In the studio
We did that song in two or three takes. It came fast. In a sense, the song kind of played itself – the piano playing, the triplets, Andy’s backbeat, Tony’s great bass part, and John, Hugh, and Earl’s guitar playing. The production is also great.
Starting Over, Ken Sharp
John Lennon elected for a 1950s sound for ‘(Just Like) Starting Over’, telling the engineer Lee DeCarlo: “Make me magnificent, Lee, make me the man of my dreams. I want Elvis Vincent.” Prior to take one he dedicated the song to “Gene and Eddie and Elvis… and Buddy!”
I’d done that music and identified with it – that was my period – but I’d never written a song that sounded like that period. So I just thought, Why the hell not? In the Beatles days that would have been taken as a joke. One avoided clichés. Course now clichés are not clichés anymore.
All We Are Saying, David Sheff
As if to underline the link between the old and new, Lennon busked a version of Roy Orbison’s early 1960s hits ‘Crying’ and ‘Only The Lonely (Know How I Feel)’ in between studio takes of ‘(Just Like) Starting Over’. Lennon explained the influence of Orbison in one of his final interviews:
It was really called ‘Starting Over’ but, while we’re making it, people kept putting things out with the same title. You know, there’s a country and western hit [by Tammy Wynette] called ‘Starting Over’, so I added ‘Just Like’ at the last minute. And to me it was like going back to 15 and singing à la Presley. All the time I was referring to John [Smith], the engineer, here in the room I was referring to Elvis Orbison. It’s kinda like… ‘Only The Lonely’, you know… a kind of parody but not really parody.
The Lennon Tapes, Andy Peebles
If the music referenced Lennon’s musical idols, he was wary of an unintended reference to Paul McCartney’s band Wings in the second verse.
I nearly took the word ‘wings’ out because I thought, Oh, God! They’ll all be saying, ‘What’s this about Wings?’ It has nothin’ to do with Wings.
All We Are Saying, David Sheff
In the master version, the drum fill immediately prior to the coda was partly repeated due to an editing error.
I did an edit on the drum fill and when I cut it together, I missed the edit and had repeated one of the ending drum fills. Everybody went, ‘Oh no!’ and I yelled, ‘I like it better!’
Starting Over, Ken Sharp
Fortunately John Lennon agreed, and the repeated fill was left in the final mix. The song’s coda also featured the voice of an unidentified flight attendant.
In the fade, you hear a flight attendant announcing that the plane is approaching the runway. It’s a woman’s voice announcing, ‘World Airlines flight, (maybe ‘flight twelve’) with service to…’ I think it came off a sound effects record. He [Lennon] had originally wanted the sound of a supersonic jet landing and I remember calling all over the country, trying to find somebody who had that sound effect. We never got it, so instead we used the flight attendant.
Starting Over, Ken Sharp
‘(Just Like) Starting Over’ was mixed on 26 September 1980, along with the single’s b-side, Yoko Ono’s ‘Kiss Kiss Kiss’. The studio staff hurried to complete work on the release before 7pm, because Ono was concerned by a ‘significant moon change’ about to take place.
John had warned us that we had to finish the mix by a certain time of the day. According to Yoko, the stars would be in perfect alignment (or something) and if we didn’t finish by this time it wouldn’t be good. We saw the deadline approaching and we were working like crazy to get it done in time. Finally, with just a few minutes to go, the mix was all done except for one detail, the bell at the front of ‘Starting Over’. John had brought the bell from home. I believe it was a special bell, maybe a wishing bell or something.
Starting Over, Ken Sharp
‘(Just Like) Starting Over’ began with the sound of a small bell being struck three times. This was intended to be a contrast to the foreboding church bell which opened the song ‘Mother’ on Lennon’s first solo album John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band, showing how his life and career had come full circle.
Lennon used a Tibetan wishing bell on the track, which was brought to the studio from the Dakota by Lennon and Ono’s assistant Fred Seaman. It was the last element to be added to the recording. The bell also appeared at the start of ‘Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy)’.
We ran and got a mic and hooked it up. Time was running out so we really had to move. We recorded the bell and put it into the mix and finished with just a minute to spare. We laughed with joy at making it in time. I’m not sure, but I seem to remember John calling Yoko to tell her we made it and then the session was over.
