Writer: John Lennon
Producer: John Lennon & Yoko Ono
Recorded: September 30, 1969, in London
Released: October 1969
| Players: | John Lennon — vocals, guitar Yoko Ono — backing vocals Eric Clapton — guitar Klaus Voorman — bass Ringo Starr — drums |
| Album: | Live Peace In Toronto 1969 (Apple, 1969) |
John Lennon's second solo single away from the Beatles, “Cold Turkey”–a harrowing, hard rocking account of withdrawal from drug addiction–peaked at Number 30 during a 12-week run on the Billboard Hot 100. The song reached Number 14 in England.
The subject matter scared away some radio programmers, Lennon noted: “It was banned because it referred to drugs. To me it was a rock-and-roll version of (the film) The Man With The Golden Arm. It's like banning The Man With The Golden Arm because it showed Frank Sinatra suffering from drug withdrawal. To ban a record is the same thing. It's like banning the movie because it shows reality.”
Lennon had submitted the song to the Beatles to record, but Paul McCartney refused. It was the first composition credited to Lennon alone.
To record the song, he assembled an ad hoc all-star group that included Beatle mate Ringo Starr, Eric Clapton, longtime friend Klaus Voorman, and Yoko Ono. Dubbed the Plastic Ono Band, the group subsequently played at the Toronto Rock-And-Roll Revival Concert, with future Yes drummer Alan White substituting for Starr.
The B-side of “Cold Turkey” was an Ono composition called “Don't Worry Kyoko (Mummy's Only Looking For A Hand In The Snow),” which was inspired by Ono's bitter custody battle over her daughter.
“Cold Turkey” became particularly notorious on November 25, 1969, when Lennon returned his MBE honor to Buckingham Palace to lodge a protest against Britain's support of the U.S. in the Vietnam War, his country's involvement in the Nigerian-Biafran War, and “against 'Cold Turkey' slipping down the charts.
