(Just Like) Starting Over by John Lennon – ****

First released: 1980

I’m sure this song was highly anticipated by everyone, but for me I was excited because it was the first new John Lennon song to be released since I had become a Beatle fan in 1978. So, although the wait for me hadn’t been as long, it was still a great moment. I remember that I was in Art class in high school and we used to have the radio going while we worked on our projects. One day in October 1980, the DJ said that he was going to play the new John Lennon tune after these commercial messages. I (privately) went nuts. No one else in the class gave a shit. The commercials ended and I wandered over closer to the radio speaker to hear this new tune. I can’t say that I loved it, but I didn’t hate it, and I didn’t hear it that well the first time as the class seemed totally disinterested in what was on the air. You have to remember in 1980, most people in my high school would be more interested in a new tune by Blondie or The Cars than something by John Lennon. Even McCartney would have perked up more ears, as there were a few fans of "Coming Up".

Anyway, as was customary at the time, if a song was played on the radio, that didn’t mean it was readily available in the record shops and remember kiddies, there was no downloading, so you had to wait patiently until the record finally appeared unless you were lucky enough to record it on a cassette from the radio. In fact, when I did secure a single of the song at Tower Records, it was the last one available and the picture sleeve was kind of beat up. I wasn’t into black and white at the time and didn’t understand why Lennon used a black and white photo.

Later, I did grow to like the tune, but after the tragic events of 1980, I couldn’t listen to this or anything from "Double Fantasy" for about 2-3 years. In fact, if this tune appeared on the radio at that time, I quickly changed the station. I didn’t seem to mind if the radio played something older like "Imagine", but if it was from "Double Fantasy", it really bothered me.

Time has allowed me to really appreciate this tune, but I strongly feel that had Lennon not died, it wouldn’t have gone to #1. It would have made Top 10, but not #1 and I feel mainly because of the Lennon name and the fact that he hadn’t released anything in five years. It kind of plods along in the same way as Ringo’s "Dose of Rock ‘n’ Roll" and that barely made the Top 30. 50s nostalgia was kind of passé by 1980 and soon transitioned to 60s nostalgia.

It’s also on "The John Lennon Collection" from 1982, the "Imagine: John Lennon" soundtrack from 1988, 1990’s "Lennon", "Lennon Legend" from 1997, "Instant Karma" from 2001, "Working Class Hero" from 2005, and 2006’s "Remember". There is also a rare promo single version out there somewhere that is slightly longer than the generally released version with a longer fadeout that to date has not been re-released anywhere else.