Nowhere is the place to be

Continuing with the origin story of John Lennon’s ‘Grow Old With Me,’ in June of 1980, Lennon had to steer the sailboat Megan Jaye through a storm while en route to Bermuda. The rest of the crew were incapacitated. (Read about the storm here and here.) The storm drove the boat 70 miles off course.[1] Tyler Coneys, who had given Lennon basic sailing lessons that summer and was a member of the Megan Jaye crew, was impressed with Lennon’s prowess.

“He was up there at the helm like a madman on an adventure,” Coneys said. “What was the choice? If no one was steering, then the boat would have been in worse shape than it was.”[2]

For some time, the Megan Jaye had been without its sails, which were damaged in the storm. Now, they needed to be repaired.

Lennon offered to assist. For the job, he heated a sharp implement on the stove in the galley and then passed it up to Captain Hank Halsted to be used on deck.

“John was completely into this primal experience, where I had him heat a marlinspike on the stove until it was red-hot,” Halsted said. “He would then pass it up to me, where I would burn a hole in the sail causing it to wick so that a rope could be passed through without the sail unraveling from the tension of the rope. We did this for hours, and he was completely into it.”[3] 

Finally, after nearly three days, the storm released its grip. By the morning of June 9th, things were somewhat back to normal. Helm duties were once again shared, with the rest of the crew recovered from their seasickness. Lennon, now truly a full member of the crew rather than just a passenger, continued his duties cooking and having a watch at the helm with Coneys.

During their conversations, the crew talked about being at sea. “We would talk about being in the middle of nowhere,” said Ellen Coneys, Tyler’s cousin and one of the crew members. “When it is calm, you do think you are out there in the middle of nowhere.”[4] Tyler Coneys said the phrase “Nowhere is the place to be.”

“John said, ‘Write that down! Write that down!’” Tyler Coneys recalled. “That’s when he started to think he should play music again.”[5] The line would appear in the Double Fantasy song ‘Dear Yoko’:

“Even when I’m miles at sea/And nowhere is the place to be/Your spirit’s watching over me, dear Yoko.”

[1] Womack, Kenneth. John Lennon 1980 – The Last Days in the Life. p.118. Omnibus Press. 2020.

[2] Neil, Scott. Lennon Bermuda. p.31. Freisenbruch Brannon Media. Kindle Edition.

[3] San Souci, Brian R. “There’s no place like nowhere.” (John Lennon, Bermuda, 1980). Rhode Island Monthly. June 7, 2010.

[4] Neil, Scott. Lennon Bermuda. p.34. Freisenbruch Brannon Media. Kindle Edition.

[5] Neil, Scott. Lennon Bermuda p.35. Freisenbruch Brannon Media. Kindle Edition.