Everybody's talking and no one says a word Everybody's making love and no one really cares There's Nazis in the bathroom just below the stairs Always something happening and nothing going on There's always something cooking and nothing in the pot They're starving back in China so finish what you got
Nobody told me there'd be days like these Nobody told me there'd be days like these Nobody told me there'd be days like these Strange days indeed - strange days indeed
Everybody's runnin' and no one makes a move Everyone's a winner and nothing left to lose There's a little yellow idol to the north of Katmandu Everybody's flying and no one leaves the ground Everybody's crying and no one makes a sound There's a place for us in the movies you just gotta lay around
Nobody told me there'd be days like these Nobody told me there'd be days like these Nobody told me there'd be days like these Strange days indeed - most peculiar, mama
Everybody's smoking and no one's getting high Everybody's flying and never touch the sky There's a UFO over New York and I ain't too surprised
Nobody told me there'd be days like these Nobody told me there'd be days like these Nobody told me there'd be days like these Strange days indeed - most peculiar, mama
*NOBODY TOLD ME* is a song by the British musician John Lennon. Recorded (but uncompleted) shortly before his death in 1980, the song was later completed by Lennon's widow Yoko Ono in 1983 and released as the first single from Lennon and Ono's album Milk and Honey in 1984. The song was originally written for Ringo Starr to include on his 1981 album Stop and Smell the Roses, but Lennon died before the song could be used.
"Nobody Told Me" was Lennon's last single to reach the UK Top 10 (peaking at #6, although a reissue of "Imagine reached #3 in December 1999). In single was also Lennon's last US Top 10 hit, peaking at #5 on the Billboard Hot 100, and was his third single to enter the US Top 10 posthumously.
The B-side features Yoko Ono's "O'Sanity", also from the Milk and Honey album.
The lyrics make reference to "a little yellow idol to the north of Kathmandu" which is similar to a line from J. Milton Hayes' poem entitled The Green Eye of the Yellow God. Hayes' line was "There’s a one-eyed yellow idol to the north of Kathmandu".
Another line in the song is "There's UFO's over New York and I ain't too surprised", apparently a reference to a UFO sighting Lennon had back in 1974. He made reference to this in the liner notes to his 1974 album Walls and Bridges with the message: "On the 23rd August 1974 at 9 o'clock I saw a U.F.O. - J.L.".
The line "Nobody told me there'd be days like these..." is in contrast to the old adage "My mother told me there'd be days like this."
The promo video for the single was made up of clips of footage from Lennon's other videos, as are most posthumous Lennon videos.