Nobody Told Me

The lyrics reference the yellow idol in J. Milton Hayes' poem The Green Eye of the Yellow God. The first stanza of the poem runs: "There's a one-eyed yellow idol to the north of Kathmandu."

{{citation

|title=The Green Eye of the Yellow God

|first1=J. Milton

|last1=Hayes

|first2=Cuthbert

|last2=Clarke

|date=1911

|type=score for recitation with musical accompaniment, plate 1534

|publisher=Reynolds & Co.

|location=London

|url=https://www.birmingham.gov.uk/download/downloads/id/8731/the_green_eye_of_the_yellow_god.pdf

}}{{NoteTag|Also notice that the radio programme The Goon Show (1951-1960), a Lennon's favourite, has an episode where the characters joke around the phrase: "There's a little yellow idol to the north of Kathmandu"{{Cite web |title=The Goon Show Site - Script - The Fear of Wages (Series 6, Episode 25) |url=http://www.thegoonshow.net/scripts_show.asp?title=s06e25_the_fear_of_wages |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070816031556/http://thegoonshow.net/scripts_show.asp?title=s06e25_the_fear_of_wages |url-status=dead |archive-date=16 August 2007 |access-date=2023-04-08 |website=The Goon Show Site}} using the adjective "little" as the song lyrics.Lennon, John; Ono, Yoko. Milk and Honey. 2001 Digitally Remastered Edition. CD booklet liner notes (song lyrics). EMI.|group="note"}}

Another line in the song is "There's UFOs over New York and I ain't too surprised". In the liner notes to his 1974 album Walls and Bridges, Lennon wrote: "On the 23rd August 1974 at 9 o'clock I saw a U.F.O. – J.L.". May Pang, John's girlfriend at the time, described the event in her book Loving John, when both of them saw a "saucer-shaped object surrounded by blinking white lights gliding through the sky".{{Cite book |last1=Pang |first1=May |title=Loving John |last2=Edwards |first2=Henry |publisher=Warner Books |year=1983 |location=New York |pages=247–248 |language=en}}

The lines "Nobody told me there'd be days like these / Strange days indeed / Most peculiar, mama" are in contrast to the old adage "My mother told me there'd be days like this" (as in The Shirelles' song "Mama Said").

Yoko Ono called the track "kind of a fun song." She told Uncut in 1998: "I think that especially around that time he felt that again, the world had lost its course, its direction. I really think that it's to do with, not confusion but starting to learn that life is always gonna be a mystery."{{Cite journal |last=Carol |first=Clark |date=January 1998 |title=Yoko Ono on John Lennon |journal=Uncut |issue=8}}{{Verification needed|date=April 2023}}

Recorded but left incomplete shortly before his death in 1980, the song was later completed by Lennon's widow Yoko Ono in 1983{{Cite web|url=https://www.musixmatch.com/lyrics/John-Lennon-feat-Yoko-Ono/Nobody-Told-Me|title=John Lennon & Yoko Ono - Nobody Told Me Lyrics|website=musiXmatch|language=en|access-date=2019-10-28}} and released as the first single from Lennon and Ono's album Milk and Honey in 1984. The song was later re-released in the UK in 1990 with "I'm Stepping Out" on the B-side.{{cite web |url=http://rateyourmusic.com/release/single/john_lennon/nobody_told_me___im_stepping_out/|title=Nobody Told Me/I'm Stepping Out by John Lennon|access-date=29 October 2011}}{{Better source needed|reason=Rateyourmusic is a unreliable source|date=March 2020}} The song was originally written for Ringo Starr to include on his 1981 album, Stop and Smell the Roses, but due to Lennon's death, Starr decided not to record it.

A promo video for "Nobody Told Me" was compiled in 2003 for the DVD Lennon Legend: The Very Best of John Lennon, featuring Lennon and Ono in archival footage from the early 1970s. The majority of the video's content was edited from newly transferred footage and out-takes from Lennon and Ono's 1972 film Imagine. Also featured in the music video are Phil Spector, George Harrison, Dick Cavett, Fred Astaire, Andy Warhol and Miles Davis.

Cash Box said that "a melodic cross between 'Just Like Starting Over' and 'Instant Karma', the song begins with a hearty 'one-two-three-four' and launches into an inspiring, sentimental and memorable ode to the world, the human race, and Lennon's own consciousness."{{cite magazine|title=Reviews|magazine=Cash Box|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Cash-Box/80s/1984/CB-1984-01-14.pdf|date=January 14, 1984|accessdate=2022-07-22|page=9}}

• John Lennon – vocals, rhythm guitar
• Earl Slick, Hugh McCracken – lead guitar
• Tony Levin – bass
• George Small – keyboards
• Andy Newmark – drums
• Arthur Jenkins – percussion

"Nobody Told Me" was Lennon's last new single to reach the UK top 10, peaking at number 6 in January 1984 (although a reissue of "Imagine" reached number 3 in December 1999). The single was also Lennon's last US top 10 hit, peaking at number 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 6 on the Cashbox Top 100,{{cite book|last=Blaney|first=John|title=John Lennon: Listen to This Book|year=2005|publisher=Paper Jukebox|location=[S.l.]|isbn=978-0-9544528-1-0|edition=illustrated|page=326}} and was his third single to enter the US top 10 posthumously.

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• The Flaming Lips recorded a version for the 1995 John Lennon tribute album Working Class Hero: A Tribute to John Lennon.{{Citation |title=Various Artists - Working Class Hero: A Tribute to John Lennon |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/working-class-hero-a-tribute-to-john-lennon-mw0000179837 |access-date=2023-04-08 |publisher=AllMusic |language=en}}
• The 2007 benefit album Instant Karma: The Amnesty International Campaign to Save Darfur contained a version by Big & Rich.{{Citation |title=Various Artists - Instant Karma: The Amnesty International Campaign to Save Darfur |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/instant-karma-the-amnesty-international-campaign-to-save-darfur-mw0000577865 |access-date=2023-04-08 |publisher=Allmusic |language=en}}

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{{Reflist}}

• [{{Allmusic|class=album|id=r11541|pure_url=yes}} Milk and Honey] at Allmusic.
• [http://www.jpgr.co.uk/pctc253.html Walls and Bridges] discography on JPGR
• {{YouTube|R1bV8gOvJAo|John Lennon - Nobody Told Me}}

{{John Lennon singles}}

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Category:1984 singles

Category:John Lennon songs

Category:Songs released posthumously

Category:Songs written by John Lennon

Category:Song recordings produced by John Lennon

Category:Song recordings produced by Yoko Ono

Category:Songs about extraterrestrial life

Category:Polydor Records singles

Category:1984 songs