(*Long Read*)
Wow! I can't believe this album is 50 years old! Happy anniversary Walls and Bridges!
I really had to think about this one and slim it to the top 4 favorites bc I think I could comment on each track!
It is one of my favorite albums of Lennon's solo stuff.
To make my decision just a tad easier I eliminated the singles. "Whatever Gets You Thru the Night" and "#9 Dream", but will still give a bit of thought to them.
I only feel it is fair to do this on this specific album because there is some really good stuff on it besides the singles and to choose either or both of them for me, in my top favorites would seem like I was cheating the album. In my opinion, it's one of his underrated ones.
I love them both dearly, though. Out of the two I'm putting "#9 Dream" at top.
"WGYTTN" is a fun jam boogie with Elton John and what a great pair! The lyrics are very clever
"don't need a saw to cut through flowers...", "Don't need a gun to blow your mind.." "Whatever Gets You to the light.." ...etc.
The saxophone
in the beginning and the SNL intro seem similar and wondered if the SNL was influenced by it.
"#9 Dream" is easily in my top 10 overall the Lennon catalog. It is a favorite. One of the working titles for it was "Walls and Bridges" , and used that as the album title. The string arrangement that John wrote for Harry Nilsson's
"Many Rivers to Cross" , (which, if you haven't heard that one folks, stop now and go have a listen!) and liked it so much he incorporated it into this one too! It fits well.
I love the phrase "
Ah! böwakawa poussé, poussé", came from a dream, the sound of the melody evokes that dream like feel, it's beautiful. I love the line "Music touching my soul..." I could go on about this one.
With all that said, here are my top 4 from "Walls and Bridges":
-
"Nobody Loves You (When You're Down and Out)"
That part where the drums build up and..
"Well I get up in the morning and I'm looking in the mirror to see, ooo wee! Then I'm lying in the darkness and you know I can't get to sleep, ooo wee!"
It's like breaking through the glass.
The whole song is just great, the arrangement, his vocals and the sofly brutally honest (and relatable) lyrics. It's an underrated song.
-"Bless You"
Another beautiful one and comes from a place of love and well wishes, "
though love is strained, our love will remain" respectful and aware that no matter how it was going to turn out with Yoko, still wishing her well and that love would still exist between them, no matter the form of it, because of what they did have and share before. The form may change but love remains.
-"
Scared"
Mostly bc it's hauntingly honest, and anxiety in song form. It sort of echos the pain and days pf POB but with a more "dirty jazz" feel to it.
-"
Steel and Glass"
I agree with what
@skylarmoody said on this one.
It's his more mature version of "
Nowhere Man" in the way that it's third person but also that person IS John.
Perhaps the
Mr. Hyde side talking and his own way of dealing with it was to frame it as about another, but it's really him...again. (btw..love that TOGWT interview with Bob Harris!)
I've also thought this song seems to pair with
"Scared", like a part 1 and part 2, of each other.
-------
The album cover and inside notes are great. His drawings from childhood, the wonderful and interchangeable pictures, and we see a few different aliases in there including, Dr. Winston O'Boogie, Hon. John St. John Johnson and Kaptain Kundalini, to name a few. The ufo note and the genealogical bit on the surname "Lennon" as well. (Oh Yeh?)
There is a lot more I could say about this album and that period, but I've said quite enough for now, just on these songs.
I hope whenever they do the ultimate remaster for this album that they relaunch the "Listen to this...." ads and merch.
"Listen to this post!"
I realize this ended up being rather lengthy one, so a big
Thank you if you've read this whole post! Happy Walls and Bridges day!
