A Boston photographer spent a single day in August 1980 documenting John Lennon's first steps back into a recording studio after five years away, and now all 31 of those photographs are gathered in one book for the first time. Roger Farrington was the man behind the camera, and his images of Lennon and Yoko Ono leaving their Manhattan home and beginning work on what would become Lennon's final album have appeared in earlier books. They now have a book of their own.
Farrington was tapped by Ono to produce a publicity photograph capturing Lennon's return to popular music on Aug. 7, 1980, according to nola.com. That date marked Lennon's return to the recording studio after a five-year absence, the outlet reports. Per Boston.com, Farrington received a call asking him to photograph the couple's first recording session in five years and flew to New York to spend the day at their side.
Farrington met Lennon and Ono at their home at the Dakota on Central Park West before following them to the Hit Factory on West 48th Street, the same nola.com report states. It was there, on Aug. 7, 1980, that Lennon and Ono began the secret recording sessions that produced Double Fantasy, according to Farrington's own account on his website. Of the 31 shots he captured that day, as Salon notes, the photographer documented the couple departing the Dakota, arriving at the studio, and being in the studio.
A Five-Year Silence Broken in One Session
Before that August day, Lennon had not recorded any new original music at a professional recording studio since July 1974, Salon reports. By September 1980, Lennon, Ono and producer Jack Douglas were reportedly working feverishly to finish the album for a November release, per the same outlet. The sessions wrapped up on Sept. 22, and Double Fantasy was released by Geffen Records on Nov. 17, 1980, according to nola.com's report.
The photographs are described as some of the last pictures of Lennon and Ono. Some of those photographs later appeared in Ono's 1983 book, Summer of 1980, the outlet's report states. Years later, Farrington's photographs appeared in Ken Sharp's 2010 book on the making of Double Fantasy.
Every Frame, Together, for the First Time
Now those decades of scattered appearances have led to a book built entirely around that one day. Starting Over with John and Yoko: The Photographs, published by Rutgers University Press, was co-authored by Farrington and Beatles historian Kenneth Womack, according to Waterstones. The publisher's description states that the book reproduces the entire run of Farrington's photographs from that day for the first time, bringing all of the photographs together in one volume.
Boston.com reports that Farrington plans to share stories behind the photographs alongside Womack and radio host Cha-Chi Loprete at the Folk Americana Roots Hall of Fame, housed inside the Boch Center Wang Theatre.
For a photographer whose work has appeared in other books, the new book represents something different: a single, complete document of the day John Lennon picked music back up, just months before his life ended.
