How a Trip to This Beloved Sitcom Set Likely Helped Inspire John Lennon for His Sixth and Final Studio Album, ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll’

Inspiration is more often a swirling amalgamation of influences and experiences than any one specific occurrence in one’s life. And the same could be said about the creative energy behind John Lennon’s sixth and final studio album, Rock ‘n’ Roll. Lennon was in a state of tremendous personal and professional flux at the time. Most predominantly, this was his “Lost Weekend” period, where he dated May Pang. Pang worked as an assistant for Lennon and his second wife, Yoko Ono.

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In addition to the estrangement from his wife, Lennon was struggling to maintain a relationship with his son, Julian, whom he had with his first wife, Cynthia Lennon. His musical career hadn’t taken off nearly in the same way as his ex-colleagues from The Beatles. And a copyright lawsuit over the 1969 track “Come Together” from Abbey Road put Lennon on the hook to record at least three songs owned by publisher Morris Levy, who filed the initial lawsuit in the first place. (This was part of a deal Lennon brokered with Lennon to drop those first charges.)

From these strenuous external hurdles to the obligation to comb through massive catalogues of early rock ‘n’ roll music, all roads were leading Lennon down a path of back-to-basics, early 1960s nostalgia, where times felt easier, and things were less complicated. And what better way to dive headfirst into this ultra-Americana mindset than on the sound stage for the beloved sitcom Happy Days?

‘Happy Days’ Cast Members Recall Meeting John Lennon and His Son

John Lennon, May Pang, and Lennon’s young son, Julian Lennon, visited the set of Happy Days around the time the former Beatle was compiling tracks for his sixth album. (No one had any way of knowing at the time that it would also be his last.) Lennon’s mind was on early rock ‘n’ roll. The grimy, hiccupy rock music that first attracted the Liverpudlian and his friends to pick up guitars of their own. Happy Days embodied this sense of late 1950s nostalgia. And indeed, this undoubtedly helped Lennon further focus on the era’s style, attitude, and feeling.

During a 2018 appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live, Henry Winkler (The Fonz) recalled seeing John and Julian. “He was so shy,” Winkler said of John Lennon. “I didn’t know how to get into a conversation with John Lennon. I just started talking about Imagine, the solo album he made. And there’s a cut on it, which is called ‘Mother’, which is like a primal scream. And I started talking to him about that, and he opened like a flower.”

Potsie Weber actor Anson Williams shared similar sentiments about Lennon and his family. He described the ex-Beatle as “the nicest, congenial, humblest, shyest man. There he is doing doodles for the crew.” Williams joked about how the actors were too afraid to ask for a drawing because they were “professionals,” adding, “There’s a lot of rich grips out there with their doodles. But not us.”

Lennon eventually wrapped all of these early rock ‘n’ roll, early 1960s experiences into Rock ‘n’ Roll, which he released on February 17, 1975. It would be the last full-length studio album Lennon ever released before his death in December 1980.

Photo by Ken Regan /American Broadcasting Companies via Getty Images