There hasn’t been a day since 1980 that I haven’t mourned John’s passing. I was watching Monday Night Football when Howard Cosell announced it. I still can’t believe he’s gone.
I was 15 years old and I remember it like it was yesterday. Most shocking and sad moment of my life. It's hard to believe that he's been gone for as long as he was ever alive. I miss him and I miss what might have been...
Being 18 years old back in 1980, I took the day off and just listened to the radio and my JL albums. In the Netherlands I heard the bad news early in 5he morning of December 9. One of the worst days in Rock & Roll music.
Cant believe it is 40 years ago...still hurts for its utter senslesness...and a sobering thought that John has been dead as long as he was alive...but for me his music his honesty and his humour burn as bright as they ever did...
John i too can't believe it's been 40 years. I was 19 at the time and john was always my favorite musician. It's a shame that the album and his death are remembered together, I try to separate them and it has become a little easier over the years to do that. I also have come to appreciate yoko's contributions to that album more. I like most of her songs from the lp now. I wish we could of had all the great music he would have made From the last 40 years.
Yes me too. Yoko's songs have definitely grown on me. As a 16 year old, I felt short changed of more Lennon songs! I love Hard Times Are Over, although the poignancy of 'over for a while' always gets to me.
We all have a favourite, and mine is George . I adore JOHN’s work and passion . I always say that I never had a thirtieth birthday , coz John died the night before. I turn 70 on December 9th. John inspires my music and politics, and always will . I have visited the Dakota many times. It’s heavy. I think Double Fantasy stripped is wonderful . Plastic Ono band is the one. I played Girl today. So many classics
I remember hearing the news the morning after in New York, it was painful, it hurt, emotionally and physically, like getting punched in the stomach. First song that I heard on the radio _ I think it was WNEW-FM _ after the announcement was "I'll Be Back". And it was like a cruel joke because we knew he wouldn't, except for the faint hope that it was a hoax. But it wasn't. To John Heaton, I love your sober style and look forward to more of your videos. God bless and take care.
I was 12 years old. My older brother was watching football when the announcement was made. He ran up the stairs to tell me. I only knew he had been “shot.” I refused to believe anything worse. I waited all night until the morning newspaper was delivered with the headline. This was a defining moment in my life. I have never gotten over it.
I was 17. At home listening to radio with my parents when they interrupted the program with the news. Only time I saw my mum cry. Still gets me 40 years later.
I was woken up by my Dad and told the news, i was 20...i went to work but listened all day to radio 1 where his music and The Beatles were being played....i came home, sat down and the news came on the tv, i cried like a baby...i went out in the evening and had a few pints, came home and listened to Double fantasy and cried my eyes out again. Probably the saddest day of my life.
What a dreadful morning that was John we were all just getting excited about the new music, my sister told me at first having heard the news on the radio. Very good tribute.
I’m not old enough to recall John’s death, but he has had a significant impact on my life all the same. I’ll never be able to reconcile the senseless of Chapman’s actions.
Yep. I was 10, precocious Beatles fanatic. Brother and I watched MNF every week. “I don’t care what’s on the line Howard, you have to say what we know in the booth.” When Cosell said John was rushed to Roosevelt Hospital then with horrific certainty...” DEAD ON ARRIVAL” that was a devastating moment. Really hard to understand and to absorb. Still is.
Thank you John, interesting content as always, but, more importantly with this one, the right tone 👍 I was 8 years old, I remember being at the kitchen table at breakfast time, the radio was on, and my Mum holding on to the kitchen worktop with both hands with her back to me so I couldn't see her face, but I could tell she was crying.
My radio alarm woke me at 6.30 am with the news Tuesday 9th, just over 2 hours of it happening, it was the biggest shock of my life, I was in my 20's and John had been a big part of my life since first hearing From Me To You when it was released in '63, it doesn't get any easier and still very raw and we've also got George to remember in November, then John the following week..........
Wonderful memories, but also great sadness. I was in college at the time and driving home from work when I heard the news on the radio. I cried all night.
I was 15 years old and I thought the world had died. Even my parents could understand what a senseless and tragic thing that had happened. The next day at highschool there was nearly complete silence. I went home from school only to find the newspaper and finally accepting that it was all true. He was my Hero.
I had just purchased Double Fantasy the Thursday before he died. I took the bus from my dorm at college and bought it at the wharehouse records and tape listened to it until I got the news tuesday morning from a member of the Dorm as I was going to breakfeast.
Was watching a football game when it was announced by Howard Cosell. My most vivid memory tho is sitting wide awake in the bed late that night in the dark and hearing "Working Class Hero" for the first time and it just disturbed, and chilled me to the bone. let's face it, if we called the police on everyone that seems a bit odd without that person actually saying and pronouncing their intentions we'd be calling the police on a whole lot of people for no reason other than they're just acting odd. Still just a fucked up moment in my life.
