Album: Milk And Honey (1984)

Charted: 6 5

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• Three, four
  
  Well, everybody's talking and no one says a word
  Everybody's making love and no one really cares
  There's matches in the bathroom just below the stairs
  Always something happening and nothing going on
  There's always something cooking and nothing in the pot
  They're starving back in China so finish what you got
  
  Nobody told me there'd be days like these
  Nobody told me there'd be days like these
  Nobody told me there'd be days like these
  Strange days indeed
  Strange days indeed
  
  Everybody's runnin' and no one makes a move
  Well, everyone's a winner
  And nothing left to lose
  There's a little yellow idol to the north of Katmandu
  Everybody's flying and no one leaves the ground
  Well, everybody's crying and no one makes a sound
  There's a place for us in movies
  You just gotta lay around
  
  Nobody told me there'd be days like these
  Nobody told me there'd be days like these
  Nobody told me there'd be days like these
  Strange days indeed
  Most peculiar, mama
  
  Everybody's smoking and no one's getting high
  Everybody's flying and never touch the sky
  There's UFO's over New York and I ain't too surprised
  
  Nobody told me there'd be days like these
  Nobody told me there'd be days like these
  Nobody told me there'd be days like these
  Strange days indeed
  Most peculiar, Mama, roll Writer/s: John Winston Lennon
  Publisher: Downtown Music Publishing
  Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Comments: 26

• Danny Z from UsaMaybe, "Theres matches in the bathroom just below the stairs" means, you have to go through the dark to see the light? Just my simple thought.
• Michael Waxmann from SwedenIt's wrong, it should be:Everybody's talking and no one says a word
  Everybody's making love and no one really cares
  There's Nazis in the bathroom just below the stairs
• Waldo from OregonThe line about the yellow idol north of kathmandu is taken from a poem "The Green Eye of the Yellow God" by J. Milton Hayes, written in 1911. It's quoted in so many other books, films, and shows... I wonder if it was something schoolkids in England had to read or memorize?
• Walt from Austin, TexasDifferent lyric sites say it's "nazis" and not "matches". I think those sites are wrong.
• Wesley Hampton from CanadaThere's a place for us in movies you just gotta lay around.
  There's matches in the bathroom just below the stairs.
  
