A performance of Instant Karma delivered by John Lennon on Top of the Pops has one “annoying” part according to fans.
The Beatles‘ songwriter went on to enjoy a series of successful solo album releases, as well as a few boundary-pushing avant-garde creations, too. His performance of Instant Karma on Top of the Pops not only marked the first time a Beatle had appeared on the show alone, but also provided fans with one of the best performances of the single, released in 1970. Phil Spector, who produced the song and went on to finish Let it Be for The Beatles, came out of retirement to finish the Lennon track. The Imagine and Walls and Bridges writer would go on to perform the track, which has one “annoying” portion in it.
A post to the r/Beatles subreddit saw a fan share a video of the performance. They wrote: “John Lennon becomes the first solo Beatle to appear on Top of the Pops with Instant Karma on February 12, 1970.” Though the performance has been well received by listeners, there was one part of the song which stands out.
One user wrote of the backing performers: “Is that Glyn Johns hitting the tambourine? Klaus Voorman on the bass sounding great.” The echo of their work, however, is “annoying” to one fan. They wrote: “Echo is all sort of annoying.”
But the echo heard on the song is what Lennon and Spector had agreed upon, according to another user. They replied with a quote from Richard Williams, the Spector biographer who broke down the studio and live performances of Instant Karma. Williams wrote: “No Beatles record had ever possessed such a unique sound; Spector had used echo to make the drums reverberate like someone slapping a wet fish on a marble slab, and the voices sounded hollow and decayed.”
Others were left wondering why Top of the Pops had Lennon sing along with the pre-recorded version of the song. One user asked: “Is he singing along with the recorded version? Sounds weird.”
Another added: “That’s how they did it.” A third wrote: “It sounds like they were trying to use a delay effect and it got squirrelly at times.” Though it sounds as though Lennon is performing over a pre-recorded song, the “echoed” sound has split fans.
One wrote: “Lennon started using that echo mic in the 70s. I really hated the sound. His voice sounded better without it.” Another wrote: “Lots of what John liked, called slap back effect, on vocals a la early Elvis [Presley]. Epic song. Stephen King took notice and wrote The Shining. ( some say John was inspired by the ‘shine on till tomorrow’ line in Let It Be. Unfounded but interesting.”
Another added: “Love the passion on the performance. I remember reading John was really excited about coming up with this song and it shows here.” A third joked: “Can we have more echo, please? I’m still not having enough trouble following the song.”