As an American stationed in England at the time I listened to the same BBC1 radio broadcast you did. I was devastated. I'd been listening to the Beatles music since about 1968, buying the compilation albums and solo work. Just tragic. I'd already bought and heard the "Double Fantasy" album, liked John's songs although they were rather domestic. Only Yoko's 'Kiss Kiss Kiss' was interesting for me, it was closest to her "Plastic Ono Band" album. I thought well this is just Lennon getting back into it, his next album will be more adventurous.
www.listennotes.com/podcasts/paul-or-nothing-podcast-samuel-whiles-9WEFxPiMVlU/ This is the Paul or Nothing podcast I referred to....run by Samuel Whiles....well worth checking out!
Thank you, John! I will never forget that terribly devastating Monday night. I was 22 years old, and one month earlier I had graduated with a BA in Geography from McGill University. One of my graduation gifts was the album 'Double Fantasy', which I stopped playing for the rest of December, along with all other John Lennon compositions. Instead, I gravitated to playing George Harrison's song, 'So Sad' again and again. It's hard to believe that 40 years have transpired since the passing of John Lennon, at 40 years of age. John Lennon will always remain alive in spirit!!!
I was only 13 but had bought Starting Over and I was getting Double Fantasy for Christmas. Everything was so positive, apart from the mediocre reviews... I heard the news on our old Bakelite radio in the kitchen as I was getting ready for school. At first the Radio Scotland newsreader said he'd "been shot", so I was thinking he's injured, not dead...then it was confirmed and I was distraught, so much so my mum wouldn't let me go to school. Something she normally would only do if I was really ill. I had never felt like that before as noone close to me had passed away. I'll never forget that day and the weeks that followed. I have lots of newspapers and tribute magazines I bought including a few you showed and recorded radio shows on my tape recorder. Just seemed so pointless, so unreal.
The day the news came up, I didn't wonder at all, because, you know, many people's been talkin' about peace had been murdered,never mind if the killer has been the hand of a insane person... Rest in peace, John, I've always loved you, and you've been the First one, with your song"Imagine",to throw the ideal'doors & rock open to me in the early seventies in my early teens, ,and It's a beautyful heritage Indeed...
I’m about the same age as you, I too found out at school. Not sure why my parents didn’t tell me in the morning before I left for school but can only assume they hadn’t heard yet (no breakfast TV then and we didn’t have the radio on, the morning papers then maybe printed too late to get the story). I remember the overwhelming sadness at school, particularly the teachers who were the generation to have grown up with the Beatles. Agree there’s not much point dwelling on the “what ifs” of anyone spotting Chapman’s strange behaviour on the streets on the day or day before. The one thing that does strike me though is how he flew from Hawaii to New York with a gun. Obviously pre-9/11 security. Nicer to remember his 80th birthday in October rather than this sad milestone, but still needs to be reflected on all the same.
I feel the sadness. It is palpable. I am glad you mentioned the books, including "summer of 1980', with all the wonderful photos. I remember what Clive Barnes said at the time: "He more than anyone else paved the way with green paint. He was an apostle of freedom. A man of infinite delicacy." Those words have stayed with me 40 years. You know what makes me happy? The song "Oh Yoko" . So bouncy and joyous.
I was 11 years old when I heard it on the 9 o clock news, BBC 1, Tuesday 9 December. At that moment, I knew something huge had happened. I don't think Johnny would've been the saviour of the music industry, it was going through changes, as always anyway, but his vast knowledge and experience have been missed. Along with his humour and views on life, as well as the lost songs, things haven't really been the same have they? Great video once more John!
I was watching Monday night football in the United states....and it was announced.... what happened....I cried like a baby for hours....I was 18....the next day I went into nyc to the Dakota Bldg....there were hundreds of folks mourning...I will never forget....
I remember the day and the feeling of disbelief, anger and sadness. I was 11 and heard it on the Radio. I’d been a Beatles fan for a year with my mate following the films being shown on the BBC Christmas 79. They showed Help on BBC1 the night as a tribute, it felt very weird watching that! Every December brings it all back, I’ll be listening to his music a lot this week 🍏
At my 2nd year of college, living in a house with 5 guys, just playing cards, drinking a few gin and tonics, watching MNF and there it was - the announcement by Howard Cosell during the football game. One of my roommates played his records throughout the night. I was not a massive fan, per se, but always admired his work, particularly liked the new singles off Double Fantasy and bought my first Lennon album Gimme Some Truth a few weeks ago. Thanks for the reminder of his anniversary, John, I'll will give the new discs their first spin on the 8th.
I heard about John on Tuesday morning,I was 12... and it was on instead of cartoons that morning... I was so sad and upset ,I got to stay home from school,something my mom didnt allow. SAD DAY
I'm old enough to remember John's death, but the moment I found out is slightly hazy. I have a vague memory of my dad telling me about it, but my memories snap into sharper focus shortly afterwards when the BBC started showing the Beatles movies, the first time I'd ever seen them. Cheers John.
