De openingstrack van Abbey Road, het laatste écht goede album van The Beatles. De baslijn van Paul McCartney is klassiek. Dat geldt in zekere zin ook voor de tekst. LSD-goeroe Timothy Leary vroeg Lennon een lied te schrijven voor zijn verkiezingscampagne. Leary wilde gouverneur worden van Californië en dacht dat de hulp van The Beatles hem een flinke steun in de rug zou geven. Lennon deed naar eigen zeggen zijn best, maar wist geen zinnige tekst te produceren. Uiteindelijk gooide hij er maar wat betekenisloze flauwekul tegenaan: “The thing was created in the studio. It’s gobbledygook; Come Together was an expression that Leary had come up with for his attempt at being president or whatever he wanted to be, and he asked me to write a campaign song. I tried and tried, but I couldn’t come up with one. But I came up with this, Come Together, which would’ve been no good to him – you couldn’t have a campaign song like that, right?”. Uiteraard vonden WIJ het destijds allemaal heel diepzinning.
[Intro]
Shoot me
Shoot me
Shoot me
Shoot me
[Verse 1]
Here come old flat-top, he come grooving up slowly
He got ju-ju eyeball, he one holy roller
He got hair down to his knee
Got to be a joker, he just do what he please
[Interlude]
Shoot me
Shoot me
Shoot me
Shoot me
[Verse 2]
He wear no shoeshine, he got toe-jam football
He got monkey finger, he shoot Coca-Cola
He say, “I know you, you know me”
One thing I can tell you is you got to be free
[Chorus]
Come together right now
Over me
[Interlude]
Shoot me
Shoot me
Shoot me
Shoot me
[Verse 3]
He bag production, he got walrus gumboot
He got Ono sideboard, he one spinal cracker
He got feet down below his knee
Hold you in his armchair, you can feel his disease
[Chorus]
Come together right now
Over me
[Interlude]
Shoot me
Right
Come, come, come, come, come
[Verse 4]
He roller-coaster, he got early warnin’
He got muddy water, he one mojo filter
He say, “One and one and one is three”
Got to be good-lookin’, ‘cause he’s so hard to see
[Chorus]
Come together right now
Over me
[Interlude]
Shoot me
Shoot me
Shoot me
Oh
[Outro]
Come together, yeah
Come together, yeah
Come together, yeah
Come together, yeah
Come together, yeah
Come together, yeah
Come together, yeah
Oh
Come together, yeah
Come together, yeah
Uitgelichte afbeelding: Timothy Leary in 1970 – By AP News – eBay Archive, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=129545711
