The second track on 1973’s Mind Games album, ‘Tight A$’ found John Lennon reverting to playful lyrical wordplay after the politics of the previous year’s Some Time In New York City.

Just a throwaway track. I felt like doing that kind of a song. It’s a Tex-Mexsound which actually you could play now and it would be au courant, but I don’t think many people were doing it then.
John Lennon, 1980
All We Are Saying, David Sheff

In May-July 1973 Lennon recorded a series of home demos for several songs which later appeared on Mind Games and Walls And Bridges, among them ‘Tight A$’. At that stage the song featured a guitar riff which he later refined for ‘Beef Jerky’.

Lennon produced the Mind Games album himself, marking a temporary halt to his partnership with Phil Spector. The recording for ‘Tight A$’ was straightforward, uncomplicated rock ‘n’ roll so beloved of Lennon, with playful lyrics referencing sex and drugs.

The final studio was edited by almost a minute for the album, with some solo guitar work by David Spinozza becoming lost along the way.


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