Recording and Issue
It ranks as one of the fastest-released songs in pop music history, recorded at London's Abbey Road Studios the same day it was written, and arriving in stores only ten days later. Lennon remarked to the press, he "wrote it for breakfast, recorded it for lunch, and we're putting it out for dinner." The record was produced by Phil Spector, the first of many recordings by the Beatles that Spector worked on that year.
Backed by Ono's "Who Has Seen the Wind?", which Lennon produced, the pair appeared on Top of the Pops to perform the song live.
George Harrison would later remark that he was enticed and interested by Lennon's idea of an instant single release, and this partially contributed to Harrison's willingness to participate. Harrison felt that it related in some way to his devotion to the Hindu religion (karma) and he therefore felt Lennon could use the single to promote it.
Like the previous Lennon solo single, "Cold Turkey," the single was released with a standard green Apple label, with the words "PLAY LOUD" printed on the spindle plug of the UK pressing and above and beneath the spindle hole of the US single pressing. The B-side label, by contrast, carried the words "PLAY QUIET" ("PLAY SOFT" in the US). The song is one of three Lennon solo songs, along with "Imagine" and "Give Peace a Chance", in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Read more about this topic: Instant Karma!
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