Where were you when John Lennon was assassinated?
ASPartOfMe
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07 Dec 2020, 6:30 pm
It occurred 40 years ago tomorrow and many of you were not born or were to young. No need to write a snarky comment reminding me of my age because this whole post is reminding me of my age(LOL)
I like many Americans found out while watching ‘Monday Night Football’.
While I was around I am too young to remember much of Beatlemania or even the psychedelic period yet the Beatles were umbiqutus in the ‘70s when I was aware. The rock music stations would play a Beatles record once every hour and there were always all Beatle weekends and ‘Beatles A to Z’ holiday weekends. As solo artists they were having numerous popular songs. People were still debating the meaning of their lyrics, there were even high school classes devoted to that. Add to that the constant rumors that they were going to get back together. It was hard to figure how all the popular rock groups of the day would have sounded like without them.
By 1980 I thought I was over that or at least I thought I was. I was totally into New wave and the whole point was rejecting and doing the opposite of what we now call Classic Rock. His new album ‘Double Fantasy’ resonated with the people who grew up with the Beatles as it’s message was we are over 30 with careers and kids and it’s ok. While I recognized it was quality music from an artist still very much on his game and very much and still exploring, it did not resonate with me..
Despite the above the murder was a real shock. A rock star never mind the biggest one on the planet had never been assassinated. Musicians dying young from drugs