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Watching the Wheels

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Wikipedia article




{{Infobox song

| name = Watching the Wheels

| cover = Watching the Wheels (John Lennon single - cover art).jpg

| alt =

| type = single

| artist = John Lennon

| album = Double Fantasy

| B-side = "Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy)" (US Reissue)

"Yes, I'm Your Angel" (Yoko Ono) (UK/US)

| released = 13 March 1981 (US)
27 March 1981 (UK)

| recorded = 1980

| studio =

| venue =

| genre = Pop rock

| length = 3:30

| label = Geffen Records

| writer = John Lennon

| producer = John Lennon, Yoko Ono & Jack Douglas

| prev_title = Woman

| prev_year = 1981

| next_title = Love

| next_year = 1982

| misc =

}}

"'Watching the Wheels'" is a single by John Lennon released posthumously in 1981, after his murder. The B-side features Yoko Ono's "Yes, I'm Your Angel." It was the third and final single released from Lennon and Ono's album 'Double Fantasy', and reached No. 10 in the US on the 'Billboard' Hot 100 and No. 7 on 'Cashbox Magazine's' Top 100. It peaked at number 30 in the UK.

Writing and recording



In "Watching the Wheels" Lennon addresses those who were confounded by his "househusband" years, 19751980, during which he retired from the music industry to concentrate on raising his son Sean with Ono. The acoustic demo of "Watching the Wheels" is featured in the ending credits to the 2009 film 'Funny People'. The song features a hammered dulcimer accompanying the lead piano. Though most of the musicians on the album were well-known and oft-recorded session players, the dulcimer was played by one Matthew Cunningham; producer Jack Douglas invited Cunningham to the session after having heard him playing dulcimer on the streets of New York.

Artwork



The photograph on the cover was taken by Paul Goresh, a fan of Lennon who also took the infamous photo of Lennon signing the copy of 'Double Fantasy' belonging to Mark David Chapman shortly before Chapman murdered Lennon. Both photos were taken at the same place, in front of the Dakota building, which was the site of his 1980 shooting. Later, Chapman was recorded in police custody reciting the line "People say I'm crazy" from the song and was later sampled for use by the band EMF in the track "Lies" from their 1991 album 'Schubert Dip'; however, upon immediate protests by Yoko Ono the sampling was removed on subsequent pressings.

Personnel



*John Lennon vocals, piano, keyboards

*Earl Slick, Hugh McCracken lead guitar

*Tony Levin bass guitar

*George Small keyboards, piano, Fender Rhodes

*Eric Troyer Prophet-5

*Andy Newmark drums

* Matthew Cunningham hammer dulcimer

*Arthur Jenkins percussion

* Michelle Simpson, Cassandra Wooten, Cheryl Mason Jacks, Eric Troyer backing vocals

Chart performance



Weekly charts



Year-end charts



Cover versions



The song has been covered by Gwen Guthrie (1992), The Samples (1997); Paraguayan rock band Deliverans released a Spanish version on the compilation album 'Lennon Vive: Un tributo del Rock paraguayo' (2000), Matisyahu for the benefit album 'Instant Karma: The Amnesty International Campaign to Save Darfur' (2007), and Charly Garca under the name "Mirando las ruedas" for his album 'Kill Gil' (2010). Patrick Wolf re-arranged the song for a performance at Yoko Ono's Meltdown Festival at the Southbank Centre.

An acoustic demo version of the song, performed by Lennon, was featured on the soundtrack of Judd Apatow's 2009 film 'Funny People'.

In 2020, a cover of the song by Chris Cornell, a huge fan of John Lennon, was included on his posthumous album 'No One Sings Like You Anymore, Vol. 1'.[https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-album-reviews/chris-cornell-no-one-sings-like-you-anymore-review-1101439/ 'Chris Cornells Historic Voice and Great Ear Take Center Stage on the Covers LP, No One Sings Like You Anymore'], rollingstone.com, December 11, 2020

References



Category:John Lennon songs

Category:1981 singles

Category:Songs written by John Lennon

Category:Song recordings produced by Jack Douglas (record producer)

Category:Song recordings produced by John Lennon

Category:Song recordings produced by Yoko Ono

Category:Songs released posthumously

Category:Geffen Records singles

Category:1980 songs

Category:Songs about fathers

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