"Instant Karma" (We All Shine On)

The song "Instant Karma (We all Shine On) was written by John Lennon on the morning of January 27 1970 and in the next 24 hours, the song would not only be written, but also recorded and mixed for commercial release. The song was produced by none other than Phil Spector who (according to John and George) did such an amazing job that he would be given the "Get Back/Let It Be" tapes and would also go on to produce several of John and George's future Apple LPs.
The song was started at John's Tittenhurst Park home on an upright piano located on the first floor. John then traveled to the Apple building on Savile Row in London to complete the song on a piano ordered from a music store and delivered to his office (although there was already a piano located in the basement of the Apple building in the studio, but ...hey). Abbey Road studio was booked that afternoon for an evening session.
The basic tracks were recorded with the following personnel: John on acoustic, George on electric, Klaus Voorman on bass, Alan White on drums and Billy Preston on electric piano. A decision was made to scrap the guitars and use keyboard instead so overdubbed on take 10 of the basic track were Klaus Voorman and John on electric piano and George Harrison and Alan White on acoustic piano. Mal Evans added chimes to accent the chorus words while Phil Spector produced and Phil MacDonald engineered. John added his vocal but wanted a choir in the background for the chorus; Mal Evans was dispatched to find random volunteers and they were brought in from a nightclub to complete the recording. The volunteers also clapped along and a tambourine was also added to the madness.
The song was mixed for stereo overnight (the fourth mix was used for commercial release). Mal Evans brought the tape over to the Apple Studios to get it mastered and the song would be released as an Apple single on February 06 1970 and made the charts as well. Number 3 in the US and number 4 in the UK. Not bad for a song recorded in literally one day.
Apart from the single you can also find the song on the LP/CD "Lennon Legend".