Above: The Double Fantasy team – (back row L-R) guitarist Hugh McCracken, drummer Andy Newmark, John & Yoko, producer Jack Douglas and percussionist Arthur Jenkins, Jr; (front row) bass player Tony Levin, guitarist Earl Slick and keyboard player George Small.
has been written about the chapter that was supposed to follow: John Lennon & Yoko Ono’s 1981 world tour – provisionally titled One World, One People. Even less detail has been divulged about the plans for the tour’s production... until now. In an interview with Playboy magazine’s David Sheff, a month before the release of Double Fantasy’s trailer single, ‘(Just Like) Starting Over’, Lennon was asked if he might consider returning to the live stage. He said: “I wouldn’t have believed it a month ago. But then I thought, ‘What the hell, why not?’ If it’s enjoyable and if it
doesn’t become something that one doesn’t want to do, ‘cause it’s nice to get up and sing sometimes, like it’s nice to make music. I don’t want to get mixed up in deals and business and spin-offs and pressures, though, because I don’t need that anymore. Once was enough. “But sure, I’d like to get up on stage with Yoko and a good band and play these songs, and really do ‘em, because the band’s hot as shit. They just came off the album and they were all good – we’ve got the good feeling among ourselves. So it would be great. 5