Lennon Gone 28 years now...

Very sad day... I can't believe it's been 28 years now..

 

Always felt sorry for Julian Lennon flying over alone from the UK to go to the funeral.

 

28 years ago, time goes by... but it never gets any easier knowing we'll never have new Lennon material to listen to.
I would love to hear what songs he would come up with today and how he would have been influenced, if at all, by modern styles and genres. I can well imagine he might have released something along the lines of McCartney's "Fireman" material.

 

I was 28. I grew up with the Beatles. I was 12 when I first heard them on Ed Sullivan.
As a youth, I waited impatiently for every new Beatle album, to see where we were all going, since they seemed to be the architects for everything relavant then. I was a senior in high school when they broke up which was unthinkable, and seemed ridiculously unnecessary to a youthful me.

In Dec. 1980, I had just lost my mother, my wife and I were just divorced, I had just lost my job, but I was retraining for a new one. Even though I was reduced to living in a travel trailer on my buddies property, things were looking up.

Two weeks before Dec. 8th, I was helping a friend move a piano into his newly completed house. We were driving down the road, listening to the Beatles on cassette deck in the truck. We started talking about a possible Beatles reunion, when for no reason I said, "They better think about getting together pretty soon, before something happens to one of them, as they aren't getting any younger!"

Two weeks later, while sitting in the travel trailer watching MNF on a 12" TV with rabbit ears, Howard Cossell breaks the terrible news. I was devastated, alone, and didn't know how to express my grief.

The next day over coffee with some red neck business associate, I had to listen to this ***** say, "Well, the world just lost another drug addict. Big Deal! It took all of my will power to not rip his head off, and spit down his neck, right there in the coffee shop.

"I got up, excused myself, and said, "No, the world just lost a great man, with a lot of good left to share, and obviously, you didn't get it", and walked out.

My piano moving buudy, still reminds me of our conversation in the truck 28 years later, and how weirdly prophetic it was.

 

That reminds me of some of the things that have been said to me when discussing Lennon's death with some people. And even at the time, I had a sense of community within my family (as I mentioned, my sister and brother-in-law had helped to get me into the Beatles) but other than that, pretty much everyone else around me said "so what?"

Mostly, what I think about now is how someone's husband and father could be taken from them so senselessly, for no reason. As big a (potential) loss as it was to the music world (we'll never know what he would have gone on to create, and we'll never know what the Beatles may have created collectively had they gotten together again), the loss to his family must be many times that.

 

I also remember hearing the news on Monday Night football, could not believe it and I searched the other channels frantically for reports, hoping it was a mistake.

I listened to Mind Games this morning...

 

When I think of John, I think of his quote: "Where there's life, there's hope."

He should inspire us all to be better than we are.

 

Not to be rude to the memory of Jack Lemmon , but my girlfriend had just left that night and I had just flipped my TV on to ABC.

There was a newsbreak and the news guy mentioned the shooting of....and I couldn't tell as I was walking by whether he had said Jack Lemmon or John Lennon . My heart stopped. I hate to admit it, but I was pushing for ..Jack Lemmon.

There will never be another musicians death that will affect me like John's, because of the horrifying circumstances of his death, his age and his importance in my life.

As the other Beatles and key musicians that I like from that era eventually pass on, I can at least take comfort in the fact that they have lived fairly long lives by this point.

John's story was NOT supposed to end the way that it did.

 

The Day The Beatles Died.

 

I was 16 at the time and had just had an arguement a few hours prior with my folks. I had been collecting Beatles records at that time since I was about 10. I had a decent little collection of their group & solo recordings.

For some reason, I decided I wasn't going to collect the "solo" records any longer, and just keep whatever it was that I liked - music wise.
Gone went all of the picture sleeves and my copies of "Two Virgins", "Life With The Lions", "The Wedding Album" and my sealed "Live Peace In Toronto".
I kept "Plastic Ono Band", "Imagine", "Walls & Bridges" and such.

Unbeknownst to my folks - who for several years had spent many an hour locating vinyl for me for birthday and Christmas presents and hearing me hound them to death to borrow money against my allowance for newly released solo Beatles records - I decided to sell all of my solo records to a friend of mine to buy other classic "original" albums like The Beach Boys' "Pet Sounds", "Smiley Smile", "Wild Honey" and The Who "Sell Out", "Happy Jack", "Magic Bus".

