It was a new beginning in music history when The Beatles broke up.
For John Lennon, it was the first of many new starts he experienced throughout that decade.
After his once-in-a-generation songwriting partnership with Paul McCartney ended acrimoniously, Lennon was ready to seek pastures new.
With his wife Yoko Ono, he relocated to the United States, settling in New York City as he continued his radical crusade in anti-war activism alongside his career in music.
This period was arguably when he wrote he finest work as a solo musician – 'Imagine', 'Jealous Guy', 'Mind Games' and 'Working Class Hero' spring to mind.
Another new start was when he temporarily split with Yoko, moved to Los Angeles for his notorious 'lost weekend' before eventually reconciling backstage at an Elton John concert, where Lennon had just made a guest appearance.
He put music to one side after the birth of Sean Lennon, focusing on being the best father he could, and loving life.
But in 1980 with Double Fantasy, his first album in five years, he wrote about starting over again. Being given another opportunity by Yoko gave him the life he always wanted.
Sadly, on December 8, 1980 just months after the release of Double Fantasy, John's life was tragically ended.
The song he refers to was of course '(Just Like) Starting Over', the first track on the album and a poignant opening salvo.
Lennon evidently loved Yoko. But in 1974 their relationship broke down to the point where he started another life on the opposite coast of America.
Known now as his 'Lost Weekend', he began a romantic affair with May Pang, a personal assistant and production coordinator for Lennon and Ono.
Lasting 18 months, the period was also marked by Lennon's hedonism, hanging out in Los Angeles with drinking buddy Harry Nilsson whilst being highly productive in the studio.
He'd return to Yoko, deeply regretful of the period. Ono however was aware of the affair, and welcomed him back willing to start anew.
Talking to American journalist Larry Kane in the late '70s, Lennon was remorseful about his affair with May Pang, but admitted he did love her.
"You know Larry, I may have been the happiest I’ve ever been. I loved this woman," he said candidly.
He continued with the caveat that he was out of his mind for the majority of the time that he was out in Los Angeles, however.
"I made some beautiful music, and I got so f**ked up with booze and s**t and whatever."
Not long after their reconciliation Ono fell pregnant, and on October 9, 1975, Sean Lennon was born.
Lennon put his career on ice to raise Sean, and wouldn't re-enter the studio for another five years, the result of which was Double Fantasy.
Intent on starting a new chapter, '(Just Like) Starting Over' could taken as a nod to a new stage in his career. But at closer inspection, it's about his relationship with Ono.
In what would turn out to be one of the final ever interviews John Lennon would give, he spoke to writer David Sheff for Playboy, who later recounted his experience in Mojo magazine.
"It was kinda obvious what '(Just Like) Starting Over' was about," Sheff said in the interview.
"He'd been untrusting of Yoko, she’d been untrusting of him, all that kind of stuff. But in that one song was this incredible optimism and joy."
Throughout their relationship, Lennon had admitted to being enormously jealous of Ono – of her intellect, the fact she spoke two languages, of her creative vision as an artist.
But on '(Just Like) Starting Over', it sounded as though he was finally ready to put his neuroses aside.
On December 5, 1980, just a matter of days before he was shockingly murdered, Lennon spoke to Rolling Stone magazine editor Jonathan Cott for approximately nine hours.
Discussing the song, he said: "All through the taping of '(Just Like) Starting Over', I was calling what I was doing 'Elvis Orbison'."
"It's like [Bob] Dylan doing Nashville Skyline, except I don't have any Nashville, being from Liverpool."
Evoking the music icons that influenced him at a young age, he added: "So I go back to the records I know – Elvis and Roy Orbison and Gene Vincent and Jerry Lee Lewis."
Looking back to look forward, the song was tragic in its optimism, because Lennon never really got the opportunity to truly start over given his life was taken a way soon after.