'Watching the wheels' - John Lennon

On the 8th of December 1980, John Lennon was shot five times by 25 year old Mark Chapman outside the Dakota building in New York City where John and Yoko lived. Chapman had been stalking Lennon for days outside the Dakota apartments and asked for an autograph as Lennon walked through the courtyard. As he signed a piece of paper Chapman fired. Lennon was pronounced dead from a massive loss of blood at 11.30pm.http://www.thisdayinmusic.com
Listen to 'Watching the wheels'

"Watching the Wheels" is a 1981 single by John Lennon, released posthumously after hisassassination the year before. It was the third and final single released from Lennon and Yoko Ono's Double Fantasy album, and reached #10 in the U.S and #30 in the UK.

"Watching the Wheels" concerns Lennon's dismissal of those who were confounded by his "househusband" years, 1975-1980. The working title was, "I'm Crazy." A working verse for the song went like this;

"People say I'm stupid, giving all my money away. they give me all kinds of names and addresses, designed to save me finacially. I tell them that I'm ok, watching the flowers grow. But surely you're not happy boy, you don't own the damn world. I'm just sitting here watching the world go round. I really love the traffic flow. I'm just sitting here watching the world go round, I really love to watch it spin. No longer riding on the merry-go-round, I just had to do it in. I just had to give it up. I just had to let it go."

During this period, he stayed away from the music industry and raised his son Sean with Yoko. The song's second verse seems to contain an allusion to Plato's "Allegory of the cave".

The song features a hammered dulcimer accompanying the lead piano.^[1]

The B-side features Yoko's "Yes, I'm Your Angel."

The photograph on the cover was taken by Paul Goresh, a fan of John Lennon. Goresh also took the infamous photo of Lennon signing a copy of Double Fantasy for his assassin. Both photos were taken at the same place, in front of the Dakota building, which was the site of his 1980 shooting. Later, Chapman was recorded in police custody reciting a line from the song. This clip was used by the band EMF for the track "Lies" on their 1991 album Schubert Dip, though immediate protests from Yoko prompted the sample's removal on subsequent pressings.

The acoustic demo of "Watching the Wheels" is featured in the ending credits to the 2009 filmFunny People starring Adam Sandler and Seth Rogen.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watching_the_Wheels

'People asking questions lost in confusion,

Well I tell them there's no problem,
Only solutions,
Well they shake their heads and they look at me as if I've lost my mind,
I tell them there's no hurry...
I'm just sitting here doing time,'