Let's just say that when I told them, it didn't go over very well.
(And looking back with "some" maturity - how could I blame them!)
So here we are on the early evening of the 8th with my mother saying "you'll be sorry if something was to happen to one of them".

So fast forward 4 hours and I'd just reitred to my room after watching most of the Monday Night Football game with my VERY disgruntled parents.
I was just about to go to sleep when my mother came in and said that John Lennon had just been shot.
I said "sure, right".
So away I walked to the family room to catch Howard Cosell make the annoucement "dead on arrival".

At this time, my school had a year round schedule.
This is where you go to school for 9 weeks and are off 3 weeks - with no normal 3 month summer vacation.
So I was out of school until the begining of the next year.
I say this because I spent the entire night listening to my short-wave radio and all of the broadcasts through out the world - while staring at my poster laden walls. That night, around 3am, my "White Album" poster - which had been hung on my wall with scotch tape for the last 3 years - fell off the wall.

That scared the crap out of me!

The next morning, all of my friends called sometime during the morning to share the news & sorrow. All of us greiving while having heartfelt thoughts for Yoko & Sean.

Since that day, my favorite Lennon (and Beatles) song of all-time became "Dear Prudence".

I never knew the man - but I loved him just the same.

 

I think what really hit me the hardest wasn't even that we'd "lost a Beatle" (although of course,we had), but that he seemed to have really found himself as a husband, father, and musician, and that his world was a warm loving, comfortable place at this stage of his life, from some of the interviews he'd done around the time of Double Fantasy. And then to have it all taken away by that idiot...

 

wow, that was excellent!....thank you for posting that, i'm going to put it up in a blog entry on my MySpace page, if you don't mind...

i love how you showed George frequently and how you matched up John's lips with the word "satisfied", as if he was really singing this song...

beautifully done

 

Lovely. Just wonderful.

 

Rather than dwell on the tragic circumstances of John's death, I prefer to remember him for all of the brilliant music he gave us, his warmth of personality and wonderful sense of humor. Whenever I think about these things they make me smile, and I feel though his time here was brief, the world is definitely a better place for John Lennon having been here.

 

as long as we're sharing "where were you when" stories, i might as well add mine

it's nothing out of the ordinary, i guess, except for the news itself...

i was 12, i was sitting at the edge of my bed writing poetry instead of doing homework (which was where and what i was doing when i heard about John Bonham a couple of months earlier) with WPLJ-FM on, a rock station here in NY......the DJ, i can't remember which, broke into a song and in a shaky voice announced that John had been shot, he was rushed to the hospital and it wasn't clear what condition he was in, just that he was not dead.....they played some of his music (might've been Imagine, i don't know) and he came back on the air minutes later to announce that he was, indeed, dead....

i don't remember much about what he said, other than that he was clearly crying and said "i hate to be the bearer of bad news, but...."

i just sat there, in shock, staring at the stereo speaker and the floor, listening to the music and feeling my eyes burn and fill up with water.....i don't know how long i sat there, but i had to move when the metal of the bed frame began digging into the bottoms of my feet....

all day the next day my friends were talking about it or coming up to me and asking me how i feel or if i knew....well, two of them asked me how i felt....everybody else either didn't care or were too shocked and saddened to really discuss it, other than to say "yeah, man, that's messed up", or something....

i wasn't allowed to travel down to the City by myself, so i ended up listening to the minute of silence a couple of days later on the radio and gazing out my bedroom window towards Manhattan.....then i turned on the TV to watch the coverage of the crowds outside the Dakota and the first candlelight vigil....

as i said, i've sometimes gone down there to stand among the people who pay their respects by singing songs and laying flowers or hold candles....it can get kind of boring after a while, so i haven't gone every year.... but i've actually met some pretty cool people at those gatherings and had myself a nice time.... i've never left there feeling it wasn't worth it, let's say that....

I like to think that John's pleased that his memory can still bring people together in a positive way, and that his dreams and hopes are not lost simply because his body is gone....that's part of the reason why i like to go down there when i can.....the other part is for purely selfish reasons: as i announced a few years ago at the mosaic, my next husband is going to be a guitar-playing Beatles fan, and i'm hoping to find a good one, so that's as good a place to look as any, right?

