25 years ago today, John Lennon was murdered by a madman. If John had lived, he’d be 65 today. Wow. That’s just too bizarre to comprehend; my childhood idol would be of retirement age! And that must mean - ack - I'm getting old too!!!!

I remember the day John was killed. I couldn’t believe it. I think that’s the only time I have ever cried over a celebrity’s death. The Beatles were a part of my childhood and adolescence. I obsessed over their music and, though I wavered, I remained firm in my support of them in the face of my parochial school’s message that their music was evil and I would go to hell if I listened to it. John seemed to me the most enigmatic and creative Beatle. He wasn’t afraid to experiment. He was a free spirit. He lived his life on his own terms. And his songwriting ability was awe-inspiring.

We could use a John Lennon today.

I'd love to hear other's stories/rememberances of John and/or the Beatles.

I’m sick and tired of hearing things
From uptight, short-sighted, narrow-minded hypocritics
All I want is the truth
Just gimme some truth
I’ve had enough of reading things
By neurotic, psychotic, pig-headed politicians
All I want is the truth
Just gimme some truth

No short-haired, yellow-bellied, son of tricky dicky
Is gonna mother hubbard soft soap me
With just a pocketful of hope
Money for dope
Money for rope

Just gimme some truth

Rest in Peace, John!

John Lennon was a great songwriter and a man with a wonderful vision of the world. He also wrote some of the most inspiring lyrics ever:



Sigh...

War is over - if you want it.

Great songwriter and musician! I'm lost without what music he may have given us after 1980. But, I think if he had that night to do it over again, he'd be "packin' heat"!

"big deal" is the phrase that comes to mind. I never had much use for Lennon beyond his obvious talents as a musician. I find the beatification of him to be nauseating. The news networks spent more time covering the anniversary of his murder than they did covering real news.

I wasn't born until a year after the Beatles "invaded" the U.S., and I was only fifteen when John Lennon was killed, so most of his music was before my time. However, I do feel a little pang of sympathy that because Mark Chapman wasn't able to "let go" of the Beatles' heyday, Sean Lennon had to grow up without a father. Particularly since his mommy's "singing" could screech the paint off a car. LOL

So, why bother posting in the thread opened to remember him? If Toby Keith died, I wouldn't post on the thread "good riddance to the obnoxious redneck".

Have some respect.

While I could never "Imagine there's no heaven," I did listen to the Beatles a lot (since the fourth grade when they were on Ed Sullivan! ). I didn't appreciate John Lennon so much because Paul McCartney was the cute one. Yeah, pretty shallow thinking, I admit.

I was critical of John Lennon for leaving his first wife, taking up with that wacky Yoko Ono, and breaking up my beloved Beatles. But it was interesting that when he was gunned down, my heart went out to John's kids and to that same wacky Yoko Ono. I have shed tears for John Lennon, the uncute Beatle.

John Lennon was a talented and gentle soul who made a lot of mistakes publicly, but who also produced a body of music known for its profundity as well as its listenability (if that's a word).

I do miss him.

Toby who? I happen to like the Beatles, I think they're the best rock 'n roll group of all time. I posted nothing disrespectful of John Lennon, although tender and sensitive souls may find my characterization of the observation of the 25th anniversary of his death "disrespectful." Well, they would be correct. I find nothing respectable about an orgy of Boomer self-induldgent emotionalism in the media and elsewhere.

On the night John Lennon was shot, I was living about fifteen blocks north of the Dakota, where he and Yoko lived with their son, Sean. As soon as we heard the news, my partner - also Sean - and I immediately went to Seventy-Second Street and joined the candlelight vigil outside their apartment. The street was crowded with people and, apart from murmured prayers, strangely quiet for New York - even the traffic seemed to slow down in the surrounding area. When word came that he had been pronounced dead, the silence deepened - until someone started playing "Working Class Hero" on a portable tape player. Hundreds upon hundreds of people began weeping openly and embracing total strangers in a shared grief.

It was one of the most profoundly moving experiences of my life. Our love of Lennon and his (post-Beatles) music and the mutual loss we felt that night drew Sean and I even closer together (we had only been together for about four months at the time) and, in large part, precipitated our abandoning of the country Lennon had adopted as his own.

When asked why we left the US, we used to say, "First John Lennon was shot and killed, then Ronald Reagan was shot and survived - we decided it was time to get out." I can sympathize with you, bikerdad. When Regan died, my reaction was akin to your "big deal" (well, probably more akin to "good riddance") - though at least I had the decency to start a separate thread for those who found his beatification nauseating. Even then, my dissenting thread was closed out of "respect". As you had nothing to add to the requested "remembrances" in this thread, though (apart from personally insulting those who may have shared Lennon's vision), perhaps it would have been best had you, like me, maintained a respectful silence and dissed the memorials elsewhere.

As soon as you're born they make you feel small,
By giving you no time instead of it all
Till the pain is so big you feel nothing at all.
A working class hero is something to be,
A working class hero is something to be.

Keep you doped with religion and sex and TV,
And you think you're so clever and classless and free,
But you're still f***ing peasants as far as I can see,
A working class hero is something to be,
A working class hero is something to be.

There's room at the top they are telling you still,
But first you must learn how to smile as you kill,
If you want to be like the folks on the hill,
A working class hero is something to be.
A working class hero is something to be.

If you want to be a hero well just follow me,
If you want to be a hero well just follow me.

Requiescat in pace.

Wertz,

The above sums up my take on the post-Beatles John Lennon. Celebrating a paean to nothingness, mere fluffy nihilism.

