Lyrics to
Instant Karma

This version of Instant Karma was released by John Lennon in 1975.

Our John Lennon Songs profile has Instant Karma lyrics from 1975 and most if not all of the lyrics by John Lennon that we have here at Decade Lyrics.

Here's more interesting things in songs and lyrics tied to John Lennon or about the 1970s in general.

Instant Karma’s gonna get you
Gonna knock you right on the head
You better get yourself together
Pretty soon you’re gonna be dead
What in the world you thinking of
Laughing in the face of love
What on earth you tryin’ to do
It’s up to you, yeah you

Instant Karma’s gonna get you
Gonna look you right in the face
Better get yourself together darlin’
Join the human race
How in the world you gonna see
Laughin’ at fools like me
Who in the hell d’you think you are
A super star
Well, right you are

Well we all shine on
Like the moon and the stars and the sun
Well we all shine on
Ev’ryone come on

Instant Karma’s gonna get you
Gonna knock you off your feet
Better recognize your brothers
Ev’ryone you meet
Why in the world are we here
Surely not to live in pain and fear
Why on earth are you there
When you’re ev’rywhere
Come and get your share

Well we all shine on
Like the moon and the stars and the sun
Yeah we all shine on
Come on and on and on on on
Yeah yeah, alright, uh huh, ah

Well we all shine on
Like the moon and the stars and the sun
Yeah we all shine on
On and on and on on and on

Well we all shine on
Like the moon and the stars and the sun
Well we all shine on
Like the moon and the stars and the sun
Well we all shine on
Like the moon and the stars and the sun
Yeah we all shine on
Like the moon and the stars and the sun

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Want more lyrics and songs by John Lennon?

John Lennon has released many songs over the years besides Instant Karma. John Lennon released songs from 1970 to 1988 spanning across albums like John Lennon / Plastic Ono Band, Imagine, Some Time In New York City, Mind Games, Walls And Bridges, Rock 'N' Roll, Shaved Fish, Double Fantasy, Milk And Honey, Live In New York City, and Imagine: John Lennon. Decade Lyrics has over lyrics & songs by John Lennon.

If you're a fan of 1970s songs looking for more songs from 1975 or the 1970s overall, you've come to the right place!

About Lyrics and Instant Karma by John Lennon

The lyrics to Instant Karma are just the words, phrases, verses and chorus that John Lennon used when the song was created in 1975. The lyrics to Instant Karma have both easy-to-spot meanings and hidden metaphors that have been discussed by the music press and fans, but only John Lennon and any collaborators know all of the inspirations for the song.

If you like etymology or breaking apart phrases and words, it is easy to understand the lyrics to Instant Karma by John Lennon. The word "lyric" itself derives from the Latin word lyricus, with the actual English word lyrics applied to the definition "words set to music" listed in Stainer and Barrett's 1876 Dictionary of Musical Terms. Continuing the chain, the Latin word lyricus derives from the Greek word λυρικός or lyrikós. This somewhat means "poetry accompanied by the lyre" or "words set to music." You can easily see that by looking at the background of the word lyric, that the "lyrics to Instant Karma" means the words set to the music of Instant Karma, or poetry accompanied by the lyre played by John Lennon. The singular form "lyric" is still used to mean the complete words to a song. However, the singular form lyric is also commonly used to refer to a specific line (or phrase) within a song's lyrics. Hence, by this analysis of word structure, you could say that the lyric to Instant Karma and the lyrics to Instant Karma are both one and the same thing. None of this talk about the word Lyrics is really relevant to fans of John Lennon who came here looking just for the lyrics to Instant Karma, but we feel it is still fun to learn what's behind commonly used words and lyrics in songs.

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