Watching the Wheels

Writing and recording

In "Watching the Wheels" Lennon addresses those who were confounded by his "househusband" years, 1975–1980, during which he retired from the music industry to concentrate on raising his son Sean with Ono. The song features a hammered dulcimer accompanying the lead piano. Though most of the musicians on the album were well-known and oft-recorded session players, the dulcimer was played by Matthew Cunningham. Lennon asked producer Jack Douglas to give the track a "circular" sound, which Douglas associated with hammer dulcimer, but the Musicians' Union had no dulcimer players listed. Douglas invited Cunningham to the session after hearing him busking on the streets of New York with a hammer dulcimer.

Reception

Record World called it "a strong statement of independence and self-assurance that never grows old."

Artwork

The photograph on the cover was taken by Paul Goresh, a fan of Lennon who also took the infamous photo of Lennon signing the copy of Double Fantasy belonging to Mark David Chapman shortly before Chapman murdered Lennon. Both photos were taken at the same place, in front of the Dakota building, which was the site of his 1980 shooting. Later, Chapman was recorded in police custody reciting the line "People say I'm crazy" from the song and was later sampled for use by the band EMF in the track "Lies" from their 1991 album Schubert Dip; however, upon immediate protests by Yoko Ono the sampling was removed on subsequent pressings.

Personnel

• John Lennon – vocals, piano
• Earl Slick, Hugh McCracken – guitars
• Tony Levin – bass guitar
• George Small – Fender Rhodes, Yamaha CP-80
• Eric Troyer – Prophet-5
• Andy Newmark – drums
• Matthew Cunningham – hammer dulcimer
• Arthur Jenkins – percussion
• Michelle Simpson, Cassandra Wooten, Cheryl Mason Jacks, Eric Troyer – backing vocals

Chart performance

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Versions

The song has been covered by Gwen Guthrie (1992), The Samples (1997); Paraguayan rock band Deliverans released a Spanish version on the compilation album Lennon Vive: Un tributo del Rock paraguayo (2000), Matisyahu for the benefit album Instant Karma: The Amnesty International Campaign to Save Darfur (2007), and Charly García under the name "Mirando las ruedas" for his album Kill Gil (2010). Patrick Wolf re-arranged the song for a performance at Yoko Ono's Meltdown Festival at the Southbank Centre. Vince Welnick often performed the song in concert in the years following the death of Jerry Garcia which ended Welnick's stint in the Grateful Dead.

An acoustic demo version of the song, performed by Lennon, was included on Disc 4 of the John Lennon Anthology.

In 2020, a cover of the song by Chris Cornell, a huge fan of John Lennon, was included on his posthumous album No One Sings Like You Anymore, Vol. 1.

References

References

1. Blaney, John. (2005). "John Lennon: Listen to This Book". Paper Jukebox.
2. "John Lennon – Double Fantasy".
3. (March 28, 1981). "Hits of the Week".
4. (December 8, 2010). "Classic Tracks: John Lennon and Yoko Ono's "Watching the Wheels"".
5. "Australian Chart Book".
6. [https://austriancharts.at/showitem.asp?interpret=John+Lennon&titel=Watching+The+Wheels&cat=s austriancharts.at]
7. (17 July 2013). "Image : RPM Weekly – Library and Archives Canada".
8. [https://www.offiziellecharts.de/titel-details-9518 offiziellecharts.de]
9. "Radio Luxembourg Singles". umdmusic.com.
10. [https://www.officialcharts.com/search/singles/watching-the-wheels/ officialcharts.com]
11. ''Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles 1955–1990'' – {{ISBN. 0-89820-089-X
12. (1981-05-23). "Adult Contemporary Music Chart". Billboard.
13. "CASH BOX Top 100 Singles – Week ending May 23, 1981".
14. "Item Display – RPM – Library and Archives Canada".
15. "Top 100 Hits of 1981/Top 100 Songs of 1981".
16. (1981-12-26). "Cash Box YE Pop Singles – 1981".
17. (6 April 2012). "Deliverans - Watching the wheels".
18. [https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-album-reviews/chris-cornell-no-one-sings-like-you-anymore-review-1101439/ ''Chris Cornell’s Historic Voice and Great Ear Take Center Stage on the Covers LP, ‘No One Sings Like You Anymore’''], rollingstone.com, December 11, 2020