Reviewed by Ian Phillips.
By Ajay Mahur, Yakkateeyak Music 2021.
I came across this single from Ajay Mahur the other day and instantly wondered whether it was a cover of the Lennon/McCartney song sung by John Lennon on the A Hard Days Night album from 1964.
It isn’t but it is related to the Beatles song.
The song comes from Ajay’s upcoming album Talking Loud and it follows on from the first single I Need You Now which was released in August.
The story behind Anytime At All is that it is written about the day John Lennon was murdered outside his Dakota apartment after returning from a recording session for what would become the Milk And Honey album.
The title is of course borrowed from the original 1964 Lennon composition and is built around the words from the chorus from that song.
“Anytime at all, anytime at all, all you’ve gotta do is call and I’ll be there.”
The original song is sung from the point of view of someone who is offering unconditional love and support to a friend.
Ajay has taken these words as his starting point but the words are sung from the point of view of a close onlooker to the murder, or possibly Yoko Ono as she is cradling her slain husband as the life force drains from him.
It’s a song about the moment of clarity when you realise that, although the person you love has gone, the people who have touched you deeply are never really gone.
They’re always going to be there with you.
“All you’ve gotta do is call” and evoke their memory.
Anytime At All (aftermath of Silence) is a profoundly spiritual song that was written just after John Lennon’s death, but it has taken decades for Ajay to finally release it.
As he says, “sometimes it takes decades, and a moment of clarity, for a song to mature.”
Enough time has passed and the raw emotions of the time have faded but the song has still brought it all back to me.
Like many people I still remember my shock and the overwhelming sadness I experienced when the news of Lennon’s death was aired.
I took my Beatles and John Lennon albums to school and played them as a backdrop while we worked.
The students were in a sombre and contemplative mood.
