Chris Frantz on his favourite John Lennon song
After crossing paths at the Rhode Island School of Design in the early 1970s, David Byrne and Chris Frantz shared a vision, albeit a nebulous one. What was clear, however, was a mutual aversion to conformity; they were determined not to emulate anyone else. Thus, in 1973, they laid the foundation for what would eventually blossom into Talking Heads, initially operating under the name Artistics.
The band’s creative momentum surged from the modest beginnings of a New York apartment, especially when the pair welcomed Frantz’s then-girlfriend (now wife) to join as a bassist. As things took shape, Talking Heads’ early sound bore a resemblance with the burgeoning punk movement sweeping the Western world, yet they infused it with a distinctive, more artistically oblique flair.
Although Talking Heads opted for a choppy punk style, much like their fellow CBGB regulars Ramones and Television, their influences varied wildly. Like almost every pop musician since the 1960s, they were partly inspired by the towering force of The Beatles. Many punk acts would pretend otherwise since the world was sick of the Beatles’ dominion by the 1970s, but it was hard to deny the groundwork the Liverpool fourpiece laid.
In 2015, Frantz discussed his favourite song by the Beatles’ co-founding songwriter John Lennon in a feature with Uncut. Selecting ‘Instant Karma’, a Plastic Ono Band single from 1970, Frantz noted the song’s unconventional production and Lennon’s insightful lyrics.
“I distinctly remember the first time I heard it, driving across the Highland Park Bridge in Pittsburgh, and this fantastic heavy drum sound came on the radio,” Frantz recalled. “I turned it up and thought, wow, this is cool and was surprised to hear Lennon’s voice. I was a big fan of The Beatles, but I guess by that time they’d broken up, and I was more interested in experimental stuff.”
The Talking Heads drummer had admired the Beatles’ psychedelic, vanguard-pushing material of the late 1960s, but, like many youngsters, he had moved on somewhat. “I certainly wasn’t looking to Beatles solo projects as a source of inspiration, but that track caught my attention,” he admitted. “I’m a sucker for the production, the shuffle beat of the drums, with plenty of gated reverb on the mikes, and that echo on the vocal. The message of the lyric – emphasising a personal spiritual odyssey – is wonderful, but the appeal is more about the production, which I suppose was all Phil Spector’s work. The song is so highly rhythmic and heavy.”
Indeed, the legendary producer Phil Spector produced the record and did so in a rather hasty session. Lennon wrote the song one morning while sitting at the piano at home, and in the spirit of the song’s title, he decided to record it that same day. He called ahead to book Studio Two at EMI Studios, Abbey Road, for a session beginning at 7pm that evening with Spector on production duties on George Harrison’s recommendation.
Harrison once remembered the day: “John phoned me up one morning in January and said, ‘I’ve written this tune, and I’m going to record it tonight and have it pressed up and out tomorrow – that’s the whole point: ‘Instant Karma’, you know.’ So I was in. I said, ‘OK, I’ll see you in town.’ I was in town with Phil Spector, and I said to Phil, ‘Why don’t you come to the session?’ There were just four people: John played piano, I played acoustic guitar, there was Klaus Voormann on bass, and Alan White on drums. We recorded the song and brought it out that week, mixed instantly by Phil Spector.”
Listen to John Lennon’s quickest creation below.
