This song is about drug withdrawal. Quitting "Cold Turkey" means abruptly stopping drug use, and wreaks havoc on the body because it has to suddenly adjust to not getting drugs. John Lennon quit cold turkey because he wanted to get off drugs and start a family with Yoko (who also quit with him). He wrote this song about that experience.

Lennon wanted to record this with The Beatles for their Abbey Road album, but the other Beatles rejected it. Lennon recorded it with a group of musicians he called The Plastic Ono Band and released it as a single. It was not available on an album.

Lennon's second single away from The Beatles. "Give Peace A Chance" was released a few months earlier.

Lennon performed this on September 13, 1969 at The Toronto Rock and Revival Show, where he introduced his Plastic Ono Band (at least the configuration of it for this show). Eric Clapton was on guitar, Klaus Voorman on bass, and Alan White on drums. Yoko Ono was also part of the act, and she made an impact during "Cold Turkey." As the song played, she emerged from a bag on stage, stepped up to a microphone, and made turkey-sounding noises (not out of character). The set was released as a live album called Live Peace In Toronto 1969.

Eric Clapton played some of the guitar on this. Lennon asked Clapton to join The Plastic Ono Band, but Eric declined.

Lennon wrote and recorded this song before attending Arthur Janov's Primal Scream therapy workshop, which played a part in his song " Mother ." The screams he used in "Cold Turkey," he was actually emulating Yoko singing.

Lennon discussed this song in an interview with BBC Radio 1 DJ Andy Peebles on December 6, 1980, four days before his death. He recalled: "Cold Turkey was banned. They thought it was a pro-drugs song. But I've always expressed what I've been feeling or thinking at the time. So I was just writing the experience I'd had of withdrawing from heroin. To some it was a rock 'n' roll version of The Man With The Golden Arm because it showed Frank Sinatra suffering from drug withdrawal." (Source Q magazine November 2010)