John Lennon: Between The Lines

complete home recordings 1975–1980

Disc 9: July – November 1980 [62:55]

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LYRICS for disc 9

Guide to the track notes

  1. The Worst Is Over [take 1] PLAY | LYRICS
    • length: 2:23
    • recorded: July 1980?
    • instrumentation: acoustic guitar/drum machine
    • 8 Arms ID: p.130, #37:a.1
    • source: LLT program 89-42
  2. The Worst Is Over [take 2] PLAY | LYRICS
    • length: 6:00
    • recorded: July 1980?
    • instrumentation: acoustic guitar/drum machine
    • 8 Arms ID: p.130, #37:b.1
    • source: LLT program 88-25 + Hidden Archives [91-27]
    • Dating these two takes of this immediate precursor to 'Starting Over', 'The Worst Is Over', has proved impossible with the information currently available, but it is our belief that they come from late July 1980 in Bermuda. The first take consist only of the germ of a repeated verse, by the second attempt John has incorporated the verse melody from 'Don't Be Crazy' as a chorus. The 91-27 airing of this second (and last) take has considerably more complete introduction (with some voice-over) and outro than 88-25, but has been edited. It has here been restored by combining both broadcasts.
  3. Help Me To Help Myself [takes 2-3] PLAY | LYRICS
    • length: 3:08
    • recorded: early August, 1980?
    • instrumentation: piano
    • 8 Arms ID: p.123, #14:a-b.1
    • source: Double Fantasy (remastered) + Hidden Archives [90-49]
    • Three takes of 'Help Me To Help Myself' were recorded here, but the first (unavailable) one was a false start and the second a breakdown. Take 3 was included as a bonus track on the remastered 2000 reissue of Double Fantasy, with a longer ending than was previsouly available from LLT.
  4. My Life [take 1] PLAY | LYRICS
    • length: 3:11
    • recorded: early August, 1980?
    • instrumentation: piano
    • 8 Arms ID: p.125, #28:a.1
    • source: LLT program 89-35
  5. My Life [take 2] PLAY | LYRICS
    • length: 0:55
    • recorded: early August, 1980?
    • instrumentation: piano
    • 8 Arms ID: p.125, #28:b.1
    • source: LLT program 88-25
  6. My Life [take 4] PLAY | LYRICS
    • length: 1:36
    • recorded: early August, 1980?
    • instrumentation: piano
    • 8 Arms ID: p.125, #28:c.1
    • source: LLT 34 [91-27]
    • These piano demos of 'My Life' were performed at the same sitting as track 2. Take 4 is in a different key compared to the other takes. The placemenent of these recordings is based on speculation, but it sounds like they could have been taped at the same time as the following tracks. On more casual listening, it appears that these piano demos are earlier than the acoustic ones on disc 6, but closer examination reveals that they clearly are not the earliest versions, as John's remark makes clear: "...having not had the lyrics, which is somewhere on a tape, I believe". Our theory is then, that these piano renditions were recorded a considerable time after the composition was originally worked on, and by that time Lennon had forgotten most of the lyrics; "take 2" is more properly a separate compositional fragment altogether which is joined to what John remembers of 'My Life' in "take 4" (along with a bit of 'Reminiscing'). Hence, although the dating is in no way certain, we have elected to present these recordings here before the actual 'Starting Over' demos, which incoporate the chord sequence of 'My Life' in the intro; this is supported by the fact that about this time Lennon must have added the "life is what happens to you..." line to 'Beautiful Boy' — it doesn't appear in any of the available June 1980 Bermuda demos.
  7. Serve Yourself [two takes] PLAY | LYRICS
    • length: 11:07
    • recorded: early August, 1980
    • instrumentation: piano
    • 8 Arms ID: p.128, #32:d-e.1
    • source: Gone From This Place [88-18] + Serve Yourself [89-38]
    • This is actually two separate attempts or takes, but John didn't switch off the tape recorder in between, so they have been here presented as a continuous sequence, made possible by the slight overlap of the two LLT broadcasts. By this time, the lyrics have evolved significantly, and now include references to such things as the Garden of Eden and the evolutionary theory (in which Lennon didn't believe — cf. the "Playboy interviews"). These and other unaired takes most likely come from the same cassette and sitting as the takes of 'Cleanup Time' below.
  8. Cleanup Time PLAY | LYRICS
    • length: 2:53
    • recorded: early August, 1980
    • instrumentation: piano
    • 8 Arms ID: p.121, #5:a.1
    • source: LLT program 88-27
  9. Cleanup Time PLAY | LYRICS
    • length: 3:25
    • recorded: early August, 1980
    • instrumentation: piano
    • 8 Arms ID: p.121, #5:b.1
    • source: Yer Blues [89-21]
    • Written in late July in Bermuda, but these demos (performed on Lennon's Yamaha electric piano) come from a slightly later time when he was back in the Dakota; they were probably taped just before the Double Fantasy sessions started while John was polishing up some material not finished during the Bermuda stay for that LP: "I was talking to Jack Douglas on the phone from Bermuda. We were talking about the seventies and about people getting out of drugs and alcohol and those kind of things. And he said: 'Well, it's clean up time, right?' And I said: 'It sure is.' That was the end of the conversation. I went straight to the piano and just started boogying and [this song] came about. Then I had the music and thought: 'What is this about? I only had the title. So then I wrote the story on top of the music. It's sort of a description of John and Yoko in their palace, the Palace of Versailles, the Dakota..."