Read Fenton Bresler’s book WHO KILLED JOHN LENNON/THE MURDER OF JOHN LENNON. It’s all there, one day the truth will come out. Yoko referred to his killer, as ‘They’ - 🥺
Hello John. I was just wondering if you have you ever mentioned the book called 'John Lennon A Family Album' with photographs by Nishi F. Saimaru? It shows pictures of John and family at home and his travels to Japan during those first five years of Sean's life.
No way to say..in 1970 John was total against it, by 1974-75 he was more open, then by 1980 back to total against. I think George may been the least likely to agree actually..even just making an alum. Since 1979, George only recorded one other solo album in his life & one released right after his death. Plus his work with the Wilburys. Seemed like he didn't want a lot attention, even less than before even with an underage son. Though never know...
1981 would have been an amazing year for Beatles fans...Milk and honey, Beatles reunion in some way and John back in the UK; never get over it...Woman would have been a hit anyway and Grow Old with me would have been a classic as well as free as a bird; really hope Street of Dreams demos exists...?
John talked of wanting to get back together with Paul to write, but I don't think the Beatles would have reunited though. Harrison had said to Bob Geldof just before Live Aid that he didn't want to work with McCartney, as he wasn't allowed to play on Let It Be originally. I'm sure John and Paul would have briefly recorded stuff together though, or contributed stuff to each other's solo albums, but unless somebody offered them big bucks they wouldn't have all got together to tour etc. Abba didn't and they were offered big money.
In UK time, he was killed on the 9th and I heard about it that morning. The previous night, my best friend and I had spent hours excitedly planning how, in those now far off pre-internet days, we would queue for a week if necessary, anywhere, to get tickets to see him perform here in one of the concerts that we'd just heard, that day, John may be doing in 1981. And then came that terrible terrible news. And, somehow, however daft it may sound, I've never ever recaptured that happy innocent optimism from that Monday night. I've never EVER been the same.
40 years ago 😭 RIP John Lennon. God bless Yoko,Julian,and Sean. Let’s not mention his killer by name that’s what he wanted- notoriety. Paul called him the “jerk of all jerks”. George called him the “devil’s best friend”, Ringo called him the “devil’s advocate”.
I was 12 and remember it quite clearly as I was off school for the Varsity rugby match. My mum woke me up and told me and I was stunned. I wasn’t really aware of John Lennon’s solo work until he died but loved listening to my parent’s original Beatles vinyl albums and they had bought me the red and blue albums not long before. A very sad day and so utterly pointless.
I remember where I was at the time of John's death. I was 17 at the time, a senior in high school, and I was watching Monday Night Football on ABC (always watched MNF back then). I remember the end of the game ended in a tie, which meant the game would go into overtime. I couldn't stay up late to watch the rest of the football game, so I went to bed. The next day at school, people kept coming up to me asking if I knew John Lennon had died. I was unaware that happened. If I had stayed up to watch the football game, Howard Cosell would have broke into the game broadcast with a newsflash about John Lennon being shot and taken to the hospital.
I was doing my assignment in my dorm . I was a graduate student working on my master’s degree at BYU in Provo,Utah .. I couldn’t continue with my work after hearing the news on the radio.
I personally think that as a result of John being killed he became bigger then when he was a Beatle. He has become a Legend. His music both with the Beatles and his solo career music is still being played. His written works are still being discussed. The way he was killed also freezes his age that he never grew old.......JFK, RFK , Martin Luther King and John Lennon are all in the same breath and the same sentence. Simply put John Lennon will last till eternity ........it's like he never left. He's with us daily in the Beatles and Yoko .....
I remember coming down to my kitchen and my sister was crying because she had just seen the headline to Boston Globe which read “Ex-Beatle John Lennon shot dead”. Beneath the headline was a stock photo of Lennon in 1976 (when he got his Green Card).
I was born in Feb 1982, so this was over a year before I was born. But as a Beatles and Lennon fan, it still seems sad, partly owing to the circumstances of what happened and also the fact that he was enjoying a return to form. Such is life...
I was 16 at the time, I was so shaken that I did not go into school. I had a, small radio and sat in the park, devastated, listening to songs. It's now 40 years later, Iam 56, we have the music which will be with us forever.
December Will always be a bitter sweet month, -more bitter than sweet ever since that dark day of december 1980, its heartbreaking and very upsetting STILL to this day to think about what music John would have given us in the last 40 years had that Jerk of all Jerks(as Sir Paul would call him) Not senslessly killed this wonderful man and a truly one of a kind artist.-Always thinking about you John, RIP.
I can remember clearly the moment I found out. Came back from school in the afternoon of December the 8th , I was 13 years, two days short of 14. I lived in a town in Central Finland then. I passed the petrol station which was on my home route. The tabloid headline on the window said "Beatle-John killed by the bullets". I was naive, and because of the expression I thought it must have been an accident of some kind. It didn't occur to me that he could have been murdered. I walked home with my head foggy and dizzy because of this news. I think it was the next day that our music teacher had the classroom lights dimmed, candle on the table, and he looked shocked and grim. We listened to John´s music, and nothing else was done on that lesson.
