On December 8, 1980, one of the most influential music icons of the 20th century was assassinated: John Lennon. And it is that the crime committed by Mark David Chapman left one of the largest gaps in the music industry worldwide.
Precisely that same day what would be the last step in Lennon’s musical career was known, where not only was the last piece he would work on created, but also a failed attempt to make the much hated Yoko Ono famous for a music career.
And yes, “Walking On Thin Ice” was the last song recorded hours before the ex-beatle was shot in the Dakota building and later died.
This song that has two versions, a 12” with a duration of 7:20 minutes and the simple version with 6 minutes would become a failed attempt to revitalize Yoko’s career at the expense of the talent and influences that John Lennon had gained with the passing of the years.
The day of his murder Yoko and John met for the last time to work on this song, which Lennon spent weeks listening to and arranging in a preliminary way mixing the tracks, until he had the final version of the song in his hands.
Following the release and death, his contribution both as a producer as well as on guitar was praised as the most fascinating of his career, even though it was a genre he was unfamiliar with, which was New Wave.
Ironically, despite the fact that much of the song shows the work of John Lennon, not only in the musical part, but the singer-songwriter was betting that the song would be a great hit for Ono, even when the singer was skeptical.
Despite the efforts that were made to revive the musician, the 4 bullets he received were lethal for John Lennon, who hours before had printed his characteristic stamp on “Walking On Thin Ice” with his iconic guitar to obtain the final mix of the song. song.
Although it has a different rhythm and form than what the former Beatle had accustomed us to in his career, the lyrics of the song had an interesting coincidence, which for some may be macabre.