Authors: Ken Bielen Ben Urich
“Whatever Gets You through the Night”/
“Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds”/“I Saw
Her Standing There”
March 1981 saw the release of this memorial maxi-single, which contains
Lennon’s November 28, 1974, surprise concert appearance with Elton John.
The crowd sounds wildly appreciative on Lennon’s introduction, and the
band performs a version of “Whatever Gets You through the Night” that
may be a bit too loose, but more than makes up for it with genuine energy.
Lennon’s part of the co-lead vocals is more discernable here than on the
studio recording.
Elton John then introduces his new single, his cover of Lennon’s Beatles
composition “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.” Lennon helps out vocally,
sometimes with solo lead on the chorus. The reggae section is not pulled
off quite as successfully as it is on the studio recording and the hallucinatory
mood of the song is hard to capture and maintain in a live setting, but the
band does as well as any could.
The finale is a rousing version of “I Saw Her Standing There,” complete
with Lennon’s admission that it was from “an old estranged fiancé of mine
called Paul.” This part of Lennon’s guest performance had been previously
released early in 1975 as the flip side to Elton John’s hit single “Philadel-
phia Freedom.” Both men give high-spirited, full-throated vocal efforts, with
Lennon urging “Boogie, baby!” at the start of the guitar solo. The raucous
fun of the number was ably captured, providing a fitting end to Lennon’s
guest appearance.
The John Lennon Collection
Two years after his killing, this second “best of” collection of Lennon mate-
rial was released. The set consists mostly of single releases, but oddly includes
six of his seven
Double Fantasy
numbers. Almost as puzzling, “Love” from
John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band
is included and was released as a single to help
promote this collection; it did not chart in the United States but did in Great
Britain. “Jealous Guy” from
Imagine
is also included, and, interestingly, it
became a minor hit when released as a single three years later in the United
Kingdom in 1985 and another three years after that in the United States in
1988.2
To this collection’s merit (and unlike the
Shaved Fish
collection), “Stand
by Me” is included, as well as the entirety of “Give Peace a Chance.” At the
time, vinyl releases were still the industry mainstay, but CDs were present,
often sporting “extra” cuts. On this collection, the extras were the inclusions
of “Cold Turkey” and, for the first time on any album, the flip side of “Stand
I Don’t Wanna Face It, 1981–1988 85
by Me,” which was “Move over Ms. L.” The latter made certain that the CD
was the obvious choice for fans and completists alike.
During this time, a disc of The Beatles’ 1962 Decca records audition
recordings was released. The release featured the only recording of Lennon
performing his early composition “Hello Little Girl” in addition to several
rock and roll classics.
Heart Play: An Unfinished Dialogue
Released at the third anniversary of Lennon’s shooting,
Heart Play: An
Unfinished Dialogue
is edited from publicity interviews the couple gave to
Playboy
magazine during the time of
Double Fantasy.
The “unfinished” part
of the album title may hearken back to the music of the three experimen-
tal albums, while obviously referencing Lennon’s unfinished efforts in the
form of an artistic conversation with his fans. The cover features Lennon and
Ono lovingly looking at each other across a breakfast table, their relationship
being yet another “unfinished dialogue.”
Much of the album was painful listening in 1983, since it ironically features
Lennon discussing his plans and ideas and what he sees for the future as he
reflects upon his approaching middle age. One of the most difficult parts to
listen to occurs when Lennon expresses his inability to fathom why it is in
history that people who have espoused peaceful solutions have died violently.
The record is neither a sound collage nor experimental effort, but it does
seem calculated to lay the promotional groundwork for the John and Yoko
album
Milk and Honey
that Ono released the following month. Lennon is
heard saying that his new album (
Double Fantasy
) had been conceived as part
of a two-volume work and that the work was more or less a sort of musical
dialogue. Because
A Heart Play
is the subtitle attached to
Milk and Honey,
the implication was clear that the forthcoming album was supposed to be the
one Lennon was discussing, especially in view of the fact that
Double Fantasy
had the same subtitle. Despite this attempt to weave the albums together,
one would search in vain for any reference to Lennon and Ono’s
Heart Play
Trilogy.
Whatever the agenda behind its creation, the album provides a nice last
verbal testament for Lennon fans. He is relaxed, responsive, focused, and
self-aware. The range of topics, his hopeful outlook, personal philosophy,
and keen observations make this a neglected gem. Collectors and fans might
appreciate having a more complete set of the interviews available, perhaps as a
podcast, as was done with the 1970
Rolling Stone
interviews in 2005–2006.
Milk and Honey: A Heart Play
Billed as a sequel or continuation of sorts to
Double Fantasy
upon its release
in January 1984,
Milk and Honey
was presumed to be the album Lennon was
working on when he was shot to death. The front cover is similar to
Double
Fantasy,
being another close-up of Lennon and Ono about to kiss, or just
86 The Words and Music of John Lennon
having kissed. But the album is not exactly a true sequel. A follow-up album
was planned and announced, but nothing of Lennon’s was as yet formally
recorded for it, and it is not clear how much of Ono’s material had been.
Lennon’s songs were jaunty but basically unpolished studio run-throughs of
five of his songs in varying stages of completion and were, in fact, recorded
at the start of the
Double Fantasy
sessions before the album’s final tracks were
finished. They were ultimately not completed and not considered for inclu-
sion on
Double Fantasy,
leading to the speculation that Lennon may have had
them in mind for future work or may have just been getting himself back into
performing mode while getting the musicians comfortable working together.
