| "Beef Jerky" | |
|---|---|
 | |
| SinglebyJohn Lennon | |
| from the album Walls and Bridges | |
| A-side | "Whatever Gets You thru the Night" |
| Released | 23 September 1974 (US) 4 October 1974 (UK) |
| Recorded | 1974 |
| Length | 3:25 |
| Label | Apple |
| Songwriter(s) | John Lennon |
| Producer(s) | John Lennon |
| Walls and Bridges track listing | |
12 tracks
| |
"Beef Jerky" is an instrumental written by John Lennon that was released on his 1974 album Walls and Bridges and also as the b-side of the lead single from that album, the #1 hit "Whatever Gets You thru the Night."
Beatle historian Bruce Spizer describes "Beef Jerky" as a "funky instrumental."[1] "Beef Jerky" developed during the recording sessions for "#9 Dream" from variations Lennon composed based on the music of two songs from Lennon's previous album Mind Games, "Tight A$" and "Meat City."[2][3][4] In a nod to his old partner, it also contains a riff that replicates one from Paul McCartney's "Let Me Roll It," which was a song McCartney wrote in a "Lennon style."[3][5][6] Uncut contributor David Cavanagh believes Lennon meant no offense by using this riff, and simply "nicked it" because he liked it.[7] The sound of "Beef Jerky" was inspired by the early rhythm and blues songs."[8] At one point during the song's bridge, there is a chorus calling out the song's title "beef jerky" several times[1] mimicking The Bar-kays similar bridge in their instrumental hit "Soul Finger". Lennon acknowledged its debt to earlier rhythm and blues and soul music by including a credit to "Booker Table and the Maitre D's," a pun on Booker T and the MGs.[2][9] The title comes from the dried meat strips that Lennon and then-girlfriend May Pang used to eat in the recording studio.[1]
Lennon said of the song "I like this one because I don't sing, and I can stand listening to it without hearing me voice all the time."[10]
Music critic Johnny Rogan claims that the horn playing of "Beef Jerky" by Bobby Keys and others is a good imitation of the Stax Records sound, particularly that of The Mar-Keys and Bar-Kays.[4] He also praises the guitar interplay between Lennon and Jesse Ed Davis.[4] Music lecturers Ben Urish and Ken Bielen describe the song as "a brass-laden rocker that moves through rhythmic variations and distinctive horn riffs with aplomb and ease.[2] Music critic Tim Riley calls the song a "juicy instrumental" that helps give Walls and Bridges a "rocker's pulse."[11]
Beatle biographer John Blaney states that although Lennon incorporates a clever production and a good horn arrangement, he finds the song to be "pedestrian."[8] Blaney particularly criticizes the decision to put the rhythm section low in the mix, but like Rogan he praises Lennon's and Davis' guitar playing.[8] Beatle historians Chip Madinger and Mark Easter call the song "a somewhat pointless instrumental," and felt that like "What You Got," which would be Lennon's next b-side, it doesn't go anywhere after the opening verse.[12] Allmusic critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine considers it "mediocre."[13]
Music journalist Paul Du Noyer finds the song to be『nothing special — just an efficiently funky, bustling rocker』but notes that it plays an important role on Walls and Bridges by relieving some of the tension on the album between "the cold-hearted masterpiece of invective" "Steel and Glass" and what he considers "the most tortured track" on the album, "Nobody Loves You (When You're Down and Out)."[9] Urish and Bielen agree that the instrumental serves as an important role on the album as a "palette cleanser" between those two songs.[2]
