Credit: John Lennon

The chord progression John Lennon used as a weapon

Mon 30 December 2024 16:00, UK

Over the course of his illustrious career, John Lennon used his songwriting to convey a multitude of different messages. From the teeny-bopper love songs of the early Beatles to the staunch anti-war politics of his later solo career, the Liverpudlian songwriter always had a message within his music. On more than one occasion, his songwriting took on a spiteful form, using melodies and chord progressions to criticise and attack individuals, including his former bandmate, Paul McCartney.

The world had never seen a band like The Beatles before. From their humble origins as an Allerton skiffle outfit, the band grew exponentially, becoming a worldwide phenomenon by the mid-1960s. Penning some of the most iconic and recognisable albums of all time, an entity like The Beatles does not merely fade away. Perhaps this is why the break-up of the Fab Four was so bitter and conflict-ridden. Tensions had been present in the band for years prior, but by the time the band came to record Abbey Road, the writing was on the wall.

So, just as The Beatles’ existence had been colossal, so was the fallout of their disbandment. One of the most upsetting elements to come from the break-up for fans was the public spat that ensued between primary songwriters Lennon and McCartney. Each is embarking upon their own solo careers, Lennon and McCartney found the opportunity to delve further into influences that would not have suited The Beatles’ repertoire. However, Lennon could not help but fire a few digs at McCartney within his solo work.

Namely, Lennon penned ‘How Do You Sleep?’ in 1971. Aimed at McCartney, the song employs some incredibly barbed lyrics, including, “You live with straights who tell you, you was king” and, most famously, “The only thing you done was yesterday”, referencing the Beatles track penned by McCartney. The song was harsh, to say the least, and Lennon himself expressed regret at having written it in the years that followed as his relationship with McCartney improved.

Nevertheless, the impact of weaponising his songwriting continued further into Lennon’s solo career. When he came to write ‘Steel and Glass’ in 1974, a song widely regarded as an attack on the former Beatles manager Allen Klein, Lennon employed the same chord structure and similar riffs as he had used during ‘How Do You Sleep?’. As a result, the track sounds like something of a sequel to the track from Imagine, imbued with the same powerful atmosphere and a degree of aggression.

Of course, the target of the attack was vastly different than it had been on ‘How Do You Sleep?’, but the chord progression fostered a similar theme and attitude within Lennon’s songwriting. You could argue, therefore, that it was the chord progression rather than the lyrics themselves that gave both songs their weaponous atmosphere.

In the years that followed both songs, as Lennon became more immersed in a sense of peace and goodwill to all men, he once again expressed regret over these songs. In fact, the songwriter seemed to suggest that the songs were, unknowingly, written about himself. He might have been seen as attacking the characters of McCartney and Klein, but the songs really reflected Lennon’s bitterness.

There is likely some truth in this theory of Lennon’s self-loathing, but the lyrics to both songs are not partially ambiguous regarding their targets. Either way, the chord change shared by both songs is adept at conveying Lennon’s feelings towards the matter without uttering a single word.