You're listening to Song Exploder, where musicians take apart their songs and piece by piece, tell the story of how they were made. I'm Rishikesh Herway.

This episode contains explicit language.

Earlier this year, I got the most amazing email. The estate of John Lennon said they have a treasure trove of audio material from his life,

and they were wondering if I would be interested in making an episode around the song God from John Lennon's first solo album.

I've never tried making a posthumous episode before, because hearing directly from the artist is at the heart of Song Exploder.

But with all the interview archives that they have of them speaking, plus all the isolated tracks from their recordings and the original demo,

it actually seemed possible. So this is a very different and special episode of the show.

In September 1969, John Lennon pulled the rest of the Beatles that he was leaving the group. Their breakup was announced publicly in April 1970.

And that December, John Lennon released his first solo album, John Lennon Plastic Ono Band.

The Plastic Ono Band was the name for a rotating group of musicians that John and his wife, the artist Yoko Ono, had put together.

For the making of God, the band included Ringo Star on drums, Billy Preston on piano, and Klaus Foreman on bass.

I got to interview Klaus Foreman about his experiences making this track. And in this episode, you'll hear from him along with archival interviews with John Lennon, Ringo Star, and Billy Preston.

You'll also hear the original demo for God and outtakes from the recording sessions at Abbey Road Studios.

They recorded the final version of this song on October 9, 1970. John Lennon's 30th birthday.

I don't believe in Beatles.

But the story of God and what it was about and what it was inspired by really begins with the breakup of the Beatles.

We were four guys that said, I met Paul said, do you want to join me band? You know?

And George joined? And then Ringo joined. We were just a band who made it very, very big at all.

And we made it very, very big, but we sold out. My own taste is different from that which I've played sometimes.

Which is called Cop Out, you know, to make money or whatever, or because I didn't know any better.

And didn't really enjoy writing third person songs about people who lived in concrete, flat, and things.

I like first person music, but because of a hangups and many other things, I would only now and then specifically write about me.

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