I was 17 when it happened and I had been a Beatles fan for only 3 years at the time. John was my favorite and I have mourned his death for 40 years and I always will. I will never make sense of what happened that dreadful Monday night. It still doesn't seem true after all of this time.
Hi John, I remember where I was on that horrible day. It was 5am at the bus stop, Colwyn Ave in Swansea waiting for my bus to work at Royal Mail when someone told me. Hard to believe its been forty years 😢
I'm the same age as you, John. At the time I was a Beatles obsessive and I was so upset by the news I had to have the day off school. Next day I wore a black tie to school, regardless of the extremely strict dress code there. 40 years ago. It really is true that time flies...
After the drum outro on Just Like Starting Over around the 3:24 mark. There is a voice that speaks. "Late at night you will be killed, Mark David you're awful". Creepy
Thank you for taking the time to make these nice conversational videos where you share your ideas and research. They’re a nice complement amongst the busyness of the work week
Thanks for putting this up John. You manage to say everything that I feel. I found out as I was walking into work in the morning. Gosh, thank goodness the music is still there. My copy of his anthology collection is on the shelf beside me as I type. The discs will be getting played tomorrow. Thanks again for uploading and stay safe in these crazy times.
I was watching Monday Night Football with Howard Cosell when he announced it live during the game. A very sad night indeed. As a young person I always related to John through his music. Great video, and thanks for sharing.
Hi John, great channel which I always watch. Quick question, that you may know answer to. Has Jay Hastings, the concierge at the Dakota who first attended to John in the reception area, ever gone on record in interview or book form?
that Playboy interview was a classic. when he dissected all the beatle tunes. "every single one" so many he just threw off his rubbish and gobbledygook.
Today December 8th,2020 marks the 40th year of the senseless death of John Winston Lennon. Never have I ever heard of such a senseless and contemptuous death of a human being. Life took because of who he was and how he chose to live is life. John's death serves as a reminder of how "hate" has permeated society, in the minds of sick individuals who are there taking lives of others. John legacy was such a beautiful complex human being with such diverse talents. His mind was magical, fragile,deeply humorous, with deep sense of truth,and musical roots of many different types beginning with the blues, which influenced his love of Rock n Roll. His ability to put his music on hold for the birth of his second son. Realizing that he was to take a very hands on approach of caring for his son in it's self was a beautiful decision. And looking at what all he gave us in music, and words of his books and his artistry of sketching were all so magnificent. We shall never see the likes of him ever again. He left us all with a sadness but more than that, he gave us all an invitation to his greatness. We miss him still so very much and can only Imagine what more he might have accomplished.🥰😇✌️❤️🎼 ✊🤙👏❤️
Well, you speak of deaths due to war, I'm speaking of someone who was loved all over the universe. Different topic of deaths due to war. Try and separate the different types of deaths.
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His musical talent is sadly missed - His Legacy Shines on .... like moon and stars and the sun !
There hasn’t been a day since 1980 that I haven’t mourned John’s passing. I was watching Monday Night Football when Howard Cosell announced it. I still can’t believe he’s gone.
Same here.....
Same
I was 15 years old and I remember it like it was yesterday. Most shocking and sad moment of my life. It's hard to believe that he's been gone for as long as he was ever alive. I miss him and I miss what might have been...
He will never be forgotten.
Being 18 years old back in 1980, I took the day off and just listened to the radio and my JL albums.
In the Netherlands I heard the bad news early in 5he morning of December 9. One of the worst days in Rock & Roll music.
I can’t wait until time machines are invented. So I can stop Chapman. And save John Lennon
As much as I relate to the idea, if it were possible it would already have been done.
I'll help you if I can.
Cant believe it is 40 years ago...still hurts for its utter senslesness...and a sobering thought that John has been dead as long as he was alive...but for me his music his honesty and his humour burn as bright as they ever did...
John i too can't believe it's been 40 years. I was 19 at the time and john was always my favorite musician.
It's a shame that the album and his death are remembered together, I try to separate them and it has become a little easier over the years to do that. I also have come to appreciate yoko's contributions to that album more. I like most of her songs from the lp now. I wish we could of had all the great music he would have made
From the last 40 years.
Yes me too. Yoko's songs have definitely grown on me. As a 16 year old, I felt short changed of more Lennon songs! I love Hard Times Are Over, although the poignancy of 'over for a while' always gets to me.
We all have a favourite, and mine is George . I adore JOHN’s work and passion . I always say that I never had a thirtieth birthday , coz John died the night before. I turn 70 on December 9th. John inspires my music and politics, and always will . I have visited the Dakota many times. It’s heavy. I think Double Fantasy stripped is wonderful . Plastic Ono band is the one. I played Girl today. So many classics
Happy birthday young man🎵🎵
I remember hearing the news the morning after in New York, it was painful, it hurt, emotionally and physically, like getting punched in the stomach.
