John Lennon is undoubtedly one of the coolest white dudes ever known. And “Instant Karma!” encapsulates that coolness with remarkable historical clarity. Written in January 1970, evidently at breakneck speed, the song quickly became a kind of anthem for social justice movements and general antiestablishment resistance politics.
1 Lennon bestowed many such political gems upon us: “Give Peace a Chance,” released in March 1969, and “Power to the People,” released in December 1971, both easily come to mind as overtly politicized anthems aiming to galvanize a movement. But the lyrics of “Instant Karma!” capture more than the typical Lennon-esque cosmic plea for universal love. While the passing of that kind of plea from “cool” to “quaint” speaks to the aestheticizing, depoliticizing, and dehistoricizing slide of coolness that frames my work here, the lyrics of “Instant Karma!” directly mark the kind of cross-cultural, cross-racial politics that was just emerging in the early 1970s and that set the groundwork for the grand march of multiculturalism in the 1980s.
2 In 1970, the fans of John Lennon—living in northern and western Europe, North America, and Japan—did not know what “karma” was.
Of course, we all know what “karma” means now, more or less. And Lennon’s claim of its happening instantaneously still holds immense appeal, even if the ethos and politics of the song are woefully outdated. It isn’t the karma that we are concerned about. It is what the karma promises to deliver to us, instantaneously, that frames one of neoliberalism’s most powerful fantasies: instant wealth!
