As Robert Rosen's wife, I've sometimes felt as if I were also living with the spirit of John Lennon. This has been mostly good, but I once told a journalist in Mexico City that there had been times when I never wanted to hear the words "John Lennon" again. (I imagine anyone who's lived with a biographer can relate.) That was long ago, and since then Bob's connection with Lennon has become a beautiful, if intricate, part of the fabric of our life together. Last January we both took part in an event in Seville centered on Bob's book Nowhere Man. I'm a singer-songwriter and aside from doing a few original songs, I performed "I'm Losing You," "You Can't Do That," and "Now and Then," which had just come out a couple of months before.
The phrase "now and then" also figures into a song I wrote and recently released as a digital single. "Mild December" was partly inspired by last Christmas evening, which Bob and I spent with our friend Michael Medeiros, aka "Mike Tree," as Lennon called him when he was John's gardener. After dinner, we settled into Michael's cozy living room to listen to music and talk. Lennon seemed to hover over us that night, and when I looked up the weather for December 1980, I saw that it was mild then too.
The recording was produced by Adam Tilzer, with Danny Bradley on drums, and mastered by Nick Miller. You can read the lyrics below:
Mild December
It was a mild December
When we had our Christmas meal
Spicy puttanesca
Red wine for the reveal
You played a tape just for me
I heard the stops and starts
Then we went out on the fire escape
Those geraniums had heart
And you said you were unwanted
But you screamed that all away
Then you strutted with a puffed-up chest
To a Central Park West subway
And now you've got an aerie
A nest that's rent controlled
I walked up all those steps for you
Just wishing for some snow
And I played a mix of my new song
You said I got it kinda wrong
But I won't go that low for you, my friend
I read the writing on your wall
But honey I can take a fall
Progress not perfection I agree
And then you bit into a gummy
Said you just had one a day
But you would eat that whole damn bag
Just to make those memories fade
'Cause that girl was gonna kill you
You found her gun and split in two
One part floated near her bed
She'd used her best voodoo
And you said you liked Folk City
When you were oh so young
You drank a lot in Gerdes' place
Now it's got you on the run
Well, you are such a gentle man
But the whiskey made you mean
Lashing out at those you love
Yeah, I've heard about that scene
And I played a mix of my new song
You said I got it kinda wrong
But I won't go that low for you, my friend
I read the writing on your wall
But honey you can take a fall
You didn't need that four bucks anyway
You got snakebit in the desert
You hear the rattle in your ear
You think my song is fiction
We can go with that, my dear
Still you took care of her jade tree
Its leaves like blades could cut
But money showered in its wake
Or that's the scuttlebutt
I played CBGB's
When I was oh so young
I wanted more from Hilly's place
But still I had my fun
And it was a mild December
When he stepped from his car
I lose you now and then, it seems
But you never go too far
Can we ever really change
So many cells to rearrange
I walked up those steep steps for you
Just the way he did before everything blew
It was a mild December
It was a mild December
It was a mild December
It was a mild December
It was a mild December
It was a mild December