Starting Over, Ken Sharp
Chart success
‘(Just Like) Starting Over’ was released as the first single from Double Fantasy in October 1980. It was Lennon’s much-anticipated comeback following five years away from the public eye.
We knew that song would be the first single. I love ‘Starting Over’, but when I hear it now it just chokes me up a bit because it’s how we felt at the time. We really thought that we were starting over and it didn’t work out that way.
Starting Over, Ken Sharp
The record was heavily promoted, with US record stores using countertop cardboard display boxes, and 21″x8″ posters being sent out to UK shops. A promotional 12″ single lasting an extra 23 seconds was issued to radio stations, and has since become a collector’s item.
In the United Kingdom the single was released on 24 October 1980, with the catalogue number Geffen K 79186. The inner groove of the vinyl bore the inscription: “One world one people”. This was a chant which had been recorded in the studio, and had initially been intended to close ‘Hard Times Are Over’ on Double Fantasy.
‘(Just Like) Starting Over’ entered the UK charts on 8 November, where it spent a total of 15 weeks. Prior to Lennon’s death on 8 December 1980, it had begun to slip down the charts; it peaked at number eight, but fell to number 21.
The single reached number one in the UK on 14 December, where it remained for one week before being knocked off by ‘There’s No One Quite Like Grandma’ by the St Winifred’s School Choir. On 4 January 1981 Lennon returned to the top with the reissued ‘Imagine’.
In the United States, ‘(Just Like) Starting Over’ became Lennon’s biggest solo hit. At the time of his death it was at number six in the Billboard Hot 100. The following week it climbed two places, and it topped the chart during the week ending 27 December 1980.
I didn’t know about the three fragments being developed as separate songs before Lennon put them together – they work so amazingly well together that I have always thought he had just brilliantly conceived the song as one whole. To this day, whatever I’m doing – working, talking, driving – I stop and listen to this song whenever it comes on. In general I’m more of a McCartney man, but there are not many more poignant songs around than this one!
That’s what I love about John, how he matched cool pieces that had little catchy had created a master piece
(The Worst is ooooveeeerrr!!! —> Starting Oveeeeer!!)
BTW, after all these years I still cant find someone to tell me WHAT DOES HE SAY ON THE BACKMASKING?(when music stops and makes the chorus/ending)
Read the quote from Jon Smith on page two of this article for information on the speech in the coda.
This is a really great song, nice structure, cool chords and wise lyrics. I like it as much as Woman. Both are among his best.
Almost forgot: every time I see the videoclip I get a lump in the throat.
I remember hearing this song on the radio when it was released and loving it. Also I thought John Lennon is back, because this was his come back song. He described this as himself doing Elvis Orbison, which is a great description as it has a retro feel and the music that influenced him as a teenager remained his first love.
The lyrics to this song strongly suggest that John was communicating to Paul McCartney, that he wanted to work with him again. Many mistake this as a love song to Yoko but the lyrics prove otherwise. the song is sung in an Elvis, Buddy Holly, Roy Orbinson like way, early rock-n-roll heroes to John and Paul. Yoko didn’t even appreciate rock-n-roll when John was in The Beatles, she called it childish remember? (Just Like) Starting Over_(John Lennon)Starting Over
Besides, why would he start over with Yoko, with whom he had been living with “blissfully” we were told. For those that say they were starting over in the music business, it wouldn’t make sense because he sings “no ones to blame”, blamed for what? It only makes sense if he’s singing about the squabbles he had with Paul. And the key clues:
I know time flies so quickly_McQuickly was the Paul character in The Rutles.
“when I see you darling”_Oh Darling (Paul’s song)
Everyday we use to make it love, why can’t we be making love nice and easy._they loved making songs everyday. Writing hits seemed so easy. Think in metaphors!
It’s time to spread our Wings (Paul’s band) and fly, don’t let Another Day (Paul’s song) go by, My Love (Paul’s song)
No matter what early drafts of the song were they may have been to, for and about Yoko, but the final product was to, for and about himself and Paul.
Other clues too but you get the gist. This song is to, for and about himself and Paul……not Yoko.
