Yeah, it’s another John Lennon song. I’m sorry if that bothers you, I don’t know why it would, but there’s no song I have beginning with ‘Nobody’ that came between this and the last one. This track has much less of a “woe is me” energy to it than ‘Nobody Loves You’, but possesses more of a “What the hell is going on around here?” tone. It’s a sentiment that Lennon felt being out of the music business, devoting his time as a father to his newborn son and seeing things on the news and in the street that freaked him out.

‘Nobody Told Me’ was one of the many tracks Lennon laid down to tape, having decided to get back into the music business after a five-year retirement that began in 1975, a year which coincided with the birth of his second son Sean. Yoko Ono stated that she thought that Lennon felt the world has “lost its direction”, but was also starting to realise that life in general was always going to move in mysterious ways. The lyrics list these situations and play-on-words that depict a sense of stasis and passivity. And for a guy who was a face of the peace movement a decade earlier, the lack of people taking a stand against injustice, or just anything to stand for in general, might just have weirded him out a bit.

The track’s carried by this great swinging rhythm, which Lennon and his 80s backing band put a fantastic weight behind. The timing is played with a little during those piano/guitar ascending/descending melody sections that occur for the pre-chorus. But it all comes crashing back into motion when the actual chorus hits in which Lennon belts out the “Nobody told me there’d be days like these” refrain amidst the rising, rolling guitar fills and swooping bass licks. Some sweet bass going on in this song by the way, played by Tony Levin. Personal highlight for me. What you may not know, is that the track was originally going to be given to Ringo Starr to sing. He and Lennon were to work together in the studio in 1981 for Starr’s upcoming album, but Lennon’s murder brought a tragic end to any plans that were to happen. I have a feeling that the song would have to be changed somewhat to fit Starr’s style. Maybe a key change to suit his voice. It probably wouldn’t have had the same effect. So although things didn’t quite turn out the way they were meant to, I quite glad we still have this.