First song that I heard on the radio _ I think it was WNEW-FM _ after the announcement was "I'll Be Back".
And it was like a cruel joke because we knew he wouldn't, except for the faint hope that it was a hoax.
But it wasn't.
To John Heaton, I love your sober style and look forward to more of your videos. God bless and take care.
I was 12 years old. My older brother was watching football when the announcement was made. He ran up the stairs to tell me. I only knew he had been “shot.” I refused to believe anything worse. I waited all night until the morning newspaper was delivered with the headline. This was a defining moment in my life. I have never gotten over it.
Nicely done, My Friend. Take care.
John have you read Cynthia's book or either of May Pang's?
Why in the world are we here,
Surely not to live in pain and fear one of his best lyric
I was 17. At home listening to radio with my parents when they interrupted the program with the news. Only time I saw my mum cry. Still gets me 40 years later.
I was woken up by my Dad and told the news, i was 20...i went to work but listened all day to radio 1 where his music and The Beatles were being played....i came home, sat down and the news came on the tv, i cried like a baby...i went out in the evening and had a few pints, came home and listened to Double fantasy and cried my eyes out again. Probably the saddest day of my life.
What a dreadful morning that was John we were all just getting excited about the new music, my sister told me at first having heard the news on the radio. Very good tribute.
I’m not old enough to recall John’s death, but he has had a significant impact on my life all the same. I’ll never be able to reconcile the senseless of Chapman’s actions.
i found out about his death watching Monday Night Football from Howard Cosell, anybody else?
Yep. I was 10, precocious Beatles fanatic. Brother and I watched MNF every week. “I don’t care what’s on the line Howard, you have to say what we know in the booth.” When Cosell said John was rushed to Roosevelt Hospital then with horrific certainty...”
DEAD ON ARRIVAL” that was a devastating moment. Really hard to understand and to absorb. Still is.
Not that you cared after that news but the Patriots lost in OT to Dolphins 16-13.
Great tribute to a great man.
Thank you John, interesting content as always, but, more importantly with this one, the right tone 👍
I was 8 years old, I remember being at the kitchen table at breakfast time, the radio was on, and my Mum holding on to the kitchen worktop with both hands with her back to me so I couldn't see her face, but I could tell she was crying.
Gosh what a memory - feel teary eyed reading that, Andrew.
Thank you for this video. Hard to believe it will be 40 years tomorrow. Still hurts and cuts deep.
I was 12, I remember being told by my parents as I stood in the hallway of the house we lived in at the time
My radio alarm woke me at 6.30 am with the news Tuesday 9th, just over 2 hours of it happening, it was the biggest shock of my life, I was in my 20's and John had been a big part of my life since first hearing From Me To You when it was released in '63, it doesn't get any easier and still very raw and we've also got George to remember in November, then John the following week..........
Wonderful memories, but also great sadness. I was in college at the time and driving home from work when I heard the news on the radio. I cried all night.
Well done John, a heartfelt tribute. Keep up the great work.👏
I was 15 years old and I thought the world had died.
Even my parents could understand what a senseless and tragic thing that had happened.
The next day at highschool there was nearly complete silence.
I went home from school only to find the newspaper and finally accepting that it was all true.
He was my Hero.
Thank you for showing and talking about this time in our history. God Bless, thank you again!!
Very sad that he was gunned down and taken from his young son. Nice tribute, John.
I had just purchased Double Fantasy the Thursday before he died. I took the bus from my dorm at college and bought it at the wharehouse records and tape listened to it until I got the news tuesday morning from a member of the Dorm as I was going to breakfeast.
Was watching a football game when it was announced by Howard Cosell. My most vivid memory tho is sitting wide awake in the bed late that night in the dark and hearing "Working Class Hero" for the first time and it just disturbed, and chilled me to the bone. let's face it, if we called the police on everyone that seems a bit odd without that person actually saying and pronouncing their intentions we'd be calling the police on a whole lot of people for no reason other than they're just acting odd. Still just a fucked up moment in my life.
i was insspain..aged 19 ..back frim morocco going back to the island
As an American stationed in England at the time I listened to the same BBC1 radio broadcast you did. I was devastated. I'd been listening to the Beatles music since about 1968, buying the compilation albums and solo work. Just tragic.
I'd already bought and heard the "Double Fantasy" album, liked John's songs although they were rather domestic. Only Yoko's 'Kiss Kiss Kiss' was interesting for me, it was closest to her "Plastic Ono Band" album. I thought well this is just Lennon getting back into it, his next album will be more adventurous.
Thanks John- very informative video as always! Love John Lennon always! William, Parker Colorado
It still hurts as much as it did that Monday night 40 years ago
www.listennotes.com/podcasts/paul-or-nothing-podcast-samuel-whiles-9WEFxPiMVlU/
This is the Paul or Nothing podcast I referred to....run by Samuel Whiles....well worth checking out!