  All you have to do is listen.
• Aris Thomas from Athens, GreeceThe line "there's nazis in the bathroom" I believe is wrong and that he is saying "there's matches in the bathroom" it was a common pre-war practice in the bathroom to light a match after taking a .... back in England. Nobody Told Me came out after John's death so the lyrics may have well been misinterpreted at some point from someone at his record company. After searching for handwritten lyrics from John on the internet and coming up empty, my belief is that the official album lyric sheet is wrong.
• AnonymousI can't recall a mainstream hit before or since that mentioned nazis and UFO's in the same song. Add to that the word stairs, which is close to stars and i think this song alludes to the nazi/ufo connection
• Tania from Brisbane, AustraliaI’ll likely be shot for saying this, but there’s a piano part of this that sounds similar to something Mike Oldfield recorded in 1972 for Tubular Bells. Given that they’re both British artists, it could be that Lennon was inspired by it. I just need to find my copy of Tubular Bells to point out the portion I’m talking about, it’s only maybe 6-7 bars, but yeah!
• Barry from Sauquoit, NyOn March 17, 1984, a music video of John Lennon's "Nobody Told Me" was aired on the Dick Clark ABC-TV Saturday-afternoon program, 'American Bandstand'...
  At the time the song was at #9 on Billboard's Top 100 chart, two weeks earlier it had peaked at #5 {for 1 week} and it spent fourteen weeks on the Top 100...
  It reached #4 in Canada and #6 in both the United Kingdom and Australia...
  Between 1969 and 1985 he, as a solo artist, had seventeen records on the Top 100 chart, eight made the Top 10 with two reaching #1, "Whatever Gets You Thru The Night" for 1 week on November 10th, 1974 and "(Just Like) Starting Over" for 5 weeks on December 21st, 1980...
  He had two records peak at #3, "Instant Karma!" {1970} and "Imagine" {1971}...
  John Lennon passed away at the young age of 40 on December 8th, 1980...
  May he and George, R.I.P.
  * He just missed having a third #1 record when his "Woman" peaked at #2 {for 3 weeks} on March 15th, 1981.
• Barry from Sauquoit, NyOn March 17th 1984, a video of "Nobody Told Me" by John Lennon was aired on the ABC-TV program 'American Bandstand'.
• Barry from Sauquoit, NyOn January 6th 1984, Polydor Records released "Nobody Told Me" by John Lennon and nine days later on January 15th it entered Billboard's Hot Top 100 chart; and on February 25th it peaked at #5 (for 1 week)...
  It reached #4 in Canada and in both Australia & the U.K. it peaked at #6...
  Was track five on side one of his 8th and final studio album, 'Milk and Honey', and album peaked at #11 on Billboard's Top 200 albums chart...
  One other track from the album also made the Top 100, "I'm Stepping Out", it reached #55...
  R.I.P. Mr. Lennon (1940 - 1980).
• Wayne from New Haven, CtJohn didnt write & Record this 5 months after he died....How?????
  It was RELEASED 5months after he died!
  Meaning he wrote & recorded this tune BEFORE
  he went on to his "new" life....
• Funkspiel from Cambridge, MaI've seen several UFO over NYC but usually Lucy was involved.
• Breanna from Henderson, NvDude Holly, John died December 8, 1980, so I have no idea how he would write a song about something that happened more than 5 months after his death, inless he faked his own death.
• Barry from New York, NcI think that in John Lennon's Dakota apartment he actually had a bathroom below the stairs. Wouldn't it be nice to be able to visit the apartment to find out for sure? I have a feeling it's one nice apartment. And one nice bathroom!
• Roy from Granbania, MaAs it turns out, John Lennon was always fascinated with UFO's, even going as far as to subscribe to a British magazine called the "Flying Saucer Review" as early as the late 60's. If you are as interested with Lennon's UFO encounter as I am, you should go to this site: http://www.mara.org.uk/John%20Lennon%20UFO.htm It includes an interview with May Pang, who supposedly saw the UFO, and she is not shy about the incident. She even says that it was not John's first encounter with a UFO!
• Jeff from Austin, TxHolly in Aus, John was dead in 1981, so that probably isn't true.
• Holly from Mackay, AustraliaThe line 'There's nazis in the bathroom just below the stairs' refers to the bombing in 1981, May 16th, in the toilets at the Pan Am terminal at New York's JFK Airport
• Madison from Norway, MeI don't know if that part about the UFO is true or not. There a picture that exists of John standing by the Statue of Liberty and he is pointing at the sky. He is supposed to be indicating exactly where he saw the UFO.
• Ken from Louisville, KyThe reason why the quality was so good on this recording - while the majority of John's "Milk and Honey" songs were taken from cassette demos - was that John recorded it in the studio with his voice on a separate track, so Ringo could come in in January 1981 and lay down his own vocals over the backing provided by John's studio band.
• Malicious Matt from SquatneyI think its a great song, myself.
• Rosario from Buenos Aires, United Statesexcelent song.. you can smell the good karma all over the place while listening!!!!!!! the video is excellent too
• Ken from Louisville, KyThe line "There's UFO's over New York/And I ain't too surprised" was taken from an actual incidnt. In 1974, John and his lover May Pang were living in an apartment overlooking New York's East River, when John saw what he thought was a UFO. According to Pang, John yelled out the window "come back - take me!". John ever wrote a liner note on his "Walls And Bridges" album cover "I saw a UFO, JL, NYC, 1974."
• Zack from Dublin, OhThis is the opening song in the preview for The U.S vs. John Lennon movie
• Chris from Paradise, Ctjohn lennon is my hero
• Asef from Silkeborg, DenmarkIn early 1980 Ringo Starr startet recording sessions for His album "Stop and smell the roses". With a little help from His freinds John,Paul and george the project was to be the first in many years including all the four beatles members. John wrote two songs for Ringo: "Life begins at 40" and "Nobody told me". Lennon was also sopouse to produce the songs and the recording of these songs was to begin December the 8th. but the plans were ruined by the murder of Lennon. Lennons own version of "Nobody told me" where to be found on the "Milk and Honey" album from 1984.

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