God by John Lennon (1970)

Story of the song

Robert Webb
Thursday 23 September 2010 19:01 EDT
Comments

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

"God" remains Lennon's best-known album track. The opening line came from a comment Lennon made to his therapist: "God is a concept by which we measure our pain". The song buries everything from magic and the Bible to Hitler and Elvis. "The first three or four just came out," Lennon said, maintaining that he could have continued. After the revelation that he no longer believed in the Beatles, Lennon took a breath. "Just fill in your own," he said.

At Abbey Road studios Lennon was accompanied by bassist Klaus Voormann and pianist Billy Preston, and the recording was kept at pallbearer's pace by Ringo Starr. Next door George Harrison was completing work on "All Things Must Pass". "I was in one room singing 'My Sweet Lord'," said Harrison, "and John was in another room... singing 'I don't believe in Jesus, I don't believe in nothing'." It was recorded by Brian May in 1993. May missed the point and trashed, among other things, newsprint, torture, colour and Queen.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in