It still puts a depressing edge on me every year since age 13
A wonderful tribute, John. So much time has passed but the feeling of loss has not subsided one bit.
Brilliant review John. Sensitive 👍😶
Thank you, John! I will never forget that terribly devastating Monday night. I was 22 years old, and one month earlier I had graduated with a BA in Geography from McGill University. One of my graduation gifts was the album 'Double Fantasy', which I stopped playing for the rest of December, along with all other John Lennon compositions. Instead, I gravitated to playing George Harrison's song, 'So Sad' again and again. It's hard to believe that 40 years have transpired since the passing of John Lennon, at 40 years of age. John Lennon will always remain alive in spirit!!!
I was only 13 but had bought Starting Over and I was getting Double Fantasy for Christmas. Everything was so positive, apart from the mediocre reviews...
I heard the news on our old Bakelite radio in the kitchen as I was getting ready for school. At first the Radio Scotland newsreader said he'd "been shot", so I was thinking he's injured, not dead...then it was confirmed and I was distraught, so much so my mum wouldn't let me go to school. Something she normally would only do if I was really ill. I had never felt like that before as noone close to me had passed away.
I'll never forget that day and the weeks that followed. I have lots of newspapers and tribute magazines I bought including a few you showed and recorded radio shows on my tape recorder. Just seemed so pointless, so unreal.
The day the news came up, I didn't wonder at all, because, you know, many people's been talkin' about peace had been murdered,never mind if the killer has been the hand of a insane person... Rest in peace, John, I've always loved you, and you've been the First one, with your song"Imagine",to throw the ideal'doors & rock open to me in the early seventies in my early teens, ,and It's a beautyful heritage Indeed...
I’m about the same age as you, I too found out at school. Not sure why my parents didn’t tell me in the morning before I left for school but can only assume they hadn’t heard yet (no breakfast TV then and we didn’t have the radio on, the morning papers then maybe printed too late to get the story). I remember the overwhelming sadness at school, particularly the teachers who were the generation to have grown up with the Beatles.
Agree there’s not much point dwelling on the “what ifs” of anyone spotting Chapman’s strange behaviour on the streets on the day or day before. The one thing that does strike me though is how he flew from Hawaii to New York with a gun. Obviously pre-9/11 security.
Nicer to remember his 80th birthday in October rather than this sad milestone, but still needs to be reflected on all the same.
I was at home in Liverpool when the sad news came in, devastating at the time, and still is to this day!
I feel the sadness. It is palpable. I am glad you mentioned the books, including "summer of 1980', with all the wonderful photos. I remember what Clive Barnes said at the time: "He more than anyone else paved the way with green paint. He was an apostle of freedom. A man of infinite delicacy." Those words have stayed with me 40 years. You know what makes me happy? The song "Oh Yoko" . So bouncy and joyous.
I was 11 years old when I heard it on the 9 o clock news, BBC 1, Tuesday 9 December. At that moment, I knew something huge had happened. I don't think Johnny would've been the saviour of the music industry, it was going through changes, as always anyway, but his vast knowledge and experience have been missed. Along with his humour and views on life, as well as the lost songs, things haven't really been the same have they? Great video once more John!
WHAT America as become? Imagine if we all can live in PEACE
☮️ 🇺🇸 if you want it.
Make Imagine a World anthem now
Still mourning.
Good job keeping John's killer famous! Exactly what he wants! Pathetic!!!!
I was watching Monday night football in the United states....and it was announced.... what happened....I cried like a baby for hours....I was 18....the next day I went into nyc to the Dakota Bldg....there were hundreds of folks mourning...I will never forget....
I remember the day and the feeling of disbelief, anger and sadness. I was 11 and heard it on the Radio. I’d been a Beatles fan for a year with my mate following the films being shown on the BBC Christmas 79.
They showed Help on BBC1 the night as a tribute, it felt very weird watching that! Every December brings it all back, I’ll be listening to his music a lot this week 🍏
Yes I remember Help being on that night as well.
At my 2nd year of college, living in a house with 5 guys, just playing cards, drinking a few gin and tonics, watching MNF and there it was - the announcement by Howard Cosell during the football game. One of my roommates played his records throughout the night. I was not a massive fan, per se, but always admired his work, particularly liked the new singles off Double Fantasy and bought my first Lennon album Gimme Some Truth a few weeks ago. Thanks for the reminder of his anniversary, John, I'll will give the new discs their first spin on the 8th.
I heard about John on Tuesday morning,I was 12... and it was on instead of cartoons that morning... I was so sad and upset ,I got to stay home from school,something my mom didnt allow. SAD DAY
I'm old enough to remember John's death, but the moment I found out is slightly hazy. I have a vague memory of my dad telling me about it, but my memories snap into sharper focus shortly afterwards when the BBC started showing the Beatles movies, the first time I'd ever seen them. Cheers John.
