"Cold Turkey" is a song written by John Lennon, recorded by The Plastic Ono Band, and released as a single in October 1969. According to Peter Brown in his book The Love You Make, the song was written in a "creative outburst" following Lennon and Yoko Ono going "cold turkey" from their brief heroin addictions.[1] Brown also states that Lennon presented the song to Paul McCartney as a potential single by The Beatles, but was refused and released it as a Plastic Ono Band single with sole writing credits to him.[1] The song features Eric Clapton on lead guitar and was recorded in Abbey Road Studio 2. In 1969 Lennon returned his MBE to Buckingham Palace saying "I am returning this MBE in protest against Britain’s involvement in the Nigeria-Biafra thing, against our support of America in Vietnam, and against Cold Turkey slipping down the charts. With love, John Lennon of Bag.” Freddie Hubbard recorded an instrumental version in 1970, as an outtake from his album, Red Clay. Hubbard's version, featuring Herbie Hancock and Joe Henderson, among others, is influenced by funk and free jazz. The Godfathers recorded their ultimate version of the song in 1986 with producer Vic Maile of Motörhead and Hawkwind fame for their debut album Hit By Hit after making it a live favourite in their previous incarnation as The Sid Presley Experience. In March 2005, Q magazine placed "Cold Turkey" at number 74 in its list of the 100 Greatest Guitar Tracks. The song was featured in an episode of The Drew Carey Show titled "Turkeyspotting". The song plays during his hallucination of a turkey pole-dancing. Some have found this song similar to "Yer Blues," another song by Lennon, while he was still in The Beatles which is on The White Album.
References
^ ab Brown, Peter. The Love You Make: An Insider's Story of The Beatles. McGraw-Hill, 1983. New American Library, 2002. 331.
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