Did you even read my caveat?
I didn’t know this was a thread created only for those who mourn him. I remember the news, I certainly was old enough, and as a Beatles fan I think I have a stake in it. So I came to this thread to say that even though I’ve listened to a lot of his music, especially when performed by the Beatles, his death didn’t mean anything to me at the time, and even less today. If we’re only allowed to chime in with others, and agreeing on an opinion, it wouldn’t be much of a message board, would it?
You got a problem with that? Take it to the pit.
It was nine days after my father died – years later, this sounds really flaky, but I thought the world was pretty much coming to an end. (FTR, Harrison died on the 21st anniversary of my father’s death).
McCartney wrote 90% of the Beatles’ good songs; Lennon wrote 90% of the Beatles’ great songs.
I had just recently bought Double Fantasy. That night I was talking to my mom about Lennon and how he and Yoko had done sort of a role reversal. He stayed home with the kid (Sean) while she handled the business. Afterward I had gone to my bedroom and about five minutes later, my mom knocked on the door and told me he had been shot. Don’t think I’ve listened to Double Fantasy since.
Though I wasn’t a really big Beatles fan, his death really affected me. I was working two jobs at the time and a few days later, I quit my day job by calling in on a pay phone and took a short road trip. I remember listening to Rubber Soul on the 8-track in my pickup on that trip. I couldn’t understand why no one beat Chapman to a bloody pulp after he laid down his gun and started reading his book while waiting for the cops. I certainly wanted to.
I do feel that Lennon/McCartney weren’t half as good as solo acts as they were as a team. Lennon was a bit too harsh for me alone and I agree about his assessment of McCartney’s music being “granny music,” though I do have a couple of McCartney albums compared to my one Lennon record. But I think together they balanced each other out.
Interesting that another tape I listened to on the above mentioned road trip was the B52s’ Wild Planet. I remember reading that Lennon liked them and said that the girls’ singing was similar to the stuff Yoko Ono did.
David Geffen, yes he, of Geffen Records, likes to tell the story of how just two days after the murder, he took a phone call from Yoko Ono - who, recognising that her stocks had risen since Lennon’s death - wished to renegotiate her contractual position.
He states that in all his life of dealing with the most immoral, dishonest, unlikeable crooks imaginable, that never has he had such a distasteful telephone conversation - like ever.
That’s singularly the aspect of the murder which I always find myself pondering - namely, that it merely presented another business opportunity for Yoko.