Read Fenton Bresler’s book WHO KILLED JOHN LENNON/THE MURDER OF JOHN LENNON. It’s all there, one day the truth will come out. Yoko referred to his killer, as ‘They’ - 🥺
Hello John. I was just wondering if you have you ever mentioned the book called 'John Lennon A Family Album' with photographs by Nishi F. Saimaru? It shows pictures of John and family at home and his travels to Japan during those first five years of Sean's life.
No way to say..in 1970 John was total against it, by 1974-75 he was more open, then by 1980 back to total against. I think George may been the least likely to agree actually..even just making an alum. Since 1979, George only recorded one other solo album in his life & one released right after his death. Plus his work with the Wilburys. Seemed like he didn't want a lot attention, even less than before even with an underage son. Though never know...
1981 would have been an amazing year for Beatles fans...Milk and honey, Beatles reunion in some way and John back in the UK; never get over it...Woman would have been a hit anyway and Grow Old with me would have been a classic as well as free as a bird; really hope Street of Dreams demos exists...?
John talked of wanting to get back together with Paul to write, but I don't think the Beatles would have reunited though. Harrison had said to Bob Geldof just before Live Aid that he didn't want to work with McCartney, as he wasn't allowed to play on Let It Be originally. I'm sure John and Paul would have briefly recorded stuff together though, or contributed stuff to each other's solo albums, but unless somebody offered them big bucks they wouldn't have all got together to tour etc. Abba didn't and they were offered big money.
In UK time, he was killed on the 9th and I heard about it that morning.
The previous night, my best friend and I had spent hours excitedly planning how, in those now far off pre-internet days, we would queue for a week if necessary, anywhere, to get tickets to see him perform here in one of the concerts that we'd just heard, that day, John may be doing in 1981.
And then came that terrible terrible news.
And, somehow, however daft it may sound, I've never ever recaptured that happy innocent optimism from that Monday night.
I've never EVER been the same.
40 years ago
😭
RIP John Lennon.
God bless Yoko,Julian,and Sean.
Let’s not mention his killer by name that’s what he wanted-
notoriety.
Paul called him the “jerk of all jerks”.
George called him the “devil’s best friend”,
Ringo called him the “devil’s advocate”.
I was 12 and remember it quite clearly as I was off school for the Varsity rugby match. My mum woke me up and told me and I was stunned. I wasn’t really aware of John Lennon’s solo work until he died but loved listening to my parent’s original Beatles vinyl albums and they had bought me the red and blue albums not long before. A very sad day and so utterly pointless.
I remember where I was at the time of John's death. I was 17 at the time, a senior in high school, and I was watching Monday Night Football on ABC (always watched MNF back then). I remember the end of the game ended in a tie, which meant the game would go into overtime. I couldn't stay up late to watch the rest of the football game, so I went to bed. The next day at school, people kept coming up to me asking if I knew John Lennon had died. I was unaware that happened. If I had stayed up to watch the football game, Howard Cosell would have broke into the game broadcast with a newsflash about John Lennon being shot and taken to the hospital.
I was doing my assignment in my dorm . I was a graduate student working on my master’s degree at BYU in Provo,Utah .. I couldn’t continue with my work after hearing the news on the radio.
I personally think that as a result of John being killed he became bigger then when he was a Beatle. He has become a Legend. His music both with the Beatles and his solo career music is still being played. His written works are still being discussed. The way he was killed also freezes his age that he never grew old.......JFK, RFK , Martin Luther King and John Lennon are all in the same breath and the same sentence. Simply put John Lennon will last till eternity ........it's like he never left. He's with us daily in the Beatles and Yoko .....
I remember coming down to my kitchen and my sister was crying because she had just seen the headline to Boston Globe which read “Ex-Beatle John Lennon shot dead”. Beneath the headline was a stock photo of Lennon in 1976 (when he got his Green Card).
I was born in Feb 1982, so this was over a year before I was born. But as a Beatles and Lennon fan, it still seems sad, partly owing to the circumstances of what happened and also the fact that he was enjoying a return to form. Such is life...
Very fitting tribute John. Thank you! Cheers Matt
I was 16 at the time, I was so shaken that I did not go into school.
I had a, small radio and sat in the park, devastated, listening to songs.
It's now 40 years later, Iam 56, we have the music which will be with us forever.
Thanks for this, John.
December Will always be a bitter sweet month, -more bitter than sweet ever since that dark day of december 1980, its heartbreaking and very upsetting STILL to this day to think about what music John would have given us in the last 40 years had that Jerk of all Jerks(as Sir Paul would call him) Not senslessly killed this wonderful man and a truly one of a kind artist.-Always thinking about you John, RIP.