  10. (Just Like) Starting Over [take 1] PLAY | LYRICS
    • length: 4:18
    • recorded: early August, 1980
    • instrumentation: acoustic guitar/drum machine
    • 8 Arms ID: p.124, #24:a.1
    • source: Dreaming Of The Past [90-15]
  11. (Just Like) Starting Over [take 2] PLAY | LYRICS
    • length: 3:46
    • recorded: early August, 1980
    • instrumentation: acoustic guitar/drum machine
    • 8 Arms ID: p.124, #24:b.1
    • source: LLT 29 [tape]
  12. (Just Like) Starting Over [take 3] PLAY | LYRICS
    • length: 4:56
    • recorded: early August, 1980
    • instrumentation: acoustic guitar/drum machine
    • 8 Arms ID: p.124, #24:c.1
    • source: Gone From This Place [88-14]
    • Written by John after the return from Bermuda and just before the Double Fantasy sessions but based on the earlier compositions 'Don't Be Crazy', 'My Life' and 'The Worst Is Over' (the parenthetical prefix was added to the title only when the album was in the mixing stage). Producer Jack Douglas commented on the genesis of the song in an interview for the Beatlefan magazine: "Well, there was one more rehearsal, the last, the night before the sessions, the last rehearsal was at the Dakota. He sits down at the Fender Rhodes and he plays 'Starting Over' and I said, 'Where'd that come from?' He said, 'Oh, I dunno, it just kinda came.' He said, 'You think it'll make it to this record?' I said, 'Make it?', I said, 'It's gonna be the first single.' I said, 'It's gotta be the first song on the record. You know, come on, it's perfect.' So we recorded that, we went in and rehearsed that in the studio...." Take 2 wasn't broadcast in LLT, but was bootlegged from a tape source on Bag's LLT vol.29 LP.
  13. Gone From This Place [take 1] PLAY | LYRICS
    • length: 3:13
    • recorded: Fall 1980
    • instrumentation: acoustic guitar
    • 8 Arms ID: p.122, #11:a.1
    • source: LLT program 88-52
  14. Gone From This Place [take 4] PLAY | LYRICS
    • length: 3:20
    • recorded: Fall 1980
    • instrumentation: acoustic guitar
    • 8 Arms ID: p.122, #11:b.1
    • source: Watching The Wheels [89-26] (+ The Lost Sleepy Blind Lemon Lennon Album [89-26] + Free As A Bird: The Dakota Beatle Demos [tape])
    • This post-Bermuda composition was performed briefly in the Double Fantasy sessions (in an August 22/24 overdub session for 'Starting Over', to be exact), so these demos would seem to date to late August or September 1980. Take 1 was only broadcast with an unrelated excerpt from a 1976 interview laid over the middle portion. By take 4 John has resurrected 'She Runs Them 'Round In Circles', last heard a year or so ago during a composing session for 'Beautiful Boy' (see disc 4), for the chorus. This take is a bit longer on the tape source bootlegged on The Dakota Beatle Demos, but doesn't sound as good as the LLT version (of which The Lost Sleepy Blind Lemon Lennon Album has the best sounding, but slightly incomplete lift.
  15. Gone From This Place [fragment with voice-over] PLAY
    • length: 0:11
    • recorded: Fall 1980
    • instrumentation: acoustic guitar
    • 8 Arms ID: p.122, #11.1:a.1
    • source: Unbootlegged 5 [89-26]
    • This fragment follows take 4 and was broadcast in LLT under Elliot Mintz' narration.
  16. Dear John PLAY | LYRICS
    • length: 4:23
    • recorded: early November, 1980
    • instrumentation: acoustic guitar
    • 8 Arms ID: p.121, #6:a.1
    • source: Free As A Bird: The Dakota Beatle Demos [tape]
    • From early November, but not quite John's last home recording. The Anthology appearance has heavy noise reduction, earlier fade, and (to avoid paying royalties) edited out the slip into 'September Song' after the second verse; The Dakota Beatle Demos is from a tape source. In retrospect, it's tragic to realize some of the last compositions Lennon was working on had lyrics such as "gone from this place" and "the race is over".
  17. You Saved My Soul PLAY | LYRICS
    • length: 4:10
    • recorded: November 14, 1980
    • instrumentation: electric guitar
    • 8 Arms ID: p.130, #38:a.1
    • source: LLT program 92-08 + Free As A Bird: The Dakota Beatle Demos [89-51]
    • Apparently John's last demo, dating to November 14, 1980. The complete sequence of two full takes with a slip into 'Serve Yourself' is available from one of the last LLT episodes, but The Dakota Beatle Demos has here been used for the first take because of its (slight) superiority to the available transcription disc lift. The appearance of 'Serve Yourself' is interesting indeed, as it shows that John was evidently still considering it for eventual release. 'Real Love' perhaps excluded, it certainly was the song he put most work into during the 1979—80 period (and for which probably the largest amount of demos lurk in the Lennon archives from a relatively long time span), so it clearly wasn't a simple throw-away parody. Also making an appearance is a brief, taped over vocal rap "pop is the name of the game". It's odd that aside from guitar overdubs for 'Walking On Thin Ice' in early December, this would actually be Lennon's last musical (if it can be so termed) work laid on tape.