Out The Blue

One of the highlights of John Lennon’s fourth solo album Mind Games was ‘Out The Blue’, a love song written for Yoko Ono.

The song presented the pair as destined to be together, and presents Ono as a burst of energy coming into his life when he was suffering with “life’s misery”. The theme of “two minds, one destiny” recurs in several places on Mind Games, with a search for completion at the heart of ‘You Are Here’ and ‘One Day (At A Time)’.

Well, that’s just another kinda love song. Nothin’ special.

‘Out The Blue’ was written while Lennon and Ono were undergoing marital problems, and was recorded after they had split up and he had begun an affair with May Pang. Lennon took the temporary break-up harder, pouring his emotions into his songs.

The song was one of the more focused and successful on Mind Games. The initial stripped-down recording wouldn’t have sounded out of place on John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band, but Lennon sweetened it with backing vocals later in the sessions. The result was a recording which would have made a fine second single from the album, but it was not to be.