the musicians, along with Allen Klein, then added chorus vocals, with Harrison directing the singing.
Although Lennon and Spector disagreed over the bass sound,Blaney, p. 51. Lennon was delighted with the producer's work on "Instant Karma!" White's drums assumed the role of a lead instrument,Rodriguez 2010, pp. 21, 76. positioned prominently in the mix.Brown, p. 242. Spector biographer Richard Williams wrote in 1972: "No Beatles record had ever possessed such a unique sound; Spector had used echo to make the drums reverberate like someone slapping a wet fish on a marble slab, and the voices sounded hollow and decayed."Schaffner, p. 138. Spector wanted to add a string section to the track in Los Angeles, but Lennon insisted that the recording was complete.
Having only recently returned to producing, after the commercial failure of Ike & Tina Turner's 1966 single "River Deep – Mountain High" in America,Williams, pp. 129–30. Spector had "passed the audition", according to Beatles Forever author Nicholas Schaffner. "Instant Karma!" was the first of many Beatles-related recordings that Spector worked on during the early 1970s.Du Noyer, p. 30. Lennon and Harrison were sufficiently impressed with his production on the song that they asked Spector to work on the tapes for the Beatles' final album release, Let It Be,Brown, p. 243. and then to produce their respective 1970 solo albums, John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band and All Things Must Pass.Winn, p. 365.
Release "Instant Karma!" ranks as one of the fastest-released songs in pop music history, arriving in UK record stores just ten days after it was written.Du Noyer, p. 31. Apple Records' tagline in trade advertisements for the single read: "Ritten, Recorded, Remixed 27th Jan 1970."Winn, p. 364. Lennon remarked to the press that he "wrote it for breakfast, recorded it for lunch, and we're putting it out for dinner." Apple issued the single on 6 February 1970 in Britain – credited to the Plastic Ono Band – and on 20 February in America, where the A-side was retitled "Instant Karma! (We All Shine On)" and credited to John Ono Lennon.Blaney, p. 45. Spector remixed "Instant Karma!" for the US release without Lennon's knowledge.Ribowsky, p. 252.Miles, p. 370. Continuing the approach of the Plastic Ono Band's previous singles, "Give Peace a Chance" and "Cold Turkey", the B-side was an Ono composition, in this case "Who Has Seen the Wind?"Spizer, pp. 27, 343.