New York City (John Lennon and Yoko Ono song) Lennon incorporating a bit of New York City vernacular with the statement "what a bad ass city." Music critic Johnny Rogan claims that "the melody sounds like a direct lift from 'The Ballad of John and Yoko.'" Music critic Paul Du Noyer describes "New York City" as a "solid, rousing rocker." Music critic Paul Blaney describes it as "a rough and tumble rocker" and a "dense exciting street rocker." Lennon is backed by Elephant's Memory, whose provide a brassy sound. Beatles expert Bruce Spizer describes Lennon's guitar playing as being in "Chuck Berry style." According to Du Noyer, Lennon performs
John Lennon one has only to review the literature of nonsense to see how well Lennon has brought it off. While some of his homonyms are gratuitous word play, many others have not only double meaning but a double edge." Lennon was not only surprised by the positive reception, but that the book was reviewed at all, and suggested that readers "took the book more seriously than I did myself. It just began as a laugh for me". In combination with "A Spaniard in the Works" (1965), "In His Own Write" formed the basis of the stage play "The John Lennon Play: