"Gimme Some Truth"
Song by John Lennon
from the album Imagine
Released	September 9, 1971 (US) October 8, 1971 (UK)
Recorded	1971
Genre	Rock
Length	3:16
Label	Apple/EMI
Writer(s)	John Lennon
Producer(s)	John Lennon, Yoko Ono, and Phil Spector
Imagine track listing
I Don't Wanna Be a Soldier Mama I Don't Wanna Die (5)	"Gimme Some Truth" (6)	Oh My Love (7)

"Gimme Some Truth" is a protest song written and performed by John Lennon from his 1971 album Imagine. Image File history File links File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... [[ For other uses, see Song (disambiguation). ... John Winston Ono Lennon, MBE (October 9, 1940 – December 8, 1980), (born John Winston Lennon, known as John Ono Lennon) was an iconic English 20th century rock and roll songwriter and singer, best known as the founding member of The Beatles. ... Imagine is John Lennons second solo album and is the most popular of his solo works. ... September 9 is the 252nd day of the year (253rd in leap years). ... 1971 (MCMLXXI) was a common year starting on Friday. ... October 8 is the 281st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (282nd in leap years). ... 1971 (MCMLXXI) was a common year starting on Friday. ... 1971 (MCMLXXI) was a common year starting on Friday. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Rock and roll. ... This does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Apple Records logo, featuring a Granny Smith apple. ... The EMI Group (LSE: EMI) is an English music company comprising the major record company, EMI Music which operates several labels, based in Brook Green in London, England, and EMI Music Publishing, based on Charing Cross Road, London. ... A songwriter is someone who writes the lyrics to songs, the musical composition or melody to songs, or both. ... John Winston Ono Lennon, MBE (October 9, 1940 – December 8, 1980), (born John Winston Lennon, known as John Ono Lennon) was an iconic English 20th century rock and roll songwriter and singer, best known as the founding member of The Beatles. ... In the music industry, a record producer (or music producer) has many roles, among them controlling the recording sessions, coaching and guiding the musicians, and supervising the recording, mixing and mastering processes. ... John Winston Ono Lennon, MBE (October 9, 1940 – December 8, 1980), (born John Winston Lennon, known as John Ono Lennon) was an iconic English 20th century rock and roll songwriter and singer, best known as the founding member of The Beatles. ... Yoko Ono Lennon (born February 18, 1933) is a Japanese musician and artist best known as the widow of John Lennon of The Beatles. ... Harvey Phillip Spector (born December 26, 1940) is an American musician, songwriter and record producer. ... Imagine is John Lennons second solo album and is the most popular of his solo works. ... A protest song is a song intended to protest perceived problems in society such as injustice, racial discrimination, war, globalization, inflation, social inequalities, incarceration, the Greenhouse effect, the global warming. ... John Winston Ono Lennon, MBE (October 9, 1940 – December 8, 1980), (born John Winston Lennon, known as John Ono Lennon) was an iconic English 20th century rock and roll songwriter and singer, best known as the founding member of The Beatles. ... 1971 (MCMLXXI) was a common year starting on Friday. ... Imagine is John Lennons second solo album and is the most popular of his solo works. ...

Like several songs on the album, such as the title track "Imagine" ," "Gimme Some Truth" has blatant political references emerging from the time it was written, during the latter years of the Vietnam War. Imagine is a utopian song performed by John Lennon, which appears on his 1971 album, Imagine. ... Combatants Republic of Vietnam United States Republic of Korea Thailand Australia New Zealand The Philippines National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam Democratic Republic of Vietnam People’s Republic of China Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea Strength US 1,000,000 South Korea 300,000 Australia 48,000...

The song expresses Lennon's frustration with deceptive politicians ("short-haired yellow-bellied sons of Tricky Dicky"), chauvinism ("tight-lipped condescending mommy's little chauvinists"), and acts of military violence such as the My Lai massacre. The song encapsulates the general feeling of the time, when people were heavily participating in protest rallies against the government. Chauvinism is extreme and unreasoning partisanship on behalf of a group to which one belongs, especially when the partisanship includes malice and hatred towards a rival group. ... Photographs of the My Lai massacre provoked world outrage and made it an international scandal. ... Demonstrators march in the street while protesting the World Bank and International Monetary Fund on April 16, 2005. ...

Lennon's dig at US President Richard Nixon, referring to him in the lyrics of the song as "Tricky Dicky," proved to be increasingly relevant after the song's release, when in 1972 the Watergate scandal erupted. "Tricky Dicky" became a popular nickname for Nixon during the Watergate hearings, and came into widespread usage. Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913 – April 22, 1994) was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. ... 1972 (MCMLXXII) was a leap year starting on Saturday. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ...

The song references the nursery rhyme "Old Mother Hubbard," using the rhyme's content (about a woman going to get her dog a bone, only to discover that her cupboard is empty) as a political parallel to the events of the day, a practice that goes all the way back to when the rhyme was originally printed in 1805. The song also alludes to "soft soap," using it as a slang term for liquid soap, likening its slippery qualities to a politician trying to quell public unrest with insincere praise. A nursery rhyme is a traditional rubbish sony that edgar nursery invented while feeding a pig from his asssong or poem taught to young children, originally in the nursery. ... Old Mother Hubbard is a nursery rhyme. ... 1805 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... Slang is the use of highly informal words and expressions that are not considered standard in the speakers dialect or language. ... Handmade soap Soap is a surfactant used in conjunction with water for washing and cleaning. ...

Origins

Work on the song began as early as January 1969 during the Beatles' Get Back sessions, which would eventually evolve into Let It Be. Bootleg recordings of the group peforming songs that would eventually go onto the members' solo recordings feature a few performances of "Gimme Some Truth." January is the first month of the year and one of seven Gregorian months with the length of 31 days. ... For the Stargate SG-1 episode, see 1969 (Stargate SG-1). ... The Beatles were an English rock band from Liverpool whose members were John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. ... Let It Be is the twelfth and final album by the Beatles, released on May 8, 1970 by the bands own Apple Records label. ...

Trivia

• John Lennon's fellow former Beatle George Harrison plays lead guitar on the song, with Klaus Voormann (a longtime friend of the Beatles and designer of the cover for their Revolver album) on bass.
• A 2000 direct-to-video documentary film showing the recording sessions and evolution of Imagine took its title, Gimme Some Truth: The Making of John Lennon's Imagine Album, from this song.
• John Wiener took the title of this song for his 1999 book, Gimme Some Truth: The John Lennon FBI Files, about Lennon's problems with the government in the 1970s.

This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Klaus Voormann (born 29 April 1938) is a German artist, musician, and record producer who was associated with the early days of The Beatles in Hamburg and later designed the cover of their album Revolver. ... Revolver is the Beatles seventh album, released on August 5, 1966. ... 2000 (MM) was a leap year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... A film that is released direct-to-video (also straight-to-video) is one which has been released to the public on home video formats first rather than first being released in movie theaters. ... Documentary film is a broad category of visual expression that is based on the attempt, in one fashion or another, to document reality. ... 1999 (MCMXCIX) was a common year starting on Friday, and was designated the International Year of Older Persons by the United Nations. ... A chained book in the Bodleian Library at Oxford University A Chinese bamboo book, in a collection at the University of California, Riverside. ... The 1970s decade refers to the years from 1970 to 1979, inclusive. ...

External links

• Song lyrics
• "Gimme Some Truth" facts at Songfacts