In addition, another Lennon song on the album, “Grow Old with Me,” is
from a home demonstration or demo recording, paired with Ono’s “Let Me
Count the Ways.” Both songs were reputedly set for inclusion in
Milk and
Honey
but were never recorded in the studio.
Sources vary on which, if any, of Ono’s materials for
Milk and Honey
were
recorded during Lennon’s life time and, therefore, with the possibility of his
creative input to them or of his performing on the tracks. It is entirely likely
that all were recorded after Lennon’s killing. One source cites “Don’t Be
Scared” as being recorded on August 9, 1980, and on the
Onobox
collection,
Lennon can be heard saying, “you listening, mother?” before the song begins
as if we are hearing a playback.3 However, also from
Onobox,
he can be heard
saying, “good night Sean, see you in the morning” at the end of “You’re
the One,” which is listed as having been recorded in 1983, after Lennon’s
murder. Most probably, though, Ono’s contributions were recorded during
or soon after the sessions for her 1982 solo album
It’s Alright
since band
personnel from that album are listed as playing on
Milk and Honey.
According to the
Onobox
booklet, the remaining three Ono songs were
composed and recorded in 1980 but were copyrighted in either 1982 or
1983, as was “Don’t Be Scared.” Of course, the version of “Don’t Be Scared”
on
Milk and Honey
is therefore likely not the version recorded in 1980, but
a later recording of the song. What listeners are left with is uncertainty. Per-
haps two of the cuts—the studio recording of “Don’t Be Scared” and the
demo-sounding “Let Me Count the Ways”—were known to Lennon, and he
may have co-produced and played guitar on the former. And, just as likely,
“You’re the One,” despite Lennon’s voice at the end, was not recorded dur-
ing his life.
In addition, Jack Douglas, the co-producer of
Double Fantasy,
does not
get any credit for
Milk and Honey.
Jon Smith, an engineer who worked on
“Walking on Thin Ice,” is credited in the same capacity for the
Milk and
Honey
album. Is it possible that the three remaining Ono cuts (“Sleepless
Night,” “O’Sanity,” and “Your Hands”) were recorded in October and
November 1980, after
Double Fantasy
but before “Walking on Thin Ice”?
It seems perhaps even Ono’s “Walking on Thin Ice” was a candidate for the
next album, after its inclusion in the Ono EP the couple was preparing.
I Don’t Wanna Face It, 1981–1988 87
Lennon was composing other material in the last months of his life, and
he had a backlog of songs to develop if he so chose. Whether he would
have returned to any of the unpolished songs that make up his contribu-
tions to
Milk and Honey
and what he might have done with them if he had
is unknowable.
Predictably, the album does not hold together despite Ono’s attempt to
reapply the
Double Fantasy
formula. There was no overdubbing of Lennon’s
material nor any attempt to make it blend into Ono’s work. For that mat-
ter, Ono’s songs, though complete, are also not layered with natural sounds,
noises, orchestra, or horns as some of the tracks on
Double Fantasy
are. The
sounds and studio layering that ultimately give
Double Fantasy
its extra depth
and dimension are not present. What Lennon might have done with the
tracks is open to conjecture, but there is no reason to believe that he would
have released them as they were.
Clearly, Ono was in a “damned if she did and damned if she did not”
situation and opted for the latter. The rough edges of Lennon’s recordings
are no surprise given their rehearsal status. The production and polish of
Double Fantasy
is part of what unifies it beyond its theme, and it is interest-
ing, though not necessarily useful, to consider what
Milk and Honey
might
have been if it had been treated in a similar fashion. If minimal overdubbing
and polishing had been added, the album as a whole would be a more uni-
fied statement and the stronger companion to
Double Fantasy
as it purported
to be. Although most listeners are glad to hear Lennon rough and ready, it
makes for a disjointed-sounding album. Perhaps his songs should have been
“finished” to better match the tone and polish of Ono’s work. Or perhaps
she should have kept her efforts in an even more raw state, similar to his, and
tried to fit the results into some sort of works-in-progress artistic concept. As
it is, as an album, the work fails; Lennon and Ono’s works stand far better as
independent tracks, as evidenced by the fact that three of Lennon’s efforts
made it onto the charts as hit singles.
The album begins with the first song the band attempted to record in
August 1980, appropriately called “I’m Stepping Out.”4 Lennon introduces
the proceedings with a joking introduction that, “this here is the story about
a househusband” who has been “screwin’ around with the kids and watchin’
Sesame Street
” to the point of “goin’ crazy.” So now the protagonist happily
prepares to go out for a night to “do the city.”
As on other tracks in this collection, Lennon is clearly taking the band
through their paces here, verbally cueing them (“one more,” “hold it down”)
and offering encouragement (“boogie!”). His directions here and elsewhere
on the album are no different from his directing style during the rehearsals
and guide vocal takes discussed elsewhere. Such evidence suggests that he
had no trouble getting back to professional work.
“I’m Stepping Out” moves along well, especially with the rhythm of the
chorus conveying the idea of more energy being held at bay, as Lennon
88 The Words and Music of John Lennon
merely repeats the title with intensifying musical variations. Another part
of the chorus helps explain the need to step out, proclaiming, “if it don’t
feel right, don’t do it,” and advising that “you can’t go pleasing everyone.”
There’s no malice in this observation, as Lennon blithely advises that the
listener just leave a phone message telling those who want the listener to do