Recording: God Save Us – John Lennon / Elastic Oz Band

Saturday 17 April 1971 | John Lennon, Studio

John Lennon recorded God Save Us with the Elastic Oz Band on 17 April 1971 at Ascot Sound Studios, his home facility at Tittenhurst Park, Berkshire. The song was written in support of the defence fund for Oz magazine during its obscenity trial.

The track was co-written rapidly following a request from figures associated with the magazine. Initially titled God Save Oz, the song was renamed God Save Us to broaden its relevance, particularly for audiences outside the UK.

“Stan and some people from Oz rang up and said, ‘Will you make us a record?’ and I thought, ‘Well, I can’t,’ because I’m all tied up contractually and I didn’t know how to do it. So then we got down to would I write a song for them? I think we wrote it the same night, didn’t we? We wrote it together and the b-side. First of all we wrote it as ‘God Save Oz’, you know, ‘God save Oz from it all,’ but then we decided they wouldn’t really know what we were talking about in America so we changed it back to ‘us’.”
— John Lennon, Sounds magazine

A total of 20 takes were recorded during the session. The eight-track tape featured Klaus Voormann on bass, Ringo Starr on drums, Tina Jorgensen on piano, and multiple acoustic guitar contributions from Lennon, Charles Shaar Murray, and Maureen Gray.

Lead vocals on this version were performed by ‘Magic Michael’ Ramsden, while percussion was handled by a collective including congas, maracas, and tambourine. The so-called “Oz Crowd” later added backing vocals as overdubs.

Lennon recorded guide vocals throughout but did not intend to appear on the final release, as he wished to avoid the track being viewed as a direct follow-up to Power To The People.

The song was later re-recorded on 22 May 1971 with a different group of musicians. Bill Elliott replaced Lennon’s vocal for contractual reasons, with additional contributions from Yoko Ono.

“We got one singer in [Ramsden], and he was all right, but he’d never had much experience recording – or singing actually... so then I sang it just to show him how to sing it... and we got this guy that Mal had found... he sounded like Paul. So I thought, ‘That’s a commercial sound,’ – it would have been nice to have Paul’s voice singing ‘God Save Us’.”
— John Lennon

The single was released in July 1971 under the name Bill Elliott & The Elastic Oz Band, but failed to chart in either the UK or the United States. Lennon’s original guide vocal version, titled God Save Oz, was later issued on archival releases including John Lennon Anthology.

Location Map

FAQ

Why was God Save Us recorded?

The song was created to support the Oz magazine obscenity trial defence fund.

Did John Lennon sing on the final version?

No. Bill Elliott replaced Lennon’s vocals for contractual reasons.

Who played on the recording?

Musicians included Klaus Voormann, Ringo Starr, Tina Jorgensen, and various contributors known as the “Oz Crowd”.

Was the single successful?

No. It failed to chart in both the UK and the United States.