Walls and Bridges has a variety of musical stylings and many of the lyrics make it clear that Lennon both enjoyed his new-found freedom and also missed Ono. The album title refers to the barriers that Lennon had constructed between himself and others and his hope that those barriers could be surmounted. Lennon said, "Walls keep you in either protectively or otherwise, and bridges get you somewhere else." and the lyrics reflect Lennon's feelings about his separation from Ono. The second track, "
Whatever Gets You thru the Night" was issued as the album's first single. The inspiration for the lyrics came from late-night television. In December 2005,
May Pang told
Radio Times: "At night he loved to
channel-surf, and would pick up phrases from all the shows. One time, he was watching
Reverend Ike, a famous black evangelist, who was saying, "Let me tell you guys, it doesn't matter, it's whatever gets you through the night." John loved it and said, "I've got to write it down or I'll forget it." He always kept a pad and pen by the bed. That was the beginning of 'Whatever Gets You Thru the Night'." The music was inspired by the number one single at the time, "
Rock Your Baby" by
George McCrae. Although the released track bears little resemblance, the inspiration is more apparent on the alternative version released on
John Lennon Anthology. The third track is the Lennon/Harry Nilsson composition "
Old Dirt Road" which features Nilsson on harmony vocal. The next two tracks, "
What You Got" and "Bless You", are again songs addressing his feelings about his separation from Ono. Lennon later called the jazzy "Bless You" the "best piece of work on the album ... that seems to be the best track, to me." Side one closes with "
Scared," a haunting track which explores Lennon's fear of ageing, loneliness and the emptiness of success. The song was notable as a favourite of Lennon's, despite his later claim that the song was a "throwaway". Pang recalled, "This was one of John's favorite songs, because it literally came to him in a dream. He woke up and wrote down those words along with the melody. He had no idea what [Ah, Bowakawa pousse] meant, but he thought it sounded beautiful." "
Steel and Glass" includes a sinister riff reminiscent of "
How Do You Sleep?", Lennon's audio argument with
Paul McCartney from the
Imagine album, although the digs this time were thought to be directed at the former
Beatles manager
Allen Klein. "
Beef Jerky", a rare Lennon instrumental, is a funky, R&B-inspired track. The penultimate track, "
Nobody Loves You (When You're Down and Out)", was written in 1973 when he and Pang first arrived in Los Angeles. He envisioned
Frank Sinatra recording it, saying, "I don't know why. It's kind of a Sinatraesque song, really. He would do a perfect job with it. Are you listening Frank? You need one song that isn't a piece of nothing. Here's one for you, the horn arrangement and everything's made for you. But don't ask me to produce it!" The final track is a cover version of Lee Dorsey's "
Ya Ya", with Lennon (billed as "Dad") on piano and vocals and son
Julian on drums. Lennon surprised Julian with its inclusion on the album, prompting the young Lennon to remark, "If I'd known it was going on the album, I would have played better!" When discussing the recording of the album, in an interview the following year with
Pete Hamill in
Rolling Stone, Lennon recalled, "Elton sort of popped in on the sessions for
Walls and Bridges and sort of zapped in and played the piano and ended up singing 'Whatever Gets You Thru the Night' with me. Which was a great shot in the arm. I'd done three quarters of it, 'Now what do we do?' Should we put a camel on it or a xylophone? That sort of thing. And he came in and said, 'Hey, I'll play some piano!'" == Album artwork ==