Milk and Honey (album)

Milk and Honey
Studio album by John Lennon and Yoko Ono
Released	9 January 1984 (UK) 27 January 1984 (US)
Recorded	August–December 1980, 1983
Genre	Rock
Length	36:49
Label	Polydor
Producer	John Lennon, Yoko Ono
John Lennon chronology
The John Lennon Collection (1982)The John Lennon Collection1982 Milk and Honey (1984) Live in New York City (1986)Live in New York City1986
Yoko Ono chronology
It's Alright (I See Rainbows) (1982) Milk and Honey (1984) Starpeace (1985)
Singles from Milk and Honey
"Nobody Told Me" Released: 6 January 1984 "Borrowed Time" Released: 9 March 1984 "I'm Stepping Out" Released: 15 July 1984

Milk and Honey is an album credited to John Lennon and Yoko Ono released in 1984. It is Lennon's eighth and final studio album, and the first posthumous release of Lennon's music, having been recorded in the last months of his life during and following the sessions for their 1980 album Double Fantasy. It was assembled by Yoko Ono in association with the Geffen label.

Background

Milk and Honey was the duo's projected follow-up to Double Fantasy, though Lennon's death caused a temporary shelving of the project. It took Ono three years to be able to resume work to complete it. Ono's material largely comprises new recordings, which she undertook during the album's preparation in 1983, which give her songs a more commercial and contemporary edge. Conversely, Lennon's material, being rough takes and rehearsal recordings, has a more casual feeling.

Music and lyrics

"Nobody Told Me", a song Lennon had intended for Ringo Starr's 1981 Stop and Smell the Roses, was released as a single and became a worldwide Top 10 hit. Other singles from the album were "I'm Stepping Out" and "Borrowed Time". The songs "Let Me Count the Ways" and "Grow Old with Me" were written by Lennon and Ono to each other using inspiration from poems by Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Robert Browning. They are presented in their demo form.

Album title

The album title came from Ono, who explained that it referenced their journey to the US, "the land of milk and honey". "But also, in the Scripture, the land of milk and honey is where you go after you die, as a promised land", Ono went on to say. "So it's very strange that I thought of that title. Almost scary – like someone up there told me to call the next album Milk and Honey." The cover is an alternative take from the same photo session that produced the front cover of Double Fantasy, though this time it appears in colour.

Release

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic
Robert Christgau	A
Mojo
MusicHound	2.5/5
Paste
Rolling Stone
The Rolling Stone Album Guide
Uncut

After a falling out with David Geffen, whose Geffen Records had initially released Double Fantasy, Ono moved future projects to Polydor Records, which initially released Milk and Honey. EMI, home of Lennon's entire recorded output—including that with the Beatles—acquired this and all Lennon releases in the late 1990s. Predictably, the reaction to Milk and Honey was less fanatical than the one that greeted Double Fantasy, but it was still well received, peaking at No. 3 in the UK and No. 11 in the US, where it went gold. Jack Douglas, who had co-produced Double Fantasy with Lennon and Ono, also had input into the initial sessions for Milk and Honey, though Ono declined to credit him after their professional relationship soured following Lennon's death.

Aftermath

In 2001, Yoko Ono supervised the remastering of Milk and Honey for its CD reissue, adding three bonus tracks, including a 22-minute excerpt from Lennon's last interview in the late afternoon of 8 December 1980, hours before his death.

Track listing

Side one

1. "I'm Stepping Out" (John Lennon) – 4:06
2. "Sleepless Night" (Yoko Ono) – 2:34
3. "I Don't Wanna Face It" (Lennon) – 3:22
4. "Don't Be Scared" (Ono) – 2:45
5. "Nobody Told Me" (Lennon) – 3:34
6. "O' Sanity" (Ono) – 1:05

Side two

7. "Borrowed Time" (Lennon) – 4:29
8. "Your Hands" (Ono) – 3:04
9. "(Forgive Me) My Little Flower Princess" (Lennon) – 2:28
10. "Let Me Count the Ways" (Ono) – 2:17
11. "Grow Old with Me" (Lennon) – 3:07
12. "You’re the One" (Ono) – 3:56

Bonus tracks

2001 reissue
No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
13.	"Every Man Has a Woman Who Loves Him"	Ono	3:19
14.	"I'm Stepping Out" (home version)	Lennon	2:57
15.	"I'm Moving On" (home version)	Ono	1:20
16.	"Interview with J & Y, 8 December 1980"		21:55

Personnel

• John Lennon – guitar, keyboards, vocals
• Yoko Ono – vocals
• John Tropea – guitar
• Earl Slick – guitar
• Howard Johnson – horn
• Jimmy Maelen – percussion
• Elliott Randall – guitar
• Gordon Grody – vocals
• Billy Alessi – vocals
• Bobby Alessi – vocals
• Pete Cannarozzi – synthesizer
• Andy Newmark – drums
• Paul Griffin – drums
• Neil Jason – bass
• Arthur Jenkins – percussion
• Tony Levin – bass
• Steve Love – guitar
• Hugh McCracken – guitar
• Wayne Pedziwiatr – bass
• George Small – keyboards
• Peter Thom – vocals
• Ed Walsh – keyboards
• Kurt Yahjian – vocals
• Wisnu Cahya Adi Wibowo – guitar, vocals

Charts

Chart positions

Chart (1984)	Position
Australian Kent Music Report Chart	4
Austrian Albums Chart	12
Canadian RPM Albums Chart	15
Dutch Mega Albums Chart	4
French SNEP Albums Chart	10
Italian Albums Chart	16
Japanese Oricon LP Chart	3
New Zealand Albums Chart	34
Norwegian VG-lista Albums Chart	7
Swedish Albums Chart	3
Swiss Albums Chart	15
UK Albums Chart	3
US Billboard 200	11
West German Media Control Albums Chart	20

Year-end charts

Chart (1984)	Position
Australian Albums Chart	67
Canadian Albums Chart	82
Italian Albums Chart	64
Japanese Albums Chart	83

Certifications and sales

Region	Certification	Sales/shipments
Canada (Music Canada)	Gold	50,000
Japan (Oricon Charts)		106,000
United Kingdom (BPI)	Gold	100,000
United States (RIAA)	Gold	500,000
^shipments figures based on certification alone xunspecified figures based on certification alone