Remember When Cheap Trick Hit It off With John Lennon… And Then Got Left on the Cutting Room Floor in 1980?

John Lennon’s final album, Double Fantasy, consisted mostly of tender ballads and midtempo meditations from the former Beatle. Those softer songs cast a bittersweet glow when Lennon was murdered shortly after the album’s release.

But Lennon did indulge in a bluesy rocker on the album with the song “I’m Losing You”. As it turns out, the song might have sounded even grittier if the version recorded with two members of Cheap Trick had initially been released.

‘Fantasy’ Friends

John Lennon found a backing band of top session men that were very much to his liking when he recorded Double Fantasy in 1980. Hugh McCracken and Earl Slick played guitar, Tony Levin handled the bass, Andy Newmark tackled the drums, and George Small held down keyboards.

For whatever reason, Lennon decided that he wanted a bit of a different feel on the song “I’m Losing You”. The song originated when Lennon was on vacation and tried to call Ono back in New York but couldn’t get her on the line.

The frustration of that moment reminded Lennon of when he was separated from her for a stretch in the early 70s. Lennon expressed the angst both with the anguished lyrics and in the coiled tension of the music. He decided he wanted to work with somebody different for the track. His producer, Jack Douglas, knew just the guys.

Winning on ‘Losing’

Douglas had also produced the debut album by the band Cheap Trick. At the time that Lennon was recording Double Fantasy, the band was basking in the surprise success of their live album At Budokan. Ironically, they were working with George Martin, Lennon’s producer when he was in The Beatles, on a record when they got the call from Douglas.

Guitarist Rick Nielsen and drummer Bun E. Carlos made the trip to the Hit Factory in New York City in August 1980. The two men made fast friends with Lennon. Nielsen even gave Lennon advice on the guitars he thought he should be using.

When Nielsen and Carlos tore into the song with Tony Levin on bass, they were thinking of a vibe similar to the stark, tough John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band record from 1970. Nielsen carved out a stinging riff and even came up with a sparkling solo. Lennon loved what he heard. He allegedly said that he’d wished Nielsen had played on his classic track “Cold Turkey” instead of Eric Clapton.

A Forgotten Collaboration

Nielsen and Carlos also backed Yoko Ono on “I’m Movin’ On”, which was her answer to “I’m Losing You” in the he said/she said sequence of Double Fantasy. But strangely enough, Lennon and Ono decided not to use the recordings. No reason has even officially been given for that choice.

But we can guess that it wasn’t performance-based. Lennon had the Nielsen/Carlos take of “I’m Losing You” played into the headphones of McCracken, Slick, and Newmark when they returned to the studio to try the song again.

Supposedly, there were whispers about Cheap Trick perhaps backing John Lennon on a future project. Obviously, Lennon’s death squashed that idea. Nonetheless, the contributions of Nielsen and Carlos proved indirectly essential to the eventual impact created by “I’m Losing You”.

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