“God” by John Lennon

"God" belongs to John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band, Lennon's first solo album since the Beatles, released on 11 December 1970, and it's the song where he name-checks the Beatles themselves, along with a string of other cultural touchstones. The final take went down at Abbey Road on 9 October 1970, his 30th birthday, with Ringo Starr on drums and Klaus Voormann on bass, the rhythm section for the whole record.

It took some finding. According to Voormann, Lennon first brought the song in on guitar before moving over to piano, and when the early arrangements didn't give him the gospel feel he was after, Billy Preston was called in to play grand piano beside him. Lennon kept the arrangement plain on purpose: "simple rock and nothing else", as he put it. Yoko Ono adds wind instruments, and Lennon, Ono and Phil Spector produced.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.