Gimme Some Truth

"Gimme Some Truth" (originally spelled "Give Me Some Truth") is a protest song written and performed by John Lennon. It was first released on his 1971 album Imagine. "Gimme Some Truth" contains various political references emerging from the time it was written, during the latter years of the Vietnam War. Co-produced by Phil Spector, the recording includes a slide guitar solo played by George Harrison, Lennon's former bandmate in the Beatles.

For the box set, see Gimme Some Truth (box set). For the 2020 compilation, see Gimme Some Truth. The Ultimate Mixes.

"Gimme Some Truth"
UK single B-side label
Song by John Lennon
from the album Imagine
Released9 September 1971
Recorded25 May–5 July 1971
StudioAscot Sound Studios, Berkshire; Record Plant, New York City
GenreRock
Length3:18
LabelApple
Songwriter(s)John Lennon
Producer(s)John Lennon, Yoko Ono, Phil Spector

In 1982, "Gimme Some Truth" was issued as the B-side of "Love" on a posthumous single. The song provided the title track for the 2000 documentary film Gimme Some Truth: The Making of John Lennon's Imagine Album.

Origins

Work on the song began as early as January 1969 during the Beatles' Get Back sessions, which would eventually evolve into Let It Be. Bootleg recordings of the group performing songs that would eventually go onto the members' solo recordings feature a few performances of "Gimme Some Truth".

Side Two starts with 'Gimme Some Truth' which is one I started a year or two back - probably in India. We wrote a lot there. It was an old lick that I had around a long time but I again changed the lyrics. I like the track because it sounds good but it didn't get much attention, so it's a personal track that I like the sound of. The guitars are good and the voice sounds nice and, you know, and it says whatever it says. George does a sharp solo with his steel finger (he's not too proud of it, but I like it).

— J. Lennon[1]

Lyrics

"Gimme Some Truth" conveys Lennon's frustration with deceptive politicians ("short-haired yellow-bellied sons of Tricky Dicky"), hypocrisy, and chauvinism ("tight-lipped condescending mommy's little chauvinists"). The lyrics encapsulate some widely held feelings of the time, when many people were participating in protest rallies against their governments.

The song also uses a reference to the nursery rhyme "Old Mother Hubbard" (about a woman going to get her dog a bone, only to discover that her cupboard is empty) as a verb. The mention of "soft-soap" employs that slang verb in its classic sense − namely, insincere flattery that attempts to convince someone to do or to think something, as in the case of politicians who use specious or beguiling rhetoric to quell public unrest or to propagandise unfairly.

Lennon employs the recurring lyric "Money for rope/Money for dope", the former phrase being a variation of the British idiom "Money for old rope" (a profit obtained by little or no effort).[2]

In a review of the Imagine album, music critic Robert Christgau said that the song "unites Lennon unmasked with the Lennon of Blunderland wordplay as it provides a rationale for 'Jealous Guy,' which doesn't need one, and 'How Do You Sleep?,' which may".[3] Lisa Wright of the NME ranked "Gimme Some Truth" as Lennon's fifth greatest solo song, stating that in the song Lennon "tried to sift through the maelstrom of media bullshit to find the light at the end of the tunnel" and concluding that "scorn never sounded so good".[4]

Recording

Lennon recorded "Gimme Some Truth" on 25 May 1971 at Ascot Sound Studios. Overdubbing of his lead vocal on 28 May was also captured on film.[5]

Author Robert Rodriguez comments that Imagine is well known for its commercial qualities and "radio-friendly fare", but on the more substantial tracks, George Harrison provides "some of the grittiest playing", particularly on "Gimme Some Truth".[6] Rodriguez highlights Harrison's slide guitar solo as being "equally [as] stinging" as his playing on "How Do You Sleep?" and describes the track as an "acidic attack on governmental hypocrisy".[7]

Personnel

Cover versions and performances by other artists

Other works named after the song
  • A 2000 direct-to-video documentary film showing the recording sessions and evolution of Imagine took its title, Gimme Some Truth: The Making of John Lennon's Imagine Album, from this song.
  • Jon Wiener took the title of this song for his 1999 book, Gimme Some Truth: The John Lennon FBI Files, about Nixon's attempt to deport Lennon in 1972.[16]
  • The title is used for a 2020 compilation album of Lennon's greatest songs, remixed from scratch by his son Sean. The album was released on 9 October 2020, John Lennon's 80th birthday.
  • The Australian rock’n’roll band Money For Rope took its name from the song lyrics.[17]

References
  1. Imagine. The Ultimate Collection - Super Deluxe Box Set. Inner book. Gimme Some Truth, page 54.
  2. "Money for old rope definition and meaning". Collins English Dictionary. Retrieved 27 September 2020.
  3. Christgau, Robert (1981). "John Lennon: Imagine". Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies. Ticknor & Fields. ISBN 0899190251. Retrieved 2 November 2018.
  4. Wright, Lisa (9 October 2019). "John Lennon – his 10 greatest solo tracks". NME. Retrieved 20 October 2019.
  5. Madinger, Chip; Raile, Scott (2015). LENNONOLOGY: Strange Days Indeed – A Scrapbook of Madness. Chesterfield, MO: Open Your Books. pp. 239–40. ISBN 978-1-63110-175-5.
  6. Rodriguez, Robert (2010). Fab Four FAQ 2.0: The Beatles' Solo Years, 1970–1980. Milwaukee, WI: Backbeat Books. p. 153. ISBN 978-1-4165-9093-4.
  7. Rodriguez, Robert (2010). Fab Four FAQ 2.0: The Beatles' Solo Years, 1970–1980. Milwaukee, WI: Backbeat Books. p. 31. ISBN 978-1-4165-9093-4.
  8. "Generation X [US] – Generation X : Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards". AllMusic. Retrieved 1 January 2013.
  9. Ankeny, Jason. "Martinis & Bikinis – Sam Phillips : Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards". AllMusic. Retrieved 1 January 2013.
  10. Thomas, Stephen. "Under the Covers, Vol. 2 – Matthew Sweet : Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards". AllMusic. Retrieved 1 January 2013.
  11. "Gimme Some Truth"—Lydia Canaan
  12. "CHEAP TRICK Singer Confirms New Album Is On The Way". Blabbermouth. 13 April 2019. Retrieved 4 December 2019.
  13. "CHEAP TRICK Gimme Some Truth". Record Store Day. Retrieved 4 December 2019.
  14. "Gimme Some Truth - 2019 Charity Single". Beyond the Pale. Retrieved 8 December 2019.
  15. "'Gimme Some Truth' - The Full Story, feat KT Tunstall". YouTube. Retrieved 8 December 2019.
  16. Wiener, Jon (3 February 2000). Gimme Some Truth: The John Lennon FBI Files. University of California Press. p. 368. ISBN 978-0-520-21646-4.
  17. "Money For Rope". Beat Magazine. 11 October 2011. Retrieved 26 September 2020.
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