The Last Days of John Lennon

by James Patterson

On December 29, 1974, while they’re at the Polynesian Village Resort at Disney World, the lawyers catch up to John. With the revised documents in front of him, he hesitates, aware of what he’s about to do. “Take out your camera,” John suggests to May. And then he hesitates again, looking out the window. “I could almost see him replaying the entire Beatles experience in his mind,” she says. “Even though they all felt they had to break up to get to the next level of their musical careers, John had started this band that changed the world. It changed pop culture. It changed how we live and how we dress. And he knew that. So when he sat down to sign, he knew that this was it. His was the last signature. As he had started the group, he was the one to end it.” And so it comes to an end in the Magic Kingdom: with a final autograph placed just under the other three, John Lennon signs away the Beatles.