Song – Roxy Music ‘Jealous Guy’

This song was written and originally recorded by John Lennon in 1971 for his second studio album ‘Imagine’. 

Following Lennon’s death in 1980 Roxy Music – a pop group created and led by stylish crooner Bryan Ferry – covered it as a tribute to Lennon. 

The cover reached number 1 in the United Kingdom and Australia. Lennon’s original recording was subsequently released as a single, charting in the UK and the United States.

Whilst covered many times (92 in all according to the Wikipedia entry for the song), the Roxy Music version, in the writer’s opinion, trumps the rest, and the original.

Roxy Music was formed in 1971 and first split in 1976, but have reformed and toured repeatedly since.  They pioneered musically sophisticated elements of ‘glam rock’, provided a model for many ‘new wave’ acts and innovated elements of electronic composition (see Wikipedia entry for ‘Roxy Music’).

Ferry was the lead vocalist and principal songwriter of Roxy Music. Despite being 78 years of age, he continues to perform live.

Ferry has always harboured a particular sartorial style.  Michael Bracewell, in his book Roxy Music and Art-Rock Glamour (Faber & Faber 2012) records that writer Peter York described Ferry as ‘an art object’ who ‘should hang in the Tate [Gallery]’.

In 2011 Ferry was awarded a CBE in the Queen’s birthday honours list for his contribution to the British music industry.  In May 2023 he released a cover EP called ‘Love Letters’.

The YouTube recording below is also a well produced video. The music aficionado will enjoy the guitar and saxophone solos, and the lengthy synthesiser and whistle fade-out.