When John Lennon and Yoko stepped into New York’s hit factory in 1980, it was one of the great moments. The reason was that the legend was returning to the music-making game after five years of break. John Lennon’s contract from the age of 21 is known well to the world. However, later in 1975, Lennon walked away from music to become a househusband instead of being a musician for around five years. The singer was busy raising, feeding, shopping, and caring for his newborn son, Sean.
John’s Return
For John’s return, the couple started to work on an album called ‘Double fantasy’ and it was Lennon’s last album. Now you’ll read about how the duo worked on the album. One thing to note is that his life at the studio changed after his return. There have known to be many reasons but you can find the top reasons as you keep reading.
Life at the Studio
John chose to record at the Hit Factory because he wanted the entire project done as quickly as possible. Since John and Yoko were heavily into astrology and numerology, before hiring, they took the birth dates of everyone, including the producers, the musicians, and every person working on the new album.
We don’t know what worked, but the singer, who once used to be sarcastic or sometimes even cruel, became a chipper, friendly, energetic musician who was always eager to make good music.
Before recording, the singer would get a massage. The sole reason behind it was that Lennon believed the massage to have helped his voice and sing better. However, something that probably did not help him was that both Lennon and Yoko were heavy smokers.
The food they ate during the sessions was a steady diet that included sashimi and sushi, which they ordered almost daily. But soon, the musicians grew tired of it and started to send out cheeseburgers. When they started disappearing to another room for cheeseburgers, John got curious and found them having cheeseburgers, where he also had one.
John was a passionate coffee drinker. He liked super-strong Brazilian coffee while making an album and had a cup every couple of hours while recording.
Finally, John’s favorite thing during the intervals was talking about the Beatles. His reference to the group was always ‘The B’s”.
People in the studio were always curious about what happened with the group “The Beatles,” to which John replied bluntly, “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer.” The reference was about Paul’s song of that name that Paul worked for in a seemingly endless fashion. With more takes, John hated the song and grew furious and restless.
Last Album
It was firm that the Double fantasy album would be half-Yoko and half-John. It directly meant every other song was a Yoko song because everybody knew that if one side was just Yoko and one was John, no one would listen to the Yoko side. John was totally and genuinely in love and ensured she was encouraged and given equal time.
We can see this when Yoko recorded a song. John turned on the speakers and congratulated her for recording her first number one record, which George Martin said after the Beatles had recorded their first song.
Double Fantasy’s recording sessions ended soon, and it’s release happened in Mid-November of 1980. Even though the album sold very well, it got mixed reviews. Nobody would have thought that Double Fantasy would be its last album of Lennon.
After the album’s release, John was optimistic and was looking forward to a tour in 1981. But it was unfortunate when the incredible life of Lennon tragically ended just a few weeks later.
John has been an incredible singer, and the music-composer world has seen. He gave one of the greatest memories and music to the still-alive world.