Imagine there’s no heaven
It’s easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us, only sky
October 9,1940 - December 8, 1980.
Gone too soon.
Probably the biggest death in my life that I was just a tad too young to remember. I was two years old at the time.
In terms of music only, I wonder if he and Paul would have finally written more songs together. Would the Beatles(before George’s death) written even one more song?
It was 41 years ago today that I told my dad that he was an asshole and to shut his fucking mouth for complaining that they interrupted his TV time to announce the death of a drug addicted hippie. Never really forgave him for that.
Just finished watching all three episodes of Get Back on Disney+. I highly recommend and prefer to remember John that way instead of when and how he died. John was the oldest (28) at the time and they were on top of their game. Again, highly recommend watching as a remembrance to him.
I was a Sophomore in High School when it happened. I had a long-term substitute teacher in one of my classes due to the regular teacher being on leave for something. The sub tried to be one of the ‘cool teachers’ but he was pretty universally despised by us students.
Lennon’s Double Fantasy album had just been released not long before he was killed, and the sub was spouting off one day, maybe just days before Lennon was killed, about how much the album sucked and how overrated Lennon was as a musician. Then the day after he died the sub went on and on about Lennon’s legacy and what a genius he was. I thought to myself, what a hypocritical douchebag.
Good lord, 41 years?? Sigh. I was a sophomore away at college. When the news came out I was as stunned as everyone else, but a bit more so as I was born and raised on Manhattan’s UWS, Lennon’s neighborhood. This happened in my back yard. Another student actually gave me grief about it, like it was somehow my fault!
I agree. We just finished part 2 of this series. John was a goofy, affable guy much of the time, and his partnership with McCartney was genius. I wasn’t a fan of much of Lennon’s music after they split, but it was a sad day when he died.
I had a similar experience with mine.
A sad date every year for fans and much worse for his family and friends.
At the time, my best buddy was a wanna-be guitar player and obsessive Lennon fan. When it happened, I spoke to him about it and he was weirdly indifferent. I couldn’t quite parse his reaction at the time. Later on, I figured that he had some mixed up feelings about what it meant to be an “obsessive fan” type himself.
Later on in life, he thought it would be a kick to collect those life-sized promotional figures of stars that were used to promote movies or albums or beer, etc. He set them up in his apartment as his “audience”. Well, then the movie “King of Comedy” came out, with the crazy fan character Rupert Pupkin doing the same thing, so that happened too…
I hate to tell you this, but he would have “found Jesus”, been born again, and become insufferable. Or he would have gone through a “synthesizer” phase in the early 80’s. Not pretty.
Howard Cosell announced the death on Monday Night NFL football, with 3 seconds left in regulation play before the game went into overtime saying “remember after all, this is just a football game”. It was a pretty big deal at the time.
John Lennon shot 12-8-80 Howard Cosell tells the world twice John Lennon was dead. - YouTube
Yeah, I didn’t really want to go there in that level of detail myself. I’d much rather forget that day.
I remember watching that game, and Cosell breaking the news. I worked midnight shift and had to go to work after learning about it.
At the time, the “who shot JR?” catchphrase was all the rage. I remember asking my work buddies “who shot JL?”.
mmm
I have never listened much to or cared about John’s solo work. George and even Paul did a lot better than him.
Back Off Boogaloo, Ringo was successful on his own as well.
My dad shed tears, but he never really got over the deaths of Buddy Holly or Jim Croce, either. I was old enough to know who John Lennon was, but not old enough to understand death.
Lennon was human and he did more good than ill, which is the most any of us can aspire to.
I remember a letter in the Rolling Stone issue about John’s death. All it said was,
Nothing more really needed to be said.
I’m guilty of not listening to Ringo’s music. Hey, what album would you recommend?
Ringo was a one hit wonder several times, milking his Beatle fame. The other Beatles would joke that they were concerned about him after the breakup but that he was more successful than any of them initially. Try Phonograph: Ringo’s Greatest Hits.
My now-ex was watching Monday Night Football and called the news downstairs where I’d been doing laundry and singing “Across the Universe.” I’d just sung the line, “Nothing’s gonna change my world.” A horrible, horrible day. While I remember the murderer’s name, I’ve honored the other Beatles by never saying it.
Croce died on my 17th birthday. I had tickets to see him in concert a few days later.
I have held off, too, preferring to remember the way he lived. He was a member of the greatest band of a generation, and as others have said, he and Paul McCartney together were a wonderful team.