Far more noteworthy anniversaries from December 8th -

1886 - American Federation of Labor is founded.
1941 - United States declares war on Japan
1941 - First use of gas vans in a Nazi concentration camp
1941 - Japanese invade Hong Kong
1966 - Greek ferry Heraklion sinks, 200 die.
1969 - Olympic Airways DC-6B crashes, 93 die.
1972 - United Airlines Flight 533 crashes, 45 die.
1987 - Queen Street Massacre, Melbourne Australia, 8 people murdered.
1991 - The Soviet Union is dissolved.
1998 - Tadjena Massacre, Algeria, 81 murdered.


However, in light of your tender sensibilities, I will offer this: some of my fondest "music memories" revolve around the Beatles. It was their Hollywood Bowl album that introduced me to the power of a live rock concert recording. I remember singing with my friends the harmonies that characterized much of their earlier works.

And unlike you, I never thought "good riddance" when Lennon was died. I was saddened by the tragedy of it.

If you find my disdain for maudlin, overwrought media remininsces of a single tragedy 25 years ago "personally insulting", well, just "imagine."

Self-indulgent emotionalism? The man inspired, helped, and changed many many people. Perhaps people are emotional because they truly felt connected to him through his music and ideas. Every time I listen to "Imagine" I feel a type of connection to him because of what he advocates: peace. Bono gets world recognition, and nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize, but in my opinion he pales in comparison to Lennon. Perhaps my opinion doesn't quite count here as much since I was born after he died, but as a musician he (and the Beatles) are one of my influences, and I consider him one of the greater people to live in the last 100 years musically and otherwise.

Just to add a (rather nice) postscript to remembrances of John Lennon, my brother bought the 2-CD set "Working Class Hero-the Definitive Lennon" for me for my birthday. I'm listening to it now as I post this, and realizing anew what a talent was lost. It's a nice collection of John's music.

Wertz, thank you for your beautiful post.

As opposed to some others...

And so this is Christmas
For weak and for strong
For rich and the poor ones
The world is so wrong
And so happy Xmas
For black and for white
For yellow and red ones
Let's stop all the fight
...
A very Merry Christmas
And a happy New Year
Let's hope it's a good one
Without any fear
War is over, if you want it
War is over now

Well quoted, Daffy. I have always felt that one of Lennon's most eloquent lines is "war is over, if you want it." It's so simple. And so true. It's not about complex debates about resolutions, wacky vote histories, or any other political clap-trap. Just, War is over, if you want it. If people really realized the essence of this on a large scale, politicians everywhere would be in big trouble!

I remember a family vacation up to Wisconsin where I got to bring a friend. He and I were just at that age where we had our own music, and wanted to listen to it all the time. Between Ted Nugent "Double Live Gonzo" and Black Sabbath "Sold our Souls for Rock & Roll" and the Stones "Get yer Rocks off" we were able to all agree on the Beatles red album (62 - 66) as an acceptable cassette for family listening. The other stuff had to be played behind closed doors.

As for the Lennon hagiography, it just proves (re: dreamers) that he's "not the only one."

My favorite of Lennon's last few recorded songs is "Watching the Wheels." I thought it said so much about his newfound joy in parenting and living a simpler life. It makes me ache to think he was cut down in the prime.

People asking questions
Lost in confusion
Well I tell them there's no problem
Only solutions

Well, they shake their heads
And they look at me
As if I've lost my mind
I tell them there's no hurry
I'm just sitting here doing time

I'm just sitting here
Watching the wheels go round and round
I really love to watch them roll
No longer riding on the merry go round
I just had to let it go ...

Very clever. This kind of thing is what I would expect from a fan of a foul-mouthed, sexist, racist, psychotic has-been, tiny EDITED TO REMOVE ATTEMPT AT BYPASSING PROFANITY FILTER pig like Nugent.

Some of us appreciate a different mindset and music. Whatever else that can be said about John Lennon, he was a brilliant lyricist, an artist, and a beautiful person who recognized his flaws and tried to become a better person throughout his life.

Here's what then-President Jimmy Carter had to say on the occasion of Lennon's death:

“I know that I speak for many millions of Americans when I say that I am saddened by his death, and distressed by the senseless manner of it. It is especially poignant that John Lennon has died by violence, though he had long campaigned for peace. His work as an artist and musician was far from done.”

Singing along to Norweigan Wood, Nowhere Man, Paperback Writer, Love me do, In My Life, in a boat fishing with my dad and my best friend. This was one of the fondest memories of my childhood. My family and friends came together to share a wonderful time in a wonderful place. And the whole thing was shaped by the fact that we listened to Beatles' red album over and over again, because it was the only music the kids and the adults could agree on. And frankly, the only thing out of my friends' collection that my folks would allow us to play.

I thought being a dreamer was a compliment, but I guess I need to be more crystal clear in future posts. Maybe next year.

I accept, with many thanks, the characterization as a dreamer. Without dreams, or without knowing the difference between dreams and reality, we die.

I remember riding a bus somewhere in Los Angeles, during my college days, and noticing that the radio stations were playing a lot of songs by Lennon. I wondered then if something had happened. I soon found out.

Lennon was, in some ways, the Court Jester of the 1960's counterculture. Most obviously, he had a dazzling sense of humor, and a gift for surrealism. He was also not afraid to speak his mind. Like all good Court Jesters, he was often very serious, and sometimes not very nice.



(Interview with Maureen Cleave, March 4, 1964.)

Or How Do You Sleep?, which is a direct attack on former partner Paul McCartney. Or the controversial utopianism of Imagine. Or the savage attack on sexism of Woman is the Nigger of the World. Words that are difficult to hear, and words that are not always intended to be taken as gospel truth. But who said that art should be polite?

I think Lennon would have seen the tributes paid to him as a fine joke.