Meanwhile, the follow‑up single to ‘Whatever Gets You Thru The Night’ began life with the working title of ‘So Long Ago’ and took its initial melody from the orchestral arrangement to Harry Nilsson’s version of ‘Many Rivers To Cross’, the opening track on his Pussy Cats album which Lennon had produced earlier in the year. This was then embellished by words that came to John in a dream, involving a couple of women echoing his name. Hence the eventual title, ‘#9 Dream’, which continued Lennon’s fascination with the number that followed him from birth to the grave. Born on October 9th, 1940, his first home was at 9 Newcastle Road in Liverpool; Beatles manager Brian Epstein first saw the group play on November 9th, 1961; John met Yoko on November 9th, 1966; in 1968, he constructed the sound collage ‘Revolution 9′ for the Beatles’ ‘White Album’; in New York, he and Yoko lived in the Dakota building on West 72nd Street (seven and two is nine); in 1975, their son, Sean, was born on John’s birthday, October 9th; and when John was shot and killed just after 11pm on December 8th, 1980, it was December 9th back in England.
