Serve yourself (anthology version) - john lennon - home recording (1980)









Intro:



You say you found jesus christ

He's the only one

You say you've found buddha

Sittin' in the sun

You say you found mohammed

Facin' to the east

You say you found krishna

Dancin' in the streets



Well there's somethin' missing in this god almighty stew

And it's your mother (your mother, don't forget your mother, lad)

You got to serve yourself

Ain't nobody gonna do it for you

You got to serve yourself

Ain't nobody gonna do it for you

Well you may believe in devils and you may believe in lords

But if you don't go out and serve yourself, lad, ain't no room service here



It's still the same old story

A bloody holy war

A fight for love and glory

Ain't gonna study war no more

A fight for god and country

We're gonna set you free

We'll put you back in the stone age

If you won't be like me - get it?



You got to serve yourself

Ain't nobody gonna do for you

You got to serve yourself

Ain't nobody gonna do for you

Well you may believe in devils and you may believe in lords



'but christ, you're gonna have to serve yourself and that's all there is to it.

So get right back here it's in the bloody fridge. god, when i was a kid.

Didn't have stuff like this, tv-fuckin' dinners and all that crap.

You fuckin' kids are all the fuckin' same! want a fuckin' car now...

Lucky to have a pair of shoes!'



You tell me you found jesus christ

Well that's great and he's the only one

You say you just found buddha

Sittin' on his ass in the sun

You say you found mohammed

Kneeling on a bloody carpet facin' the east

You say you found krishna

With a bald head dancin' in the street ('well, christ, now you're

Being heard')



You got to serve yourself

Ain't nobody gonna do for you

You got to serve yourself

Ain't nobody gonna do for you ('that's right, lad, you better get that straight

Into your fuckin' head')

You got to serve yourself ('you know that, who else is gonna do it for you, it

Ain't me i tell you that')

Well, you may believe in jesus, and you may believe in marx

And you may believe in marks and spencer's and you may believe in bloody

Woolworths

But there's something missing in this whole bloody stew

And it's your mother, your poor bloody mother ('she worked for you in the

Back bedroom, full of piss and shit and fuckin' midwives. god, you can't

Forget that awful moment, you know. you should have been in the bloody

War, lad, and you would know all about it. well, i'll tell you something.')



It's still the same old story

A holy bloody war, you know, with the pope and all that stuff

A fight for love and glory

Ain't gonna study no more war

A fight for god and country, and the queen and all that

We're gonna set you free

Bomb you back into the fuckin' stone age

If you won't be like me, you know, get down on your knees and pray



Well there's somethin' missing in this god almighty stew

And it's your goddamn mother you dirty little git, now

Get in there and wash yer ears!









Note: "[this song] was right after dylan's song [...] "you

Gotta serve someone", you know - the lord, i suppose, you know.

So then he was kind of upset about that and it was a dialogue,

You know. in that sense it's fun, i mean you can hear it was

Fun. he wasn't seriously against it. he showed his anger in

A way but also [...] his sense of humour." (yoko ono, 1998)


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