Who'd a thunk it? If John Lennon hadn't been gunned down by a madman, he would have turned 64 yesterday. I'm sure that when the song "When I'm 64" was released by "the boys", it seemed an eternity away. But, here we are in 2004 and all the hippies have gray hair...or no hair at all, and the halcyon days of peace and love and the transformation of rock 'n' roll seem like relics from another time.

What a tragedy that John was gunned down just as he was getting his you-know-what together again and releasing brilliant new songs. I cried for hours and my heart ached when I heard the news in 1980. The world is a poorer place with him gone.

I remember I bought my first Beatles album when I was 9. My family was on our usual summer camping vacation in Santa Barbara, but I HAD to have the album (Meet the Beatles*), so the next time we went to town, I eagerly paid for the record I wouldn't be able to play until I got home. I sat down at our campsite, and eagerly read all the information on my idols, then I pulled the record from its sleeve...and to my dismay, it was NOT the Beatles!!! I cried and begged and pleaded with my parents to take me back to the store to get the right record. I must have been a real pain in the behind, because they did, and I finally got the right one. I must've worn the grooves off that record when I got home, and every one thereafter.

*I have since found out that the version I bought was called the "biography cover", which had artist renderings of the Beatles' faces along the right side, and the cover opened to reveal a brief description of each Beatle.

This thread will probably alienate the younger ones among us , but I'd like to ask those of you who would like to, to share your memories of the John Lennon and the Beatles, and those crazy days back when we were young (that is, what you can remember ).

DaffyGrl,

We are definitely relics.

I've seen several TV shows and movies where there is a DJ scene. Almost universally, the jock is spinning 33 rpm vinyl records. While most jocks now play CDs, turntables and vinyl provide better visuals.

Who knows?

Wow- already would have been 64 eh? I grew up with my brother being a total beatles fanatic (BTW- he probably has a very expensive collection of actual original vinyl by them now LOL- he bought 2 white albums when they came out and still has the plastic on the unopened one) - it is too bad he had to die- reading about how he treated poeple, I don't think he was a very nice guy, but he was a musical genius that changed musical history.