‘Remember’ was the first song on side two of John Lennon’s début solo album. It was recorded on 9 October 1970, his 30th birthday.
The melody of ‘Remember’ was adapted from a Lennon composition called ‘Across The Great Water’, which went unrecorded in the studio but had been captured on film earlier in 1970. Once in the studio, however, the driving rhythms from Ringo Starr and Klaus Voormann turned the song into one of John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band’s most compelling rockers.
The song was inspired by the Primal Therapy that Lennon underwent during the summer of 1970 with Dr Arthur Janov. The lyrics referred to Lennon’s childhood and the disappointment he felt at his unstable family life, themes which the therapy had helped uncover.