Walls and Bridges is the fifth solo studio album by the English musician John Lennon. It was issued by Apple Records on 26 September 1974 in the United States and on 4 October in the United Kingdom. Written, recorded and released during his 18-month separation from Yoko Ono, the album captured Lennon in the midst of his "Lost Weekend". Walls and Bridges was an American number-one album on both the Billboard and Record World charts and included two hit singles, "Whatever Gets You thru the Night" and "#9 Dream". The first of these was Lennon's first number-one hit in the United States as a solo artist, and his only solo chart-topping single in either the US or Britain during his lifetime.
The album was certified silver in the UK, and gold in the US.
Background
In June 1973, as Lennon was about to record Mind Games, Ono suggested that she and Lennon should separate. Lennon soon moved to California with his and Ono's personal assistant May Pang with Ono's encouragement and they embarked on an 18-month relationship he would later refer to as his "Lost Weekend". While he and Pang were living in Los Angeles, Lennon took the opportunity to get reacquainted with his son Julian, whom he had not seen in two years.
Lennon had planned to begin recording Rock 'n' Roll with producer Phil Spector, but these sessions became legendary not for the music produced but for alcohol-fuelled antics. Lennon and Pang returned to New York and Spector disappeared with these session tapes.
Recording
Lennon began rehearsing his new material with studio musicians at Record Plant East in New York City in June 1974 which included Jim Keltner on drums, Klaus Voormann on bass guitar, Jesse Ed Davis on guitar and Arthur Jenkins on percussion. Ron Aprea, the saxophonist from the Little Big Horns, said that "Since he had no formal training in arranging, he would sit in the control room and let us make up our own parts. If he liked what we played, he would let us know ... If we thought we could get it better, he would say 'go for it'." Lennon said, "Walls keep you in either protectively or otherwise, and bridges get you somewhere else." and the lyrics reflect Lennon's feelings about his separation from Ono. The second track, "Whatever Gets You thru the Night" was issued as the album's first single. The inspiration for the lyrics came from late-night television. In December 2005, May Pang told Radio Times: "At night he loved to channel-surf, and would pick up phrases from all the shows. One time, he was watching Reverend Ike, a famous black evangelist, who was saying, "Let me tell you guys, it doesn't matter, it's whatever gets you through the night." John loved it and said, "I've got to write it down or I'll forget it." He always kept a pad and pen by the bed. That was the beginning of 'Whatever Gets You Thru the Night'." The music was inspired by the number one single at the time, "Rock Your Baby" by George McCrae. Although the released track bears little resemblance, the inspiration is more apparent on the alternative version released on John Lennon Anthology. The third track is the Lennon/Harry Nilsson composition "Old Dirt Road" which features Nilsson on harmony vocal.
The next two tracks, "What You Got" and "Bless You", are again songs addressing his feelings about his separation from Ono. Lennon later called the jazzy "Bless You" the "best piece of work on the album ... that seems to be the best track, to me." Side one closes with "Scared," a haunting track which explores Lennon's fear of ageing, loneliness and the emptiness of success. The song was notable as a favourite of Lennon's, despite his later claim that the song was a "throwaway". Pang recalled, "This was one of John's favorite songs, because it literally came to him in a dream. He woke up and wrote down those words along with the melody. He had no idea what [Ah, Bowakawa pousse] meant, but he thought it sounded beautiful." "Steel and Glass" includes a sinister riff reminiscent of "How Do You Sleep?", Lennon's audio argument with Paul McCartney from the Imagine album, although the digs this time were thought to be directed at the former Beatles manager Allen Klein. Also included was a genealogical treatise on the surname Lennon and related forms from one of Edward MacLysaght's books. While mentioning the British sailor John Lennon and the American labour leader John Brown Lennon of many decades past, the entry ends with a slight about the surname family generally being undistinguished, to which Lennon offered a hand-written "Oh Yeh?". Finally, the booklet contains a claim that Lennon saw an unidentified flying object on the evening of 23 August 1974.