It happened on a Monday night. The date was Dec. 8, 1980. Some say it was the day the music died. This December will mark the 35th anniversary when former Beatle/songwriter John Lennon was shot to death by a deranged fan outside the gates of the Dakota Apartments in New York City as he and his wife, Yoko Ono, were returning home from a recording studio session. Lennon would have turned 75 this year on October 9.
Rock star Sheryl Crow and actor/comedian Mike Myers, according to a retrospective article on Lennon in the Nov. 9, 2000 issue of Rolling Stone, heard about the singer’s assassination watching "Monday Night Football" when sportscaster Howard Cosell made the shocking announcement to TV viewers.
I found out the next morning from my dad as I was getting ready for school.
I remembered hearing Beatles’ songs like "Yesterday" on the radio the morning after the singer’s death and seeing hour-long newscasts and specials covering the life of the late Beatle on TV that night.
I also recall reading various newspaper articles about fans who were so distraught by the tragic news that they committed suicide. Some fans of Nirvana repeated that same senseless act 14 years later when they found out the group’s lead singer, Kurt Cobain, killed himself in 1994.
The founding member of The Beatles, however, wasn’t like Cobain who freely chose the self-destructive lifestyle through drugs or a bloated Elvis Presley, who near the end of his life forgot the lines to most of his songs during live performances.
Lennon came out of hiding in 1980 with what was to be his comeback album, "Double Fantasy," after devoting the last half of the decade to raising his son, Sean. Some of the music he wrote after The Beatles broke up in 1970 were as much about him as they were about others. "Jealous Guy" made obvious references to Lennon’s relationship with his second wife, Yoko Ono, while "Cold Turkey" spoke of the singer’s battles with drugs. Then there was Beautiful Boy, which Lennon wrote as a tribute to his son.
A couple Beatles’ songs, however, like "Julia" were about his mother whom Lennon lost when she died in an auto accident in 1958, while "The Ballad of John and Yoko" talked about the two as a couple.
Listening to some of Lennon’s best hits on disc, I have often felt as though some of his lyrics described me, like in the song, "Watching the Wheels." The lyrics go "People say I’m crazy doing what I’m doing. Well, they give me all kinds of advice to save me from ruin...I’m just sitting here watching the wheels go round and round, I really love to watch them roll, no longer hide behind the merry-go-round, I just have to let it go."
I am sure someone else will interpret those lyrics differently but for me, they seem to say, "Look, you’re getting older now so stop wasting time." Then there’s "Borrowed Time," which came out in 1984 whose lyrics talk about how one’s young carefree days never last forever.
"My role in society, or any artist or poet’s role, is to try and express what we all feel. Not to tell people how to feel," the singer was quoted saying in the 1988 book, "Imagine: John Lennon."
I was in fifth grade when Lennon was killed in 1980. I wasn’t old enough to realize what his death would mean.
For older fans who remember when The Beatles first came to America in 1964 and grew up listening to their songs, the death of John Lennon dashed any hopes, if there were any, of a possible reunion.
That notion finally hit me in 1995 when the three surviving members of the "Fab Four", Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr came together to record their first Beatles song in 15 years called "Free as a Bird." The song was part of an unfinished lyric Lennon recorded on cassette tape back in the late 70s.
When it comes to the subject of John Lennon and The Beatles, there is always that lingering question. If Lennon has lived, would the Beatles have gotten together again?
The question is like pondering whether or not President Kennedy would have pulled American troops out of Vietnam in 1964 had he lived to see a second term.
What I do know is if Lennon were around today, it’s a good bet he’d have a lot to say about many current events the past three decades, in particular about 9/11 and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, some of which he probably would have written songs about.
Lennon was our generation’s JFK. His passing brings to mind the opening line from the Beatles’ lyric, "A Day in yhe Life" and was the last song on the "Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band" album.
The line was "I read the news today oh boy..."
©10/7/15
Rock star Sheryl Crow and actor/comedian Mike Myers, according to a retrospective article on Lennon in the Nov. 9, 2000 issue of Rolling Stone, heard about the singer’s assassination watching "Monday Night Football" when sportscaster Howard Cosell made the shocking announcement to TV viewers.
I found out the next morning from my dad as I was getting ready for school.
I remembered hearing Beatles’ songs like "Yesterday" on the radio the morning after the singer’s death and seeing hour-long newscasts and specials covering the life of the late Beatle on TV that night.
I also recall reading various newspaper articles about fans who were so distraught by the tragic news that they committed suicide. Some fans of Nirvana repeated that same senseless act 14 years later when they found out the group’s lead singer, Kurt Cobain, killed himself in 1994.
The founding member of The Beatles, however, wasn’t like Cobain who freely chose the self-destructive lifestyle through drugs or a bloated Elvis Presley, who near the end of his life forgot the lines to most of his songs during live performances.
Lennon came out of hiding in 1980 with what was to be his comeback album, "Double Fantasy," after devoting the last half of the decade to raising his son, Sean. Some of the music he wrote after The Beatles broke up in 1970 were as much about him as they were about others. "Jealous Guy" made obvious references to Lennon’s relationship with his second wife, Yoko Ono, while "Cold Turkey" spoke of the singer’s battles with drugs. Then there was Beautiful Boy, which Lennon wrote as a tribute to his son.
A couple Beatles’ songs, however, like "Julia" were about his mother whom Lennon lost when she died in an auto accident in 1958, while "The Ballad of John and Yoko" talked about the two as a couple.
Listening to some of Lennon’s best hits on disc, I have often felt as though some of his lyrics described me, like in the song, "Watching the Wheels." The lyrics go "People say I’m crazy doing what I’m doing. Well, they give me all kinds of advice to save me from ruin...I’m just sitting here watching the wheels go round and round, I really love to watch them roll, no longer hide behind the merry-go-round, I just have to let it go."
I am sure someone else will interpret those lyrics differently but for me, they seem to say, "Look, you’re getting older now so stop wasting time." Then there’s "Borrowed Time," which came out in 1984 whose lyrics talk about how one’s young carefree days never last forever.
"My role in society, or any artist or poet’s role, is to try and express what we all feel. Not to tell people how to feel," the singer was quoted saying in the 1988 book, "Imagine: John Lennon."
I was in fifth grade when Lennon was killed in 1980. I wasn’t old enough to realize what his death would mean.
For older fans who remember when The Beatles first came to America in 1964 and grew up listening to their songs, the death of John Lennon dashed any hopes, if there were any, of a possible reunion.
That notion finally hit me in 1995 when the three surviving members of the "Fab Four", Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr came together to record their first Beatles song in 15 years called "Free as a Bird." The song was part of an unfinished lyric Lennon recorded on cassette tape back in the late 70s.
When it comes to the subject of John Lennon and The Beatles, there is always that lingering question. If Lennon has lived, would the Beatles have gotten together again?
The question is like pondering whether or not President Kennedy would have pulled American troops out of Vietnam in 1964 had he lived to see a second term.
What I do know is if Lennon were around today, it’s a good bet he’d have a lot to say about many current events the past three decades, in particular about 9/11 and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, some of which he probably would have written songs about.
Lennon was our generation’s JFK. His passing brings to mind the opening line from the Beatles’ lyric, "A Day in yhe Life" and was the last song on the "Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band" album.
The line was "I read the news today oh boy..."
©10/7/15
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