Fans of the legendary songwriter John Lennon believe one of his very best songs does not “get enough love.”
Lennon wrote some of the all-time greatest songs, including Come Together, Whatever Gets You Thru the Night, and Imagine. But a song which has not received as much praise as his classic tracks, written during his days in The Beatles and afterwards, has been shared to the r/JohnLennon subreddit. A user has praised it as “one of the best Lennon songs” but believes it has not received as much praise as it deserves. The Mind Games track was spoken of favourably by fans who suggested it, and the album it can be found on, are underrated gems in the Lennon discography.
According to biographer Bob Gruen, the song Aisumasen (I’m Sorry) was written when Lennon had a chance encounter with Gloria Swanson in a store. Lennon was then sent a copy of a George Ohsawa book, You Are All Sanpaku, which had been translated by Swanson’s husband, Bill Dufty. Gruen writes: “In the spring of ’76, by chance John bumped into the film star and anti-sugar crusader Gloria Swanson in a grocery store. Her husband Bill Dufty had translated George Ohsawa’s book You Are All Sanpaku into English.
“She sent a copy to John, he read it, got totally into it again, got obsessed with it and bought a box of books and gave them to everybody he knew as well as Dufty’s other book, Sugar Blues.”
This obsession appears to have manifested on the song Aisumasen (I’m Sorry), a track which features on his 1973 release, Mind Games. Fans believe it to be one of Lennon’s most underrated efforts. A post from one fan reads: “In my opinion, it has to be one of the best Lennon songs, but I never see people talk about it. The tone, the guitar solo. Really dang good if you’ve never heard it.”
Another agreed, adding: “I really like that whole album. It doesn’t get a lot of love.” A third added: “Beautiful song, one of my favourites. On that day [Lennon’s death], I was so shocked and saddened that I put this album on my turntable before I went to bed.
“I thought, if this is a bad dream, when I wake up and the record isn’t on the player, it didn’t happen. Of course when I woke up, the record was on the turntable so I knew it was true.”
Other listeners are suggesting the whole Mind Games project is sorely underrated. One user wrote: “Criminally underrated album. The only things I don’t like are that the bass player overplays and the background singers are too generic.”
Another added: “The acoustic guitar — performed by David Spinozza, if I am not mistaken — is good. I find the plaintive tone of this, and so many of John’s songs to Yoko, depressing and disturbing. Where did his strength go?”
A third fan wrote: “Great song! It was amazing getting the box set last year. Mind Games is probably my favourite John solo album.”
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