Lennon, John – 1980.XX.XX – The Alternate Double Fantasy – Rehearsals, Outtakes and Demos – STUDIO 2CDS A+

DISC ONE:

01 Maggie Mae (0:23) studio alternate
02 Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy) (3:53) Early Demo
03 I´M The Walrus(Watching The Wheels) (4:04) Rehearsal take preceded by a brief parody of “I Am The Walrus”. Basic backing track, different vocals
At end John says, “We’d like to change the tempo now and do a little foxtrot for Mrs. Higgins of Durban,
Australia”
04 It’s Now or Never (Come hold my penis) (0:15) (DiCapua/Schroeder/Gold)

DISC TWO

01 (Just Like) Starting Over (4:12) Complete home acoustic demo with drum machine. At end John says, “Something like that”
02 Cleanup Time (3:11) Piano Demo – Take 2 (Longer)”Show those mothers how to do it”
03 Strangers Room (6:04) Early version of I´M LOSING YOU. Piano demo
04 Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy) (4:01) Fritz und Heinz take 2. Acoustic demo with percussion
05 I’M Stepping Out (6:14) Demo 2 – Acoustic
06 I Don’t Wanna Face It (1:43) Acoustic Demo – Take 1
07 I Watch Your Face – Early Starting Over (1:11) The earliest incarnation of Starting Over. An acoustic composing demo, with the barest
hint of the basic melody. NOT THE SAME AS “MY LIFE”
08 Don’t Be Crazy – Early Starting Over (3:06) Piano demo. Early piano version of song that evolved into “Starting Over”
09 The Worst Is Over – Early Starting Over (2:11) Acoustic demo with drum machine
10 I’m Crazy (3:14) Early version of WATCHING THE WHEELS. Piano demo. “50 Million dollar home´, Watching the dollar flow”
11 Emotional Wreck (4:19) Early version of WATCHING THE WHEELS/HOWLING AT THE MOON. Piano demo ´Just sitting here
watching the traffic flow´
12 I’m Stepping Out (1:41) Acoustic Demo Take 1
13 I Don’t Wanna Face It (0:42) Early acoustic demo from 1977

In July 1980, John Lennon called Yoko Ono from Bermuda, asking that she arrange sessions at New York’s Hit Factory studio, with Jack Douglas producing.
Work began the following month, with a group of seasoned session musicians assembled by Douglas.
Rehearsals with some of the session players took place at Apartment 71 in the Dakota on 2 and 4 August, where most of the arrangements were worked out.
Recording began on 6 August, with Lennon immediately setting out an efficient working mode.
The group recorded 22 songs in around 10 days, including a roughly equal number written by Ono. Fourteen of these songs were included on Double Fantasy,
while the majority of the remainder were issued on the posthumous collection Milk And Honey in 1984.
At least five songs – I’m Stepping Out, Borrowed Time, Nobody Told Me, Woman, (Just Like) Starting Over and Yoko Ono’s Nobody Sees Me Like You Do – were
recorded in the first three days.

Initially unbeknown to Lennon, Jack Douglas created what was known as an MCRT – Master Control Running Tape – which continually recorded the sound in
Lennon’s vocal booth. By the end of the Double Fantasy sessions there were around 230 tapes, each lasting 30 minutes.
Douglas was aware of the historic importance of the sessions, and while these recordings haven’t been widely circulated, sections were broadcast
during the Lost Lennon Tapes radio series, on the Westwood One Radio Network from 1988-1992.
During the second week of sessions, Jack Douglas brought two members of Cheap Trick into the studio. Guitarist Rick Nielsen and drummer Bun E Carlos
recorded versions of I’m Losing You and Ono’s I’m Moving On. Although Lennon loved the heavy guitar work of the recordings, disagreements with the group’s
management meant they were reworked by the normal studio band.
Although the Double Fantasy album presented Lennon’s song interspersed with Ono’s, they swiftly adopted a recording routine whereby she worked during the
day and he arrived in the evening. According to Jack Douglas, the pair found it difficult to work together in the studio, and he arranged the sessions so they
were effectively two solo projects.

The sessions for the basic tracks ended on 19 August 1980. Six days later an initial running order was assembled, which listed Ono’s unfinished song
Walking On Thin Ice instead of Kiss Kiss Kiss. The song was later moved aside for a standalone Ono EP, to be titled Yoko Only, but that idea too was later scrapped.
More overdub sessions were booked for September, and the album was mixed towards the end of that month and into October. Work on Double Fantasy finished on
13 October, and the final master tape was made six days later.