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The music of John and the Beatles had punctuated so many of his formative years. Going to Africa in summer, he listened to 'Eight Days a Week' on the radio each Sunday from the local 'Top of the Pops' countdown. That song made number one for two whole years.
In England, he was given his first LP- 'A Hard Day's Night' - on his ninth birthday. On his twelfth birthday, his mother gave him his first portable cassette recorder and player, as heavy as a safe, the length of an egg carton though twice as wide. His first recording was 'All You Need is Love'- a musical rage at the time, blending classical music with pop.
Central Park buzzed with activity. Strangers came and sat beside him for a minute and walked away, their attention fixed on the mosaic and their own thoughts. They were promptly replaced by others. Meanwhile, the sun shone ever brighter.
He had recently spent a couple of days in Liverpool. "You must take a London cab tour of all the Beatles' haunts," exhorted the captivating, young, petite, blonde receptionist. He couldn't refuse her.
As the driver cruised past Strawberry Field (not Fields), an orphan home whose grounds John would play in, the taxi boomed its tribute to the Fab Four. They had a break in a church graveyard where John would skive off from school to smoke a cigarette or two. The guide pointed to the grave of Eleanor Rigby.
Rain streamed down as they navigated Penny Lane, a bus terminal where the four boys met before deciding whose home they should go to. Nearly all the shops referred to on the record still existed. The characters mentioned were all real too, according to his guide.
The grand finale: a row of council houses where Paul McCartney had lived as a boy and where John wrote songs with him.
The post World War II homes made of flint and stone brought tears to his eyes. They were identical to the home he was brought up in so many years ago in Ellington Park in North Maidenhead, Berkshire, thirty miles south of London.