John Lennon’s ‘Double Fantasy’ Songs Ranked Worst to Best

John Lennon‘s Double Fantasy will always have a complicated legacy. It was released to mixed reviews, but then became the last completed blockbuster album in his lifetime after the former Beatles star was felled by a crazed assassin.

Issued on Nov. 17, 1980, just weeks before his death, Double Fantasy was filled with great potential but remained only the first tentative step back for an artist who’d lived as a decidedly un-rock ‘n’ roll househusband for half a decade. The results could be a little too cozy. Double Fantasy served as a reflection, according to one contemporary critic, of “a great life, but it makes for a lousy record.”

That’s obviously taking things too far, but his contributions never felt dangerous enough to form a top-tier John Lennon record. As Yoko Ono and Lennon split the songs on Double Fantasy, her material ended up taking a lot of chances that he never did. (She was far more in sync with the prevailing post-punk zeitgeist.) Meanwhile, Lennon’s vocals were softened by a familiar reliance on double tracking; everything was compressed in the style of the era.

READ MORE: 20 Beatles Songs That John Lennon Hated

At their worst, Lennon’s seven songs on Double Fantasy were more gossamer than necessarily great. But his death made this album a last will and testament. Double Fantasy soared to multi-platinum sales and a Grammy award for Album of the Year. Moments like “Starting Over” and “Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy)” suddenly resonated in entirely new ways.

Lennon was only just beginning to come to terms with things as they were — with middle age, with a settled life, with love and work and parenthood. How long could it have been before he was ready to push back, and hard? Unfortunately, we never got to hear his next great rock record.

We were left with Double Fantasy, featuring the last seven John Lennon songs released in his lifetime. Here’s a ranked look back:

 

No. 7. “Dear Yoko”

Lennon recorded the lead vocal for this song on the same day he signed a new record deal with Geffen Records, the final step in his long-awaited comeback after some five years away. But the album’s main guitarist, Earl Slick, was too hungover to play. So veteran sessions guy Hugh McCracken took over on this album’s most lighthearted – and lightweight – Lennon song. (That’s McCracken on the harmonica, too.) Lennon’s love for Ono and a foundational career inspiration from Buddy Holly did the rest.

No. 6. “Clean Up Time”

One of the last songs written for Double Fantasy best told the story of what Lennon had been up to since disappearing after 1975’s Rock ‘n’ Roll: Cleaning up, in the sense of housework as a stay-at-home dad, and cleaning up as a former whacked-out Lost Weekender. So, not sure why the whole thing ends in a wash of sound that connects directly back to “Tomorrow Never Knows,” from an era of deep experimentation with drugs.

No. 5. “Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy)”

There’s no getting away from the awful headlines that followed – no separating this, even decades later, from Lennon’s fate. He’ll always be 40. So, when Lennon whispers “Good night, Sean, see you in the morning,” it’s like a cold hand closing around any fan’s heart.

No. 4. “I’m Losing You”

There’s a crunchy, kinetic sizzle here, with Lennon looking back at his own alcohol-induced mid-’70s dumbassery. Along the way, we get a deeper sense of how his muse returned, as Lennon began trying to find balance between the vibrant, angry yang to his bread-making house-husband yin.

No. 3. “Watching the Wheels”

Lennon was clearly still attempting to come to terms with things as they were – with middle age, with a settled life, with love and work and parenthood. How long could it have been before he was ready to push back, and hard? Unfortunately, we never got to hear his next great rock record.

No. 2. “Woman”

A grownup’s look at the role women play in our lives, Lennon’s first posthumous single underscored the journey he’d made since cutting “Girl” with the Beatles. It sounded like a Beatles song, too. There are several reasons: “Woman” was written quickly, unlike many of the other slow-gestating tracks on Double Fantasy, and recorded using an old beat-up Gibson. They started with a group of female singers, but they were dismissed one by one. By the end, their contributions had been overwritten by Lennon and the Paul McCartney-esque Eric Troyer. The inspiration was Ono, but the theme he was trying for was far more universal – something more … Beatlesque. Lennon’s session mates knew just what to do: Guitarist Earl Slick later said he immediately connected “Woman” with McCartney’s gorgeous “Here, There and Everywhere.”

No. 1. “(Just Like) Starting Over”

Lennon had been cramming song scraps together forever, with notable examples including “I Am the Walrus” and “Happiness Is a Warm Gun” with the Beatles and “God” from his solo debut. “(Just Like) Starting Over” was actually a compendium of three separate ideas, dating back to 1979. A demo called “My Life” formed the introduction, followed by ideas from “Don’t Be Crazy.” A rough draft called “The Worst Is Over” was adapted to create verses and the chorus. (One version of “My Life” included the line, “life is something that happens while you’re making plans,” which Lennon inserted into “Beautiful Boy [Darling Boy].”) The throwback ’50s feel came in the studio, where Lennon told engineer Lee DeCarlo he wanted to sound like “Elvis Vincent” – a mash-up of Elvis Presley and Gene Vincent. He added mentions of Eddie Cochran and Buddy Holly in a winking dedication before one take.

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