(Just Like) Starting Over
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"(Just Like) Starting Over" is a song written and performed by John Lennon for his Double Fantasy album. The B-side was Yoko Ono's "Kiss Kiss Kiss". It was released as a single on October 9, 1980, Lennon's 40th birthday, and reached number one in both the USA and UK after he was killed two months later. It is his biggest solo American hit, staying at #1 for five weeks. (When Lennon died the single was at #3 in the USA and the following week reached the summit.) In the UK it had peaked at #8 in the charts and had fallen out of the Top 20 before Lennon's death propelled it to #1, making an impressive #21-#1 move.
This was the first single released from Double Fantasy, and the first new recording Lennon had released since 1975. It was chosen by Lennon not because it was the best track on the album, but because it was the most appropriate following his five year absence from the recording industry. He referred to it during production as the "Elvis / Orbison" track, as he "tongue in cheek" impersonated their vocal styles. The uplifting bell at the intro of the song serves as the antidote to the morose bell sound which opens Lennon's first solo album, Lennon seeing it as him having come full circle.
Although its origins were in unfinished older compositions like "Don’t Be Crazy" and "My Life", it was one of the last songs to be completed in time for the Double Fantasy sessions. “We didn’t hear it until the last day of rehearsal,” producer Jack Douglas said in 2005.[1] Lennon finished the song while on holiday in Bermuda, and recorded it at The Power Station in New York City just weeks later. The original title was to be "Starting Over". "(Just Like)" was added at the last minute because a Country and Western song of the same name was released at the same time. Lennon was inspired to finish the song after hearing "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" by Queen[citation needed] that also had a 1950s feel.
External links
- Just Like Starting Over The Recording Of Double Fantasy by Chris Hunt, published in Uncut John Lennon Special, 2005
Notes
- ^ "Just Like Starting Over" by Chris Hunt, Uncut John Lennon Special, 2005