I can remember clearly the moment I found out. Came back from school in the afternoon of December the 8th , I was 13 years, two days short of 14. I lived in a town in Central Finland then. I passed the petrol station which was on my home route. The tabloid headline on the window said "Beatle-John killed by the bullets". I was naive, and because of the expression I thought it must have been an accident of some kind. It didn't occur to me that he could have been murdered. I walked home with my head foggy and dizzy because of this news. I think it was the next day that our music teacher had the classroom lights dimmed, candle on the table, and he looked shocked and grim. We listened to John´s music, and nothing else was done on that lesson.
I was 17 when it happened and I had been a Beatles fan for only 3 years at the time. John was my favorite and I have mourned his death for 40 years and I always will. I will never make sense of what happened that dreadful Monday night. It still doesn't seem true after all of this time.
Hi John, I remember where I was on that horrible day. It was 5am at the bus stop, Colwyn Ave in Swansea waiting for my bus to work at Royal Mail when someone told me. Hard to believe its been forty years 😢
And we all shine on🎵..I was 8 when it happened I sobbed my heart out clear.as day living in ireland as a child peace from England🎵
ya all have to look at the under ground video LET HIM BE lennon still with us ?
Surely sonically, POB is the one! Great to hear your personal remembrance of the great John Lennon.
quite agree john never liked the cover had lennon lived i think they would have split up they were back on herion again
I'm the same age as you, John. At the time I was a Beatles obsessive and I was so upset by the news I had to have the day off school. Next day I wore a black tie to school, regardless of the extremely strict dress code there. 40 years ago. It really is true that time flies...
A true legend thanks for the music JL
I was 18 when it happened and it was a shock
Never say his name again!!!!
After the drum outro on Just Like Starting Over around the 3:24 mark. There is a voice that speaks. "Late at night you will be killed, Mark David you're awful". Creepy
Not convinced.
Great stuff John, but why 2 people would give this a thumbs down is a complete mystery 🤔 , possibly justin Bieber fans who clicked on the wrong link ?
ha! thanks...it’s uo to 3 now....presumably one of them was the person who said i was sick for monetising a video talking about Lennon’s death!
Thank you for taking the time to make these nice conversational videos where you share your ideas and research. They’re a nice complement amongst the busyness of the work week
Thanks for putting this up John. You manage to say everything that I feel. I found out as I was walking into work in the morning. Gosh, thank goodness the music is still there. My copy of his anthology collection is on the shelf beside me as I type. The discs will be getting played tomorrow.
Thanks again for uploading and stay safe in these crazy times.
I often wonder what John would be up to if he was around today .,...🙏✌️👍
Fantastic John
Now and then....
I was watching Monday Night Football with Howard Cosell when he announced it live during the game. A very sad night indeed. As a young person I always related to John through his music. Great video, and thanks for sharing.
thanks John
❤️John ❤️Lennon
George Harrison was born on February 25, 1943 and he died on November 29, 2001.
I wasn't born yet. 20 days later is my birthday. When I look up the number one song on my birthday it's always John
John When you say James Taylor do you mean the James Taylor the American singer songwriter , do you mean he had an encounter with Chapman?
yes he lived a block north of john and encountered the killer the day before i think....he has talked about it in various interviews
@@johnheaton5667 thanks , I had never heard that before.
Hi John, great channel which I always watch. Quick question, that you may know answer to. Has Jay Hastings, the concierge at the Dakota who first attended to John in the reception area, ever gone on record in interview or book form?
good q...not that i have seen...though his blood stained shirt is up for auction i saw
@@johnheaton5667 thanks John. I read he put it up in 2016
Great video John.
that Playboy interview was a classic.
when he dissected all the beatle tunes. "every single one" so many he just threw off his rubbish and gobbledygook.
My last Day of school....
Today December 8th,2020 marks the 40th year of the senseless death of John Winston Lennon. Never have I ever heard of such a senseless and contemptuous death of a human being. Life took because of who he was and how he chose to live is life. John's death serves as a reminder of how "hate" has permeated society, in the minds of sick individuals who are there taking lives of others. John legacy was such a beautiful complex human being with such diverse talents. His mind was magical, fragile,deeply humorous, with deep sense of truth,and musical roots of many different types beginning with the blues, which influenced his love of Rock n Roll. His ability to put his music on hold for the birth of his second son. Realizing that he was to take a very hands on approach of caring for his son in it's self was a beautiful decision. And looking at what all he gave us in music, and words of his books and his artistry of sketching were all so magnificent. We shall never see the likes of him ever again. He left us all with a sadness but more than that, he gave us all an invitation to his greatness. We miss him still so very much and can only Imagine what more he might have accomplished.🥰😇✌️❤️🎼 ✊🤙👏❤️
"Never heard of such a contemptuous death of a human being" ?? Never heard of the holocaust? Get a grip.
Well, you speak of deaths due to war, I'm speaking of someone who was loved all over the universe. Different topic of deaths due to war. Try and separate the different types of deaths.
@@paulaaubin4987 Oh, alright then.
Thank you John!