The cover Roxy Music recorded as a tribute to John Lennon
John Lennon’s death left the entire musical landscape in state of shocked grief. When the horrific murder occurred in 1980, Roxy Music were on a European tour. The band felt compelled to pay tribute to The Beatles founder by covering his song, ‘Jealous Guy’, during a show in Dortmund, Germany. After the positive reaction to the cover, the group recorded and released an official version of the track.
Although ‘Jealous Guy’ was released as a solo song, Lennon penned the material while he was still a member of The Beatles and going through a difficult moment in his life. The group were on a spiritual break in India in order to meet with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, which inspired the band members to go on a songwriting spree.
Lennon said of the track to David Sheff in 1980: “My song, melody written in India. The lyrics explain themselves clearly: I was a very jealous, possessive guy. Toward everything. A very insecure male. A guy who wants to put his woman in a little box, lock her up, and just bring her out when he feels like playing with her. She’s not allowed to communicate with the outside world – outside of me – because it makes me feel insecure.”
A few years later, Paul McCartney said of ‘Jealous Guy’ to Playgirl: “He used to say, ‘Everyone is on the McCartney bandwagon.’ He wrote ‘I’m Just a Jealous Guy’, and he said that the song was about me. So I think it was just some kind of jealousy.”
For Roxy Music, the meaning behind the track wasn’t important, and their cover was merely a homage to an artist who left the world too soon. Singer Bryan Ferry later explained to Classic Pop: “We had a show in Dortmund a few days after John Lennon died and wanted to do something as a tribute. The audience there seemed to like it very much, so when we got back to London, we recorded it at Phil’s studio. Now people really expect to hear it every time I or Roxy perform. It worked, it’s a great song – a beautiful direct kind of writing.”
After initially intending to play ‘Jealous Guy’ once as a mark of respect to Lennon, it earned a regular place in their setlist, with Roxy Music performing the track live on over 140 occasions and topping the charts with the cover in 1981. Additionally, as a solo artist, Bryan Ferry has performed the track over 540 times.
Despite the song not being an original, ‘Jealous Guy’ is one of the most beloved creations in the band’s catalogue. The love their fans have shown for their version is fitting because of the heavy influence The Beatles had on Ferry when he was an impressionable youngster. He later told the Los Angeles Times. “I guess I like lots of different kinds of music: not only jazz but the Beatles, all those English groups. And I loved the stuff that was influencing the English groups — all the R&B.”
Listen to Roxy Music’s cover of ‘Jealous Guy’ below.
