The January issue of UNCUT is on sale now, featuring an all-star panel of musicians selecting their favourite song by the late Beatle John Lennon.

Which Lennon song “flipped out” Brian Wilson when he first heard it?

Which one reminds Arctic Monkey Alex Turner of his mum and dad?

And when we asked The Who‘s Roger Daltrey for his favourite, what on earth led him to conclude: “I can see why people go completely mad in this business.”?

And there’s many, many brilliant contributions from the likes of Yoko Ono, John Cale, John Lydon, Jarvis Cocker and Liam Gallagher.

Meanwhile, Uncut.co.uk will be running online exclusives throughout the month, today is The Gossip’s Beth Ditto‘s pick.

Coming up: Richmond Fontaine‘s Willy Vlautin, Josh Ritter, Bat For Lashes, Roy Wood and more will be picking out their favourite tracks.

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JULIA

From The Beatles album, The Beatles (November, 1968)

Mark Eitzel, American Music Club:

I first heard “Julia” when I was ten or eleven and felt for the first time that buzz of being suspended in an eternal moment, using just acoustic guitars and vocals. And that feeling never left me. I had no idea what it was about. Julia was just someone’s name, a place holder, an excuse to bring the touch of heaven to my narrow little head.

Years later, in my early 20’s, I was listening to The White Album constantly and someone told me that John wrote it about his mother. It really threw me. A simple song and a simple idea. Holy shit! He wrote a song about his mother as if he was looking at her as a beautiful young woman. He wrote his mother a love song, as if he was a young man coming on to a woman in a simple and sweet way. It’s timeless and perfect and simple and true. It doesn’t try and be more than it is.

To me, the song is also the feeling of a calm and quiet inlet by the ocean, the way that sound floats above the water and the rocks and how time moves perfectly in order. It’s proof that the world doesn’t end with a whimper. It ends with a sigh. It’s the guns and the tears and the anger being put away in a drawer. I wish I could write that simply and truthfully. They should have put this one on Voyager 1. I would rather have the aliens hear this and know what it is to be human than ‘hello’ in a million languages. Or “Roll Over Fucking Beethoven”.

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Plus! What do you think Lennon’s greatest song is? You can vote for your choice, and tell us why, by clicking here for the special poll. We’ll be publishing your choices in a future issue of Uncut, along with a reader Top 10. VOTE HERE!