Jealous Guy

A tribute to John Lennon that became the band's only UK number one single.
Roxy Music (1981)

Written by
John Lennon
Released
February 1981
Length
6:10

John Lennon wrote Jealous Guy and released it on Imagine in 1971. It was not issued as a single in his lifetime. After his murder in December 1980, Roxy Music added the song to their set while touring in Germany, then recorded it and released it in February 1981 on Polydor, with To Turn You On on the other side. Ferry and Rhett Davies produced it. It spent two weeks at number one in the UK in March 1981, the band's only UK number one, and it also topped the chart in Australia.

The video shows Ferry singing to the camera, then whistling and playing a Sequential Circuits Prophet-5 synthesizer in the coda, with Manzanera and Mackay appearing for their solos. Pitchfork's Tom Ewing wrote that genuine loss is paid tribute by studied melancholy in this version, and that the song stands revealed as a Roxy tune all along. The Guardian's review of the 2022 tour noted that the band still played it, between Virginia Plain and Do the Strand.

More songs by Roxy Music

Virginia Plain, More Than This, Love Is the Drug, Do the Strand

Sources

  1. Jealous Guy, Wikipedia
  2. Flesh and Blood (Roxy Music album), Wikipedia
  3. Jealous Guy (UK single, ROXY 2), Discogs
  4. Roxy Music: The Complete Studio Recordings 1972-1982, Pitchfork (2012-08-13)
  5. Roxy Music review: arch art-rockers peacock their peerless anthems, The Guardian (2022-10-11)