I Found Out

For the song by The Pigeon Detectives, see I Found Out (The Pigeon Detectives song).

"I Found Out"
Song

"I Found Out" is a song by the English musician John Lennon from his 1970 album John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band.

Writing and recording

The song expresses Lennon's disillusionment with a world dominated by what he saw as false religion and idols, and warns against being taken in by such beliefs.

In common with another theme on the album, the song is also critical of Lennon's former band The Beatles. During the late 1960s, bandmate George Harrison became interested in Eastern mysticism; Lennon dismisses Harrison's beloved gurus and Hare Krishna mantra as "pie in the sky" and refers to "religion from Jesus to Paul".

The instrumentation, style, and production of the song are typical of Lennon's Plastic Ono Band era work. The song features a low, rumbling tremolo guitar, thumping drums, a rolling, minimal bass guitar line, and a scathing vocal delivery. The recording is bare-bones, in stark contrast to the heavy production of Lennon's later albums. It is influenced more heavily by blues music than other songs on Plastic Ono Band.

Personnel

The musicians who performed on the original recording were as follows:

• John Lennon – vocals, guitar
• Ringo Starr – drums
• Klaus Voormann – bass

Popular culture

The song was covered by the Red Hot Chili Peppers on Working Class Hero: A Tribute to John Lennon.

The song has also been recorded by Nathaniel Mayer on I Just Want to Be Held (2004).

External links

• Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics