"Cold Turkey" | ||||||||||||
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Single by Plastic Ono Band | ||||||||||||
B-side | "Don't Worry Kyoko (Mummy's Only Looking for a Hand in the Snow)" by Yoko Ono | |||||||||||
Released | 20 October 1969 (US) 24 October 1969 (UK) |
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Format | 7" | |||||||||||
Recorded | 30 September 1969 at EMI Studios, London | |||||||||||
Genre | Rock | |||||||||||
Length | 5:01 | |||||||||||
Label | Apple | |||||||||||
Writer(s) | John Lennon | |||||||||||
Producer(s) | John Lennon, Yoko Ono | |||||||||||
Plastic Ono Band singles chronology | ||||||||||||
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16 tracks |
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"Cold Turkey" is a song written by John Lennon, released as a single in 1969 by the Plastic Ono Band on Apple Records, catalogue Apples 1001 in the United Kingdom, Apple 1813 in the United States. It is the second solo single issued by Lennon, and it peaked at number 30 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 14 on the UK Singles Chart. The song's first appearance on an album was Live Peace in Toronto 1969 where the song had been performed live on 13 September 1969 with Lennon reading the lyrics off a clip-board.
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. However Lennon's personal assistant in the late 1970s Fred Seaman claimed otherwise, stating that Lennon confided in him that the song was actually about a severe case of food poisoning suffered by John and Yoko after eating Christmas leftovers "cold turkey". Lennon thought people would laugh at him if they knew the truth about the song's origin, so he said it was inspired by his recent heroin withdrawal. Brown states that Lennon presented the song to Paul McCartney as a potential single by The Beatles, as they were finishing recording for their Abbey Road album, but was refused and released it as a Plastic Ono Band single with sole writing credits to him.
"Cold Turkey" was the first song Lennon wrote for which he took sole credit; his previous compositions, including his first single release, "Give Peace a Chance", were attributed to the Lennon–McCartney partnership, although the credit for "Give Peace a Chance" was later changed to Lennon alone. It was recorded in Abbey Road Studio 2, and features Eric Clapton. There are other versions besides the single, several of which are acoustic, and a live version included on Live in New York City that features Ono adding vocalizations.