Jealous Guy - John Lennon

Artist: John Lennon
Song: Jealous Guy
Year: 1971
Album: Imagine

This is a song that gets it's start in the Beatles days. The music was originally written as "Child Of Nature" and was intended for the White Album. Fastforward to a rocky time in John Lennon and Yoko Ono's life. It was there that John wrote different lyrics to the melody and a new song was born.

It was written as an apology of sorts to Yoko. John's jealousy had been causing many problems in the relationship. Even though John was apologetic, he still insisted on not changing much, as the lyrics would reflect. John's relationship with Yoko would get worse before it got better, but this was a start in the right direction.

This was released as a single in 1985. That sounds about right because I remember seeing a video for this on Night Tracks, which was a music video show that aired on TBS. I can see a clip of Lennon high stepping in his white suit, but that version seems to have fallen out of favor for the more recent version. Ironically, the white suit escapades can be seen in other videos.

"Jealous Guy" also has the distinction of being the last song performed in public by John Lennon. It happened in 1977 and quite by accident. John sat in the presidential suite of the Okura Hotel in Tokyo, Japan. The elevators came straight into the lounge area of the suite, where Lennon was playing his old songs. A Japanese couple got off on the wrong floor, but sat and listened to John finish the song. After "Jealous Guy" was finishes, the couple politely got up and exited the suite with a displeased look on their faces. Little did they know that they would be the last people to witness a live performance from John Lennon.

Lyrics:
I was dreaming of the past
and my heart was beating fast
I began to lose control
I began to lose control
I didn't mean to hurt you
I'm sorry that I made you cry
Oh my I didn't want to hurt you
I'm just a jealous guy

I was feeling insecure
You might not love me anymore
I was shivering inside
I was shivering inside
Oh I didn't mean to hurt you
I'm sorry that I made you cry
Oh my I didn't want to hurt you
I'm just a jealous guy

[Whistling]

I didn't mean to hurt you
I'm sorry that I made you cry
Oh my I didn't want to hurt you
I'm just a jealous guy

I was trying to catch your eyes
I thought that you were trying to hide
I was swallowing my pain
I was swallowing my pain
I didn't mean to hurt you
I'm sorry that I made you cry
Oh my I didn't want to hurt you
I'm just a jealous guy
watch out baby I'm just a jealous guy
Look out baby I'm just a jealous guy