I cried a lot that day and the following ones.

Made the trip to NYC Central Park's Strawberry Fields one yearfor the gathering in front of the Dakota Building. It was a moving celebration with hundreds of people. Every 5th and 10th year of his murder the crowd gets larger, i've been told.

Imagine all the people.

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I remember hearing about it. But to be honest was not moved by it. Another murder. So obviously not a good thing. But certainly did not shed a tear or think about it much at all. Still don't.

It depends on your age and perspective, not to mention your politics. Many of us of a certain age, were shocked by the murder of JFK, others less so. Older people were more moved by the death of FDR when people were literally crying in the streets, thinking we would lose the war with Truman.

James Dean had quite an effect on teenage girls. The murder of Lennon was supremely senseless and shocking to many of us, despite his politics.

We had moved to a new home in a new state within the last year. I was the oldest kid in the family but there weren't enough bedrooms in the new house for all of us and so my Dad decreed that I was to bunk with one of my brothers while we built a new bedroom for me in the basement.

Dad would come in to our bedroom each morning @ 06:00 sharp, enter the room without knocking, and would snap the lights on and order us to get up...and I HATED that.

On 8 December 1980 Dad followed his usual practice for waking us up... but then quietly told us that John Lennon had been shot and killed. It was both shocking and yet difficult to fully comprehend when I had been asleep only seconds earlier.

Part of me thinks that Dad was just a little quieter and somber that morning because although he was not a Beatles fan he at least understood the sentiments and what their music stood for...and part of me thinks that he was just slightly more respectful simply because he knew that I had started to listen to their music only a few years earlier and knew the news would affect me at some level.

Either way, the news was both shocking and disheartening, and, as such events often do, left us wondering why such a senseless act had taken place.


RIP John.

I heard it via Howard Cosell. I was a huge Beatles fan while growing up. I played in a band for years and appreciated the contribution he made in the evolution of music from the Ed Sullivan show until his death.

Just to keep it simple

I mourn the loss of a great poet of its generation.

If we had to take seriously into consideration each and every artist politics our spectrum would be reduced to almost nothing for most artforms and everything else in the world.

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I think the shock of how most people found out was one of the biggest factors behind this. This was when MNF was still watchable with an iconic announcer such as Howard Cosell and with no internet to spread news instantly, all the factors seemed to line up perfectly.

While the Beatles, and certainly John Lennon, had their fair share of detractors, to deny their talent and music impact/legacy would be foolish.

Story time:

In 2012, my wife (GF at the time) and her niece drove from Chicago to NYC over 4th of July weekend. We went to the Dakota and there were a lot of people gathered around taking pictures, hanging out and talking. Young girl in her early 20's comes up to me and asks me, "excuse me, what is this place?" I told her this is where John Lennon lived and died, he was shot right there. She looked at me as if to think "who is John Lennon?" but didn't ask. Said thanks and went on her way.

It was the first time I remember seeing my mother cry

I was living in Hawaii and had been out playing when the news broke. I think my dad heard it watching Monday “night” football

I came in from being outside and my mom was sitting at our kitchen table crying. She was the perfect age for beatlemania and I remember playing her 45s on my record player

I remember it well. It was a time of sadness for me, as I loved the Beatles music.

I didn't cry. But it sure dashed any hopes of a get together of the Beatles.

I think I spent a lot of time listening to the last album he put out which was just recently before his death.

I was only 6 at the time so I only remember it vaguely. While I would not wish such a fate to befall that man, his death was just another sad, unnecessary murder. Nothing more or less.

I was never fond of Lennons music (certainly not talentless) or the disingenuous worldview he helped to propagate to legions of mush brained fans.

Beatles were great. Grew up in the sixties. Enjoyed the fun but hated his politics. To me just became another liberal. Sorry for his murder but miss him...….Nah.

I loved Lennon and his music, but as a human being, he was quite the bastard to his first wife and child.
Of all the girls in the world, how did he wind up with wacko Yoko?

Back in the day I was a big fan of his. His death was a sad day for me, it still is.

I remember when I was in college and he and Oko came out with an album where they were both stark naked. The album had a type of sleeve that covered it all up. Don't remember exactly what happened but that album was not around for long.

I remember thinking, 'why would someone shoot John Lennon?' Part of the reason that I learned to bake bread is because of him.

quote:

Originally posted by kramden:
Sorry for his murder but miss him...….Nah.

Yup. Heard about the news that day. Moved on.

quote:

Originally posted by Kevbo:
It was the first time I remember seeing my mother cry

I was living in Hawaii and had been out playing when the news broke. I think my dad heard it watching Monday “night” football

I came in from being outside and my mom was sitting at our kitchen table crying. She was the perfect age for beatlemania and I remember playing her 45s on my record player

I remember my mom waking up to the news the morning after and crying also. I was young, nine.

I was in 7th or 8th grade, and I remember my band teacher came to class and was crying as he told us about what happened.