When John Lennon sang, “Nobody told me there’d be days like these” in 1980, the words would have been more prescient – perhaps foreshadowing his murder on Dec. 8 of that year.

Of course, like many songs, the words can now be now be taken in the context of COVID and leave it Lennon to summarize succinctly: “Most peculiar, mama!”

At the time, the song had been recorded but was incomplete when the former Beatle died; it was finished by his widow Yoko Ono three years later and released as a single in 1984 from the posthumous album Milk and Honey, eventually reaching No. 5 on Billboard.

And remembered, albeit in a new context, some 36 years later.

Strange days, indeed!

Lyrics

Everybody’s talking and no one says a word
Everybody’s making love and no one really cares
There’s Nazis in the bathroom just below the stairs

Always something happening and nothing going on
There’s always something cooking and nothing in the pot
They’re starving back in China so finish what you got

Nobody told me there’d be days like these
Nobody told me there’d be days like these
Nobody told me there’d be days like these
Strange days indeed – strange days indeed

Everybody’s runnin’ and no one makes a move
Everyone’s a winner and nothing left to lose
There’s a little yellow idol to the north of Katmandu

Everybody’s flying and no one leaves the ground
Everybody’s crying and no one makes a sound
There’s a place for us in the movies you just gotta lay around

Nobody told me there’d be days like these
Nobody told me there’d be days like these
Nobody told me there’d be days like these
Strange days indeed – most peculiar, mama

Everybody’s smoking and no one’s getting high
Everybody’s flying and never touch the sky
There’s a UFO over New York and I ain’t too surprised

Nobody told me there’d be days like these
Nobody told me there’d be days like these
Nobody told me there’d be days like these
Strange days indeed – most peculiar, mama