“It Doesn’t Matter What You Say; Does It Sound Good When You Say It”- John Lennon
In March of 2004, John appeared on Folkstage, a radio broadcast from WMFT in Chicago. John did an hour long program and performed many songs from our recently released cd set titled Even the Band Had Fun at Dark 30. Dark 30 is a concert series hosted in Lakeside, California by our friend Jimmy Duke. Jimmy is a great guy and was a great supporter of John and his music.
One of the songs that John did on the broadcast was this version of China Sky. John had been performing it in shows for a few months after having ”lost” it for many years. In this version his playing style is, in my opinion, terrific. He goes off key in a couple of places toward the end but other than that his vocals and his solo styling makes this one one of my favorite versions of a great song.
The quote at the top says it all about this song. People have been analyzing the meanings for quite some time. It just sounds good when he sings it.
this old song 
This song is of particular importance to me. I find it fascinating to hear how a singer songwriter treats his own material, and how others who choose to perform that material treat the same song. I have performed this song solo and with my partner Fred Grittner on our CD “China Sky”. I would imagine that one of the greatest compliments a songwriter can receive, is to have other players cover their material. I would like to hope that John would have liked our treatment, had he lived long enough to hear it. Thanks for the post Paul.
Great version Paul, thanks!