The next few posts will be regarding John's demos as recorded between 1975 and 1980. This was a time where he voluntarily retired from music in order to raise his newborn son, Sean Taro Ono Lennon. John had been sick of the music business and felt free for one of the first times in his adult life. He was not under contract with any man or any corporation, he was not contractually obligated to record any albums for EMI/Capitol (which he jokingly referred to as "Capitol punishment"). It is probable that one reason John retired is because of his mistakes with Julian. Julian was born on April 8th, 1963, and The Beatles became a worldwide phenomenon just months later. In those years, one had to release a single, at the least, every three months and an album, at the least, every six months. Being the frontman for The Beatles took its toll on John personally, but also his family. John was often either at the studio churning out hit records or he was traveling the world with what was, at that time and probably to this day, the most popular band in the world. Julian and his first wife, Cynthia, would often stay at their home, Kenwood, while John was out riding the wave of his success. As a result of this and later due to his deepening experimentation with drugs, John grew distant from Cynthia and Julian. I believe that John recognized this mistake later on in his life and I believe that he was determined not to make the same failings with Sean as he had made with Julian. I believe that he was so tormented emotionally by his neglectful and often hurtful attitude towards Julian that he overcompensated for these shortcomings in his raising of Sean. This, I believe, was John's reason to retire from music. I am sure there were others, but these were certainly near the top of the list.
In the demos below and in subsequent posts, I will have a format. The format will be the take (if available), the year (or more detailed information if it is availble) the demo was recorded, the instrument(s) used, and the location that the demo was recorded in. After the initial track listing, I will have a more detailed explanation and summary of the song(s) such as inspirations for the song and other miscellaneous facts. And here we go, the start of Lennonology 2.0!
John Lennon - 1975-1977.
This is a collection of John's home demos which were recorded between 1975 and 1977.
Disc 1 (click to download)1. Tennessee
- Take 1
- c. 1975
- Steinway & Sons piano
- The Dakota
- Unknown take
- c. 1975
- Steinway & Sons piano
- The Dakota
- Take 4
- c. 1975
- Steinway & Sons piano
- The Dakota
- Unknown take
- c. 1975
- Steinway & Sons piano
- The Dakota
- Take 2
- c. 1975
- Steinway & Sons piano
- The Dakota
- Take 3
- c. 1975
- Steinway and Sons piano
- The Dakota
- Unknown take
- c. 1976
- Steinway and Sons piano
- The Dakota
- Take 1
- Spring 1976
- Steinway and Sons piano
- The Dakota
- Unknown take
- Spring 1976
- Steinway and Sons piano
- The Dakota
- Take 8
- Spring 1976
- Steinway and Sons piano
- The Dakota
- Take 2
- Spring 1976
- Steinway and Sons piano
- The Dakota
- Take 7
- 1977
- Steinway and Sons piano
- The Dakota
- Unknown take
- 1977
- Steinway and Sons piano
- The Dakota
- Take 1
- 1977
- Steinway and Sons piano
- The Dakota
- Take 3
- 1977
- Steinway and Sons piano
- The Dakota
- 1977
- John's bedroom in The Dakota
- Take 1
- 1977
- Electric guitar
- The Dakota
- Take 2
- 1977
- Electric guitar
- The Dakota
1. Tennessee
This song was one of the first songs that John recorded upon resuming his relationship with Yoko Ono on January 31st, 1975. This was inspired by the playwright Tennessee Williams who wrote such classics as A Streetcar Named Desire, Cat On A Hot Tin Roof, and others. While this is one of the first demos John recorded after his reunion with Yoko, this song actually has its origins during John's 18 month "Lost Weekend" period from 1973-1975 in which he was separated from Yoko and living with May Pang. This song would later inspire the demo Memories which itself would inspire Grow Old With Me, among other songs. This demo was recorded in the same sitting as Everybody and Sally and Billy.
2. Everybody
Everybody is a very very very early version of the song that would eventually be released as Nobody Told Me on John's posthumous album, Milk and Honey. This would later be used as the basis of a double tracked demo for Nobody Told Me that John would record in Bermuda in 1980.
3. Sally and Billy
This song could have its origins go back as far as December 1970, but it is unconfirmed and if the song did date back to December 1970, it is unknown as to why he resumed with the song over 5 years later. The chorus used in this song is also the chorus used in Only People off of the Mind Games album.
4. Mucho Mungo
This was originally written as a demo in 1973 for Jesse Ed Davis. John had toyed with this song briefly with Phil Spector during the sessions for John's album, Rock 'n' Roll, but it was later given to John's friend, Harry Nillson, who later used it in a medley contained within the song Mt. Elga on the 1974 album Pussy Cats which John also produced.
5. Cookin' (In the Kitchen of Love)
John composed this song for former bandmate Ringo Starr. John recorded nine takes of this song in total in the spring of 1976. John would eventually enter the studio on June 12th, 1976, to record piano for Ringo's version. This would be his last appearance in a recording studio until August 1980 when he began recording Double Fantasy.
6. She is a Friend of Dorothy's
This is a bit of an odd demo of John's. It is speculated that it was planned to be included in a biographical play titled The Ballad of John and Yoko, but its true meaning is unclear. Some sources say that "She is a Friend of Dorothy's" is a euphemism for homosexuals, but this is not confirmed.
7. I Don't Want to Lose You
This song, also erroneously titled by many releases as Now and Then, was originally intended to be the third "new" track by The Beatles for the third installment of The Beatles Anthology. Jeff Lynne, the producer, had enormous difficulty in making this suitable for release and after much work the project was ultimately shelved. The title to this song remained unclear until it was used in a Broadway musical titled John Lennon.
8.Free As A Bird
This song was the first "new" song released by The Beatles in 25 years. It was released on December 4th, 1995, in the United Kingdom, and December 12th, 1995, in the United States. It was completed and released by the three remaining Beatles for The Beatles Anthology and the video later premiered at the end of the final part of the TV mini-series which was also titled The Beatles Anthology. The music video was directed by Joe Pytka (who also directed Michael Jordan's folly, Space Jam, among other films and music videos). Free As A Bird also won a Grammy award in 1997 for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals. It also won for Best Music Video (short form).
9. Turned Out Nice Again
This small snippet was recorded in John's bedroom at The Dakota. He was referencing the musician George Fornby whose catchphrase was "Turned out nice again!". This recording is added onto the end of the song Free As A Bird as completed by the three remaining Beatles in 1995. It was discovered in the studio that, when played backwards, it sounded alarmingly like "made by John Lennon" even though this was not intended. They added it in at the last minute to give the fanatics "something to do" as Paul put it.
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Thank you to all my loyal subscribers who followed me from YouTube and to those of you who are just now discovering Lennonology. Lennonology will always be three things:
1. The best Lennon resource on the entire internet.
2. The most informative and welcoming resource.
3. ENTIRELY free. I will never charge anyone for anything on this blog whatsoever. I received all of the files uploaded here for free and I will provide them for free to others.
Until next time...
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