I hesitate to write anything about John Lennon tonight, 25 years to the minute from when he was killed, but I can’t help it, I’ve felt a pall over the day because of that sad anniversary. I remember exactly where I was when I heard that Lennon had been murdered. I was alone in my family’s kitchen, talking to my friend Helena on the phone. The small Sony TV set that permanently sat on our kitchen table (good idea, huh?) was on and “The Tonight Show” had just begun. I was half-listening to Johnny Carson’s monologue in which he was joking about people who go to the funerals of people they don’t know when the NBC news announcer broke in with a Special Bulletin that John Lennon had been shot and killed in front of his home at the Dakota in New York. My very first thought, I’m ashamed to say, was “Oh my God, there will never be a Beatles reunion!” There had been rumors floating for the past few years that despite any bad blood from their break-up 10 years earlier plans were afoot for a reunion concert and I was convinced it would happen. In an ongoing bit on “Saturday Night Live,” Lorne Michaels had been publicly offering the princely sum of $1200 to the Beatles if they would reunite on the show and apparently Lennon, who never thought their break would be permanent, actually talked to Paul and the others about just showing up at the studio one night during the taping to collect the check. The only thing that stopped him was that he thought it would be unfair to the band that was already scheduled to perform on the show.
My next thought was of Yoko Ono and what it must have been like to witness Mark David Chapman’s insane act of violence. I had seen a couple of interviews with the couple earlier that week. They were on a press junket for “Double Fantasy,” the first record Lennon had made following his self-imposed exile to raise his son. Sean Ono Lennon had been born on John Lennon’s 35th birthday five years earlier and now the news cameras kept showing the windows of the darkened apartment in the Dakota where Sean slept, blissfully unaware that his father would never be coming home. John had just been pronounced dead at the hospital a few minutes earlier and Yoko was now on her way home to tell her son the horrible news. I always felt that Yoko Ono had been unfairly maligned as the woman who broke up the Beatles. I think the real reason she was hated was because John Lennon loved her so much, because she was foreign, she didn’t look like a pretty rock star wife, she was older than her husband, she played strange music, and always spoke her mind. John Lennon was one of the most famous people on the planet and represented so many things to millions of people. How amazing that he was living this relatively normal life as “househusband” caring for his young son and that until that awful moment they were able to wander all over New York without being bothered. People later talked about how in Sean’s first five years the family was constantly seen in restaurants, in Central Park, and enjoying other New York sights, but that after the murder Yoko and Sean were rarely seen in public.
On the afternoon of December 8, 1980, John Lennon said in a radio interview:
“My life revolves around Sean. Now I have more reason to stay healthy and bright…And I want to be with my best friend. My best friend is [my] wife. If I couldn't have worked with her, I wouldn't have bothered…I consider that my work won't be finished until I'm dead and buried, and I hope that's a long, long time.”
As he spoke those words, Mark David Chapman was already waiting for him in the street.
Amazing that John Lennon was only 40 when he died. Of course he would have accomplished so much more in his life and I’m sure he’d still be going strong today at age 65. I can imagine him speaking out against the war and other misguided policies. He probably would have written many songs that would have become anthems for our time, as so many of his famous songs still resonate today.
Imagine there’s no countries,
It isn’t hard to do,
Nothing to kill or die for,
No religion too,
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace...
You may say I’m a dreamer,
But I’m not the only one,
I hope some day you'll join us,
And the world will live as one.
And, more importantly, he would have been able to see his son grow up. Sean Lennon is now 30 and it looks like Yoko did a great job of raising him. It’s astonishing how much he resembles his dad even though he also looks very Japanese. As I said, I feel funny writing about this tonight since we all tend to get a little obsessed on these anniversaries as if we knew the people who have died personally and yet there’s obviously no way we can begin to understand the pain that the family members and friends of these people must feel. Still, there’s no denying that John Lennon had an impact on all of us and that his death evoked a sense of loss in our lives. I was surprised to see that Yoko Ono made an appearance tonight at Strawberry Fields, the small area in Central Park across from the Dakota dedicated to the memory of her husband. She said recently, “If John were still alive we would have retired to Cornwall. He always said we’d be sitting in rocking chairs together, waiting for a postcard to come from Sean.”
While I’m not qualified to write about John Lennon’s amazing contributions to music, Leah and I talked about him tonight and I was especially conscious of spending close, quality time with her this evening before she went to bed—the kind of time that Lennon was denied with his own son and which I’m sure he would say was his biggest loss of all.
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.
Posted by: nappy40 | December 09, 2005 at 06:55 AM
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.
Posted by: heather | December 09, 2005 at 09:47 AM
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.
Posted by: OldOldLady Of The Hills | December 09, 2005 at 01:14 PM
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.
Posted by: Shannon | December 09, 2005 at 03:07 PM
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.
Posted by: Neil | December 09, 2005 at 03:54 PM
Thanks for this beautiful tribute to John Lennon, Danny. I adore the picture you chose to open it.
Posted by: Tamar | December 10, 2005 at 06:00 AM
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.
Posted by: cruisin-mom | December 10, 2005 at 07:55 AM
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.
Posted by: Danny | December 10, 2005 at 08:12 AM
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
Posted by: Mark Daniels | December 10, 2005 at 05:09 PM
That's beautiful Danny. Great words for Sean
Posted by: justin kreutzmann | December 11, 2005 at 02:39 PM
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.
Posted by: The Retropolitan | December 12, 2005 at 05:12 AM
Did I dream about a phobia post, or did you pull it down?
Please tell me I am not going insane.
Posted by: Shannon | December 16, 2005 at 04:26 PM
No, TypePad is insane, they've been down all day and deleted all recent posts on everyone's blog. Grrrrrr...
Posted by: Danny | December 16, 2005 at 08:53 PM
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
Posted by: Green-Eyed Lady | December 21, 2005 at 05:07 AM
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!
Posted by: Scottie | January 14, 2006 at 12:37 PM
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.
Posted by: Scottie | January 14, 2006 at 01:00 PM