It was 40 years ago today, August 7th, 1980, that John Lennon officially ended his five-year-retirement and headed back into the recording studio. In 1975, Lennon had put his career on hold to stay home and help raise his son Sean, and on the cusp of his 40th birthday, returned with Yoko Ono to record his comeback album, Double Fantasy, which would be his last before his murder on December 8th, 1980.
Following several days of pre-production with the musicians at the couple's Upper West Side apartment the Dakota, and at S.I.R. Studios, John and Yoko officially began recording Double Fantasy on August 7th 1980 at the Hit Factory on West 54th Street between Ninth and 10th Avenues.
During those sessions, they actually recorded enough material for two albums, one to be released in the autumn, and another called Milk And Honey — which according to legend was to be released in the spring of 1981. To ensure their artistic freedom, the Lennon's decided to finance the album themselves and afterwards sign with the record company with the highest offer. They eventually signed with David Geffen's new label, the Warner Brothers-distributed Geffen Records, for millions less than the major labels were offering — solely because his was the only label that didn't demand to hear the completed tapes first and Geffen reached out to Yoko personally.