Tracklist front / back album covers
Side one
"Woman Is the Nigger of the World" – 5:15
"Sisters, O Sisters" (Ono) – 3:46
"Attica State" – 2:54
"Born in a Prison" (Ono) – 4:03
"New York City" (Lennon) – 4:30
Side two
"Sunday Bloody Sunday" – 5:00
"The Luck of the Irish" – 2:56
"John Sinclair" (Lennon) – 3:28
"Angela" – 4:06
"We're All Water" (Ono) – 7:11
Side three
Performed live on 15 December 1969 at the Lyceum Ballroom in London, England for a UNICEF charity concert with George Harrison
"Cold Turkey" (Lennon) – 8:35
"Don't Worry Kyoko" (Ono) – 16:01
Side four
Recorded live on 6 June 1971 at the Fillmore East in New York City with Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention
"Well (Baby Please Don't Go)" (Walter Ward) – 4:41
"Jamrag" – 5:36
"Scumbag" (Lennon, Ono, Frank Zappa) – 4:27
"Aü" – 8:04
Remixed version of Side 4
A remixed version of the live recordings captured on side four of Some Time in New York City was released in 1992 on Frank Zappa's album Playground Psychotics. The remixes make Zappa and his band more prominent in the mix, most notably in the song "Scumbag" where Mark Volman and Howard Kaylan's singing became audible, which it had not been on Some Time in New York City. In some cases the songs were given new titles: "Say Please" and "Aaawk" are edited from "Jamrag" (a longer piece on Some Time in New York City), and "Aü" is retitled "A Small Eternity With Yoko Ono". The songs, which appear as tracks 22 through 26 on disc one of the CD, are denoted as follows:
Remixed tracks
22. "Well" 4:43
23. "Say Please" 0:57
24. "Aaawk" 2:59
25. "Scumbag" 5:53
26. "A Small Eternity with Yoko Ono" 6:07
2005 CD reissue
This remixed/remastered edition, issued on a single disc, omits much of the live material with Zappa (though it is available in a different mix/edit on Zappa's Playground Psychotics) and includes two bonus tracks. Some of the track times, notably for "We're All Water" and "Don't Worry Kyoko", differ from those on the original vinyl LPs.
"Woman Is the Nigger of the World" (Lennon, Ono) – 5:17
"Sisters, O Sisters" (Ono) – 3:48
"Attica State" (Lennon, Ono) – 2:55
"Born in a Prison" (Ono) – 4:05
"New York City" (Lennon) – 4:29
"Sunday Bloody Sunday" (Lennon, Ono) – 5:03
"The Luck of the Irish" (Lennon, Ono) – 2:59
"John Sinclair" (Lennon) – 3:30
"Angela" (Lennon, Ono) – 4:08
"We're All Water" (Ono) – 5:19
"Cold Turkey" (Live Jam) (Lennon) – 8:35
"Don't Worry Kyoko" (Live Jam) (Ono) – 15:20
"Well (Baby Please Don't Go)" (Live Jam) (Ward) – 4:33
Bonus tracks
"Listen, the Snow Is Falling" (Ono) – 3:06
"Happy Xmas (War Is Over)" (Lennon, Ono) – 3:34
John Lennon Band Members / Musicians
John Lennon – guitars, vocals
Yoko Ono – vocals
Jim Keltner – drums, percussion
Elephant's Memory:
Stan Bronstein – saxophone, flute
Wayne 'Tex' Gabriel – guitar
Richard Frank Jr. – drums, percussion
Adam Ippolito – piano, organ
Gary Van Scyoc – bass guitar
John La Boosca – piano
Live Jam
All credits taken from Lennon's handwritten credits on the Live Jam inner sleeve.
15 December 1969
John Lennon – guitar, vocals
Yoko Ono – bag, vocals
For everyone except himself and Ono, Lennon made up pseudonyms:
Eric Clapton ('Derek Claptoe') – guitar
Delaney & Bonnie ('Bilanie & Donnie') – guitar, percussion (and friends, brass, percussion)
Jim Gordon ('Jim Bordom') – drums
George Harrison ('George Harrisong') – guitar
Nicky Hopkins ('Sticky Topkins') – electric piano (overdubbed in N.Y. as organ was lost)
Bobby Keys ('Robbie Knees') – saxophone
Keith Moon ('Kief Spoon') – drums
Billy Preston ('Billy Presstud') – organ
Klaus Voormann ('Raus Doorman') – bass
Alan White ('Dallas White') – drums
The audience in attendance is credited on the label as "a cast of 1000's" and on the dust jacket as a "star-studded cast of thousands!!"
Uncredited
Jim Price – trumpet
6 June 1971
John Lennon – guitar, vocals
Yoko Ono – bag, vocals
Aynsley Dunbar – drums
Bob Harris – keyboards, vocals
Howard Kaylan – vocals
Jim Pons – bass guitar, vocals
Don Preston – Mini-Moog
Ian Underwood – keyboard, vocals, woodwinds
Mark Volman – vocals
Klaus Voormann – bass guitar, vocals
Frank Zappa – guitar, vocals
Some Time in New York City is a part-studio, part-live double album by John Lennon and Yoko Ono as Plastic Ono Band that included backing by the American rock band Elephant's Memory. Released in June 1972 in the US and in September 1972 in the UK on Apple Records, it is the third album to bear Lennon's name since he left the Beatles, and his fourth with Ono. Like Lennon's previous solo albums, it was co-produced by Lennon, Ono and Phil Spector. The album's agitprop lyrics are very politically charged compared to its predecessors, discussing political and social issues and topics such as sexism, incarceration, colonialism, and racism.
Recording for the album's studio portion took place between December 1971 and March 1972 while the live portion, released as Live Jam, was recorded on 15 December 1969 at the Lyceum Ballroom in London for a UNICEF charity concert and on 6 June 1971 at Fillmore East in New York City. Musicians who contributed to the 1969 performance included Eric Clapton, George Harrison, Nicky Hopkins, Keith Moon and Klaus Voormann, while the 1971 performance featured Frank Zappa and his band the Mothers of Invention.
Preceded by the single "Woman Is the Nigger of the World", which caused controversy due to its title, Some Time in New York City received scathing reviews on release and performed poorly commercially. Reviewers were especially critical of its politically charged content. Zappa was critical of Lennon and Ono's handling of the recordings of the Mothers performance, eventually releasing his own version of the performance on Playground Psychotics (1992). Some Time in New York City was reissued on compact disc in 2005 as a single album, removing several of the Live Jam songs while adding other non-album singles, and again on CD in 2010 in its original double album format.
