“I hadn’t stopped from ’62 till ’73 – on demand continuously. And walking away was hard… because I don’t exist if I don’t have a record in the charts”: The cosmic inspiration and bitter irony in one of John Lennon’s last and most poignant songs

John Lennon.

Looking back on the life and legacy of John Lennon – who was gunned down 45 years ago on 8 December 1980 – it’s easy to forget that the initial reaction to his final album Double Fantasy was largely negative.

Some of Lennon’s most ardent admirers, such as British DJ John Peel, denounced the album’s sentimentality and questioned its relevance.