Song of the Day 12/8: John Lennon and Cheap Trick, “I’m Losing You”

Whatever else it represented, the assassination of John Lennon 40 years ago tonight closed the door on an encouraging comeback from his self-imposed exile.

Not everyone saw “Double Fantasy” that way at first — negative reviews from many prominent critics were withheld from publication when Lennon was killed three weeks after its release — and it had only middling sales in its first weeks on the charts. (Of course, it soared to No. 1 in the wake of his murder.) Many critics complained that Lennon’s surprisingly mellow songs about his wife, his son and his apparent domestic bliss put a false front on a stormy marriage. That analysis overlooks the best cut on the album.

“I’m Losing You,” unlike the softer songs that became hits in the murder’s aftermath (both “Starting Over” and “Woman” reached No. 1) isn’t about domestic bliss at all. Triggered by his inability to reach Yoko Ono by phone from Bermuda one night, Lennon conducts a one-sided argument with her, punctuated by his fear that the relationship is dissolving. It was slated for release as a single before his death made it seem inappropriate.

It’s easily the toughest track on the album, both musically and lyrically, but it would have packed even more punch had Lennon and producer Jack Douglas been able to use their original version of the song. Douglas was also producing Cheap Trick at the time, and he brought in guitarist Rick Nielsen and drummer Bun E. Carlos (along with King Crimson bassist Tony Levin) to record “I’m Losing You” and Ono’s “I’m Moving On.” Details are sketchy, but apparently demands by Cheap Trick’s management prompted Douglas to scuttle the track and rerecord it with the session musicians who played on the rest of the album. The original was eventually released in 1998, on the “John Lennon Anthology” box set, and Cheap Trick played it in concert for years before finally recording it in 2001.

This is the “Double Fantasy” version: