25 years, yes that's right, 25 years, since this legend was murdered on a cold New York night.

A nice article from MSN.com:

John Lennon Remembered

I was at home when they had a "news flash" on tv. I couldn't believe he was shot. What a loss to the music world.

I was new to California, and I think it was just the year before that there was a big banner on a pizza place saying "John Lennon Turns 40 Today."

When I was in NYC a couple years ago I went by the hotel he was shot in front of. I know the name of it, but it escapes me at the moment.

Anyway, one of the great performers of my time. His Christmas song "This is Christmas/War is Over" is one of my favorite holiday songs.

TIS

I was watching Monday Night Football. I remember it like it was yesterday. The Dolphins were playing The Patriots and I remember them breaking into the game announcing that Lennon had been shot! I was like "What the fock!"

Sad.


Don Cardi

Refresh my memory, did Chapman ever state exactly "why" he killed Lennon????


TIS

To quote Mark David Chapman :

"I want to be important. I want to be somebody. I was never anybody."


Don Cardi

This is one of the saddest days. The day we lost one of the greatest voices of the world and a true "fighter" for peace and love. His charisma, genius and soul will never be forgotten.

We miss you man

I was in NYC that night, having dinner with my brother. Someone came up to the table and told us that John Lennon had been shot to death. We finished our meal and instinctively went to The Dakota, where he lived, and there was a crowd of about 2,000 there with flowers and candles...everyone was singing Lennon songs, crying...it was quite a moving moment.

I was eleven years old at the time of his death. I'd just gotten up and was getting ready for school and my brother told me. I couldn't believe it. We had been raised on Beatles songs and even at that young tender age, I was already a fan.

I miss him and what he might have produced in the intervening years. God bless him and keep him.

So sad. I've been playing Imagine on my piano all day.

The Doc

He died before my time, but the Beatles (and Lennon's standalone music) has inspired me greatly.

BTW, today is also the one year anniversary of the shooting death of "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott.

May they both rest in peace.

Possibly the greatest lyricist ever. A disgusting shame he was killed.

I'm listening to several relevant songs today, including 'Imagine, In My Life, Come Together,' and a few others

I hear they had a tribute in Central Park today. I would have loved to attend. Also in Hollywood today they are having a tribute to him by his star on the walk of fame, with 25 candles in the form of a peace sign.

Radio stations are also paying tribute. Didn't have much time to listen this morning, but they just played "Norweigian Wood", one of my favorites.


TIS

This dude is painting a mural on the side of a Hotel around here, going to go check it out.

im just amazed at the things yoko will do in lennon's name all to make her money off this poor manz legacy and his loyal fans. flipping thru the channels last night i saw qvc with a john lennon hour were yoko designed jewelry with a weird squiggly face that was supposed to be lennon and some of his major titles
maybe someone will disagree with me on this one but i think itz sad

"Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans."

"Time you enjoy wasting is not wasted."

"You don't need anybody to tell you who you are or what you are. You are what you are!"

"Music is everybody's possession. It's only publishers who think that people own it."

"I believe in God, but not as one thing, not as an old man in the sky. I believe that what people call God is something in all of us. I believe that what Jesus and Muhammad and Buddha and all the rest said was right. It's just that the translations have gone wrong."

"Part of me suspects that I'm a loser, and the other part of me thinks I'm God Almighty."

"Guilt for being rich, and guilt for thinking that perhaps love and peace isn't enough and you have to go and get shot or something."

R.I.P. John Lennon Oct. 9, 1940 - Dec. 8 1980

Lennon was great, but Bob Dylan takes the cake in that department.

Which is why I said possibly. The three lyrical giants of that era to me are Lennon, Dylan, and Young.

Don't forget Kurt Cobain

Don't forget Kurt Cobain

[/b][/quote]Kurt was one of the great lyricists of the X Generation. Lennon, Young and Dylan are the great lyricists of the Baby Boomer Generation

Yes, with Robert Smith for the 80's.

I'm actually currently reading the book chapmen was obsessed with, The Catcher in the Rye, the same book Lennon was reading when killed, the picture of Mark Chapmen getting John's autograph upsets me so much, he never knew that later that night THAT man was going to kill him. And the saddest thing was, Chapmen was in control of the situation at all times, from the day he decided he would kill him. That's probably the most distressing thing.

I agree, but what chills my bones the most is the glare seen in Chapman's right eye while Lennon signs the autograph.

To quote Mark David Chapman :

"I want to be important. I want to be somebody. I was never anybody."


Don Cardi [/b][/quote]I'd say he accomplished that in spades.

Excuse my ignorance here as I know nothing about Lennon but besides being one of the Beatles what else did he do? Is he being remembered because he was a great song writer or because he did other things that made him a great person

I'm sorry, but I gotta break up with you now...

I can't go out with someone who has no clue about John Lennon!! :p

My Hero,RIP

I probably can't explain this as well as PLaw may be able to, if he agrees, but let me take a stab at this, and others can elaborate.

Lennon, other than being a "Beatle" and taking the rock music industry by storm, was IMHO a great composer/singer, and an advocate of peace. He was very outspoken generally, however, very much so about the war. I do believe he was a major factor (along with many other rock stars from my generation), who became part of an "era" if you will, and he is most likely front in center of the 60's "Revolution".

In a sense, Lennon taught us how, or at the very least, showed us not to, be afraid to oppose what we think is truly wrong. Protests were a dime a dozen back then, which may explain why some of us don't have a problem with disagreeing with our leaders.

The past couple of years, with all of our political debates here on the BB, I have wondered if the few of us from my generation (and even a couple from this one), aren't using and/or sharpening our skills of honest to goodness protesting, which perhaps, Lennon inspired???? What do ya think? It's hard to explain an "atmosphere" of an era.

Btw Vercetti, that picture is chilling. I haven't seen it in year, but very sad and creepy indeed.

TIS

I just happened to catch the end of that Monday Night Football game. There was a field goal late in the game and then Howard Cosell with one of those defining moments in broadcast history in which a particular piece of news, good or bad, is communicated by an unlikely source in an eloquent manner...

Doth sayeth Cosell in his familiar cadence and strident voice:
He prefaced his report by saying, "This is just a football game," and for a split second I wondered just what kind of pompous, Cosellian, self-aggrandizing pontification would follow. When he was done, it was my first real experience with "innocence lost." An iconic figure in pop culture was dead. Not a young victim of rock-and-roll's excesses like Hendrix or Joplin or Morrison, but the victim of a street crime. Shot twice...in the back...rushed to the hospital...dead (pause) on (pause) arrival. The way Cosell paused as he delivered the last three words...each word delivered like a hammer strike to the nails that crucified my innocence than night.

tony b.