Editing Instant Karma! (section)

==Composition==
The song employs a descending three-note melodic progression similar to "[[Three Blind Mice]]"<ref name=Listen50/> and an intro reminiscent of "[[Some Other Guy]]".<ref>Wiener, p. 114.</ref> Lennon had used a similar-sounding chord progression in the Beatles' 1967 single "[[All You Need Is Love]]".<ref name=JLBio133>Edmondson, p. 133.</ref>{{refn|group=nb|When its similarity to "All You Need Is Love" was pointed out to Lennon by a [[BBC Radio 1]] listener, shortly after the release of "Instant Karma!", Lennon acknowledged that he had been playing the chords from the 1967 song when writing the melody.<ref name="Winn p 370">Winn, p. 370.</ref> In a subsequent interview on the New York radio station [[WPLJ]], Lennon said he had "stole[n] the introduction" from "Some Other Guy".<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Waller |first=Don |title=Independent Music Publishing – Time-Bomb Songs: They Lie Dormant, Then Blow Up Big |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3gkEAAAAMBAJ |magazine=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]] |date=13 December 1997 |access-date=11 February 2015 |page=10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151125080827/https://books.google.com/books?id=3gkEAAAAMBAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0 |archive-date=25 November 2015 |url-status=live }}</ref>}} Later in 1970, he would adopt the melody of "Three Blind Mice", an English [[nursery rhyme]], for his song "[[My Mummy's Dead]]".<ref>Rogan, p. 47.</ref><ref>Spizer, p. 36.</ref>

In their book ''The Words and Music of John Lennon'', Ben Urish and Kenneth Bielen write that in the first verse of "Instant Karma!", Lennon employs sarcasm as he urges the listener to "Get yourself together / Pretty soon you're gonna be dead" and emphasises "It's up to you – yeah, you!"<ref name=W&MJL16/> Norman comments on the "hippie catchphrase of the moment" contained in this instruction to "Get yourself together", and he says that the warning of imminent death is "obviously not to be taken literally."<ref name="Norman p 635" /> Author [[Mark Hertsgaard]] cites the lines "Why in the world are we here? / Surely not to live in pain and fear" as a further example of Lennon "asking what purpose his life on earth was to serve," after his 1966 composition "[[Strawberry Fields Forever]]".<ref>Herstgaard, p. 203.</ref> According to Urish and Bielen, "Instant Karma!" conveys the need to recognise and act upon a shared responsibility for the wellbeing of humankind; the karmic rewards of this mindset are available to all, as implied in Lennon's exhortation to "Come and get your share".<ref name=W&MJL16/> The same authors pair the song with Lennon's and Ono's "[[Happy Xmas (War Is Over)]]" single from 1971, in terms of how the song "both prods and challenges listeners before providing reassurance."<ref>Urish & Bielen, p. 34.</ref>

As with "[[Give Peace a Chance]]" and "[[Power to the People (song)|Power to the People]]"<ref name=W&MJL25>Urish & Bielen, p. 25.</ref> – Lennon singles from 1969 and 1971 – the chorus has an anthem-like quality, as he sings: "We all shine on, like the moon and the stars and the sun."<ref name=W&MJL16/> Norman describes the chorus as Lennon restating his message of "peace campaigning and non-violent, optimistic togetherness."<ref name="Norman p 635" /> According to Lennon biographer John Blaney, the song is an appeal "for mankind to take responsibility for its fate" and represents "Lennon developing his own brand of [[egalitarianism]]."<ref name=Listen50/>
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