 A month later, Lennon, with his friends Justin Clayton and Carlton Morales, started a three-month stay at a French château, "Manoir de Valotte", in Saint-Benin-d'Azy, France, writing and demoing songs for what would appear on "Valotte".In an interview with "Rock Bill" magazine, Lennon said that he "had a lot of the material" before embarking to the château.About the songs, Lennon said that half the songs on the album had "already [been] written on the piano" in short pieces, about "a year or two before".