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« Shtetl Reunion | Main | Plutophobia »

December 08, 2005

Comments

I was around 12 or 13 when I heard it on the news. I heard it on the radio. I wasn't a huge Beatles fan, but several of my cousins and aunts were. I was confused by it all. Why would anyone want to kill John Lennon? I still don't know.

Danny,

My mom was (is) a Beatlemaniac. She was 13 in 1964 when they came to America. She and her girlfriends use to walk up and down Brooklyn Avenue singing "I Want to Hold Your Hand." My brother and I were intimate with the entire Beatles catalog before we started school. I was 4 days shy of my 7th birthday when John was murdered. My mom cried for days. My brother (who was 4 at the time) circled John on all of the Beatles albums. This was a really touching post. I have been hearing a lot about John Lennon over the past few days, but this is the first thing that made me cry.

And I agree about Yoko -- she has really been treated unfairly. Fortunately for her, she seems like an insanely strong woman who doesn't care what other people think.

Beautiful Beautiful Tribute Danny. It's always so incredibly poignant when a person that has touched so very very many lives is cut down waaaaay before their time. The thoughts of 'what more would he or she have been able to produce, create, contribute to mankind, had this not happened....the list of those people is much too long....Lennon being one of many, I'm sorry to say....
I think your evaluation of people's true resentment of Yoko One is right on the money. Another Shanda, too....
Thanks for your very special thoughts and your wonderful ability to comminucate them through this blog.

Last night I was in my local wine bar, and everyone was talking about John Lennon, and where they were when they heard the news (except for the staff - they are too young to remember, or weren't even born (!)). I can't think of anyone else in the history of my life who's death had the same impact. Well, maybe Princess Diana. But when her anniversary rolls around, no one talks about it, at least where I am hanging out.

What a sad, sad day that was. Thank you for another great post, Danny.

I definitely remember that night, too, even know I was young -- just like some remember JFK's assassination. Although I have vicariously lived through other traumantic news events, such as Princess Di, the Challenger, etc., I remember this one so much more vividly. Only 9/11 was a more emotional event.

Thanks for this beautiful tribute to John Lennon, Danny. I adore the picture you chose to open it.

Danny, I am a Beatles fan down to the very core of my being...I love their music, lyrics, voices, and their personalities. John Lennon was an amazing poet and artist. What always saddened me though, was his lack of relationship with Julian Lennon. He is always spoken of as this great person and dad...and yet had virtually no relationship with his first son. Wasn't a great husband the first time around, either. He was a musical genius, with incredible things to say to the world. I just think it's important to mention all parts of a person...good or not so good...and to remember, he was only human.

Yeah, as I was writing that post, I was very aware that I wasn't mentioning Julian, John's 42-year-old son who also looks remarkably like his dad. Lennon's first wife Cynthia just wrote a new book where she talks about that relationship. I agree that we have to accept that John Lennon was human and obviously had a more difficult relationship with his older son. How cool, though, that Julian directly inspired "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" because of a picture he gave his dad of a classmate named Lucy, and that Paul McCartney wrote 'Hey Jude" for Julian to help him get through his parents' divorce.

Nice post, Danny. The loss of Lennon was of course, worst for his family and his friends. But we all lost out on his future and what art he might have presented to the world.

Like you, I was initially hesitant, but then couldn't resist writing about him on the anniversary of his death.

Mark Daniels

That's beautiful Danny. Great words for Sean

Did you ever see a film by the name of Wings of Fame? It's an obscure little film that I'd never even heard of before I saw it a number of years ago, and I haven't heard mentioned anywhere since. It stars Peter O'Toole and Colin Firth, and at the time when I saw it, it made me think of Lennon and Chapman. I'm not sure that I'd have the same reaction again.

O'Toole is a famous British actor that publishes a smashing new autobiography, which turns out to have been pilfered wholesale from a fictional work called "Wings of Fame" written by Firth's character. Firth goes a little nuts, and ends up murdering O'Toole shortly before dying himself -- but that's only the beginning. It turns out that Heaven (or the closest thing to it) is a mysterious hotel, where the entrance fee is fame on Earth. It's filled with celebrities (good and bad), and O'Toole is pleasantly surprised that he's got a very nice room there; he's unpleasantly surprised that his murderer will also be forever famous for killing him. It's a strange movie.

It's a sad thing that John Lennon's memory will forever be tied to such a horrible event, and a sick, troubled man.

Did I dream about a phobia post, or did you pull it down?

Please tell me I am not going insane.

No, TypePad is insane, they've been down all day and deleted all recent posts on everyone's blog. Grrrrrr...

I feel I read more personal accounts of feelings coarsing through folks' veins on the anniversary of this remarkable man's too young a death. Beatle's music is still one of my favories to listen to, especially the songs you mentioned. This was a moving post. Thank you

To all the positive that has been said, or that which inspires us and makes us happy, I agree. To any memory of this remarkable man/spirit that has dwelt on his death, I sympathize but for only a short moment. This man/spirit still exists today, in all of us. He is not dead. Why remember him as something that is dead and no longer exists? That very weakness we all share, maybe called prolonged depression; the in-ability to move on with our OWN lives because we dwell too often on the negative- as HUMANITY, not a religion, a culture, or a specified, CATEGORIZED group- is what is holding us all back from a happy future: WHAT TO REMEMBER, WHAT TO BELIEVE IN. I just believe in me. And "me" remembers happiness and walks away from any misery having been experienced or to be experienced today or tomorrow. To do such was never easy but, John DID THIS. Indeed he was empowered with "wings of fame," AND he set a POSITIVE example, in spite of the status quo (which now, fortunately but a TAD BIT LATE, is suddenly "cool" according to the media and those who use their power to sell what sells, be it positive OR negative for the sake of material)
Anyway, John and people LIKE him have always existed and continue to exist. He didn't believe in anything else except for HIM. Put simply, BE YOU. And when someone tells you you're obsessed with something else, be sure the reason for that is for something positive towards humanity. WHAT SHAME is there in that you re PASSIONATE about someone who touched SO MANY LIVES IN A POSITIVE WAY. God forbid we become OBSESSED with someone who KNEW what happiness really was. Kay, done with my rambling. Love you all. Hope you can feel it. SPREAD IT!

Any thoughts or comments on Wings of Fame versus Munich. Having read that last post it made me think. Anyway, have not seen Wings of Fame yet, but will get right on it. Peace everyone.

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