 

That night when I was getting ready for bed, I noticed the "John" photo from my White Album had fallen off the wall. The other three photos were fine.

 

It is amazing that so much time has passed. I guess it serves to remind us how much older we all are, and how much poorer we are for John's passing.

Count me as one of the many who heard the awful news from Howard Cosell. I was 21 years old at the time. I took it really hard... cried on and off for days. I remember how excited I was that he was working again and was already looking forward to opportunities to see him perform.

I miss both John and George terribly. I have never doubted that The Beatles would have eventually reunited, even if only for some kind of one-off event (Live Aid, perhaps?), and how even the possibility of such an event was eliminated for the entire world by one deranged loony.

As others have said, we must take comfort in what John accomplished and left to us, which is a staggering musical and cultural legacy. He will be remembered as long as humans live and breathe.

 

I vividly remember Howard Cosell making the announcement during the Monday Night Football game. I believe the game was in New York, as well.

 

Dunno maybe you might be interested in the memory of an Irish schoolboy. I was 14 when John died. I posted about it in my blog a couple of years ago

http://tugofwar.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!977E562923973D82!249.entry

"The endless battle between that guitar, those cassettes and my schoolbag."

 

I was 21.

Never have I ever seen a public display of grieving and sadness as I did that following morning (as he died very late at night on Dec 8th and most people were asleep as it was a Monday night)


People were crying all the way to work; it was shocking and unbelievably sad.


U2 made their Toronto debut at The El Mocambo on Tues. the 9th. Everyone was still reeling from the shock of Lennon's death, but they went on and were incredible.

 

"They changed the world, as we know it...and I changed them."
--Mr. Nobody

 

I always cry on this day--I can't help but be overcome with emotion. John Lennon has always been my favorite figure within the realm of popular music. I love his incredible voice, his writings, his musicianship, and his humanitarianism.

I wrote posted the following on my blog two years ago:

I miss John Lennon every day of my life, though I never personally knew him. I was six years old when he was torn from his earthly existence, but I saw at that moment how his death affected the people around me and the rest of the world as well. I took out my mother's copy of The Beatles' Second Album that she had given me (that I had worn out from repeated listenings) and drew a thin line in ink under John Lennon's name. I felt such a connection with him and his music. Over the years, he has been a constant presence in my life. I find it very hard to put into words how I feel about John. I've always related to him, or have been drawn to him, even though our lives are not similar. His intelligence, creativity, wit, talent, genius, honesty and humanity are so compelling.

A Poem For John Lennon
By Randy California

In days of old when thoughts were bold, ideals were high, we reached for the sky.
A guiding light for all to see, one person's special dream for humanity
We were many but now we are few, hurt and confused by what happened to you.
It seems to always end this way...men of peace are not wanted they say
It's not just one that does them in,
but the lower evil side of man that comes back to haunt us again and again

In our lives we loved you more, you opened so many doors..............

The shock of this will never leave, for I was one who did believe.
Beautiful man, questioning one, always searching for the reason.
You let us visit into your mind, your private world for a time......
and what you gave will never die...and I'll never stop believing in you, we'll never stop believing your dream can come true.
Imagine.....

- Randy California

 

The above post prompted this memory. Maybe someone here can shed some light on this: several years back I was at a party at a friend's house. One of the guests there was a Beatles fan and we commisserated a little (he was complaining how the "James Bond Intro" was missing from the beginning of "Help!" on the Red Album CD etc.) and he said he had a poster, or knew someone who had one, of a painting of the Beatles posed like the inside gatefold of Sgt. Pepper, but depicted as they would have looked "now" (then, about 15 years ago) -- except John's image was based on the cover picture of The John Lennon Collection.

Has anyone else heard of this? Ever since this guy mentioned this to me, I've always wanted to see it.

 

I've seen it.Most likely at Beatlef**st.The one I'm looking for,is the same idea,but it was from '73-John with really short hair,ala Mind Games,Ringo with the perm,George-same as 'Lifting Material...' & Paul with the rose in his mouth...