10 Darkest Songs John Lennon Ever Wrote
5. Isolation
Featured on: John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band (1970)
Isolation sees Lennon deal with a varied internal turmoil at the height of his, and his wife’s, fame. Lennon’s piano plays with the false offering of hope, while also creating moments of plodding tension, broken by explosions of vocal energy comparable to the delivery of Freddie Mercury.
Lyrically Lennon wrestles with self-doubt and the downside of fame and fortune in the song’s opening line, “People say we've got it made. Don't they know we're so afraid?”. From here the lyrics take a distinctly paranoid ‘Us verses the World’ narrative. Lennon refers to the world as “just a little town. Everybody trying to put us down”.
In a surprising turn, Lennon excuses his enemies with the lyrics: “I don't expect you to understand after you've caused so much pain. But then again, you're not to blame. You're just a human. A victim of the insane”.
The song closes with the initially abstract fear of the sun,
before Lennon clarifies, “The sun will never disappear. But the world may not
have many years”. Ending the song on an eerie doomsday note.