Paul McCartney was THE ONLY other person John Lennon publicly called “The Walrus” as referenced in the song ‘Glass Onion’.
John Lennon publicly declared Paul, as; “An old ex-fiance of mine called Paul.”‘, at the Elton-John Madison Square Garden concert in 1974.
John described his partnership with Paul as, “a marriage”, and their break up as “a divorce”.
During sleepovers as teens, they ‘topped and tailed’ in a shared bed, and as Beatles during tours, they shared rooms, and sat on beds facing each other “eyeball to eyeball” doing what they loved, which was writing/making hit songs.
So actually, either John or Paul could be “The Walrus” in the song saying: “The time has come ‘The Walrus’ said that you and I should stay in bed…”.
John’s comment that the song “…has nothing to do with ‘Wings’” is exactly right. It has NOTHING to do with ‘Wings’ and EVERYTHING to do with PAUL. And I say this because it bears repeating, that the song is about himself and Paul “starting over”, and not at all about Yoko, although she wants us to believe it’s a love song to her. Her way to preserve the ‘John&Yoko’ love myth she needs to seem relevant in this day and age.
Quickly = McQuickly? That’s a stretch. If John is sending romantic messages to Paul, as you seem to be insinuating as the song’s lyrics are romantic, making a reference to a cheesy Beatles parody would be akin to yelling out Winston Churchill’s name during a circle jerk.
I just noticed in the write up above that John’s original nonsense lyric that got transformed into Starting Over’s middle eight was “Why don’t they leave us alone? We cannot shave your hairy legs for you.” Paul’s hairy legs are legendary. He used to like Rory Storm’s mother to comb them, they say. (Kind of kinky.)
In the Beatles commentary world I’m glad that two deep-dive researchers, Chrissy Wheeler and Water Falls, agree that Starting Over is about Paul. JWL and JPM communicated through music “Didn’t understand a thing but we could always sing.” Paul would have understood the meaning of this song perfectly, and I’m sure it was a comfort he held onto when John died. It’s clear that other researchers are reluctant to talk about the intimacy of John and Paul’s relationship. They were soulfully in love with each other’s unquestionable loyalty, genius minds, talents that only made each other better, and complementing personalities. –Now, bring out the censors: I doubt John and Paul’s love became sexual, but it’s obvious to anyone with an open mind that John wanted to explore his sensual feelings with Paul, but he knew Paul could not reciprocate. Paul, for his part, understood John, and overlooked John’s often hurtful behaviors, and still loved John the best way he was able. To dismiss the possibility of John’s bisexuality is not tarnishing John’s abrasive, mean and wildly sardonic, witty image. Rather, this kind of conflict in his psyche helps explain a lot. Paul: “What about the time we met?
Well, I suppose that you could say that we were playing hard to get . . . What about the night we cried?
Because there wasn’t any reason left to keep it all inside . . . I really loved you and was glad you came along.”
This comment makes me so glad that there’s other people out there who see the gleaming, blaring love behind all of the early ‘70s bickering and backstabbing— my heart breaks every time I see someone insinuate that John didn’t love Paul (or vice versa) in order to lift up that tired “John Lennon Hardass Rock God” narrative that’s dragged on for so long.
It seems so obvious to me that this song is for Paul; the lyrical references and especially that bit about the Walrus in the demo, are so so clear… “the time has come / the walrus said / for you and I to stay in bed…” Remind anyone of Paul’s quote about spending the day in bed with John if he had the chance to have one more day with him? I feel like it’s undeniable that there was love there (and while I think the feelings were certainly different on John’s end, I don’t think they were that different). This song could very well be for Yoko, but if we give it the same treatment every journalist uses when talking about HDYS? and I Found Out, the same signifiers are there (the lyrical references to McCartney songs, the musical style mirroring old Beatles and rock n roll records). It seems like people are all in on saying John’s angry songs are about Paul, but refuse to open their minds and consider the fact that there was immense love in this relationship, and maybe, just maybe, John Lennon can write something nice about Paul.
Thank you for such an honest analysis 🙂
Thanks, Jeanna Dysart, for your perceptive and persuasive analysis.
That chord progression from A Major to E aug5 to F# minor to D to D minor is very early ‘60s. Goffin-King used it and it figures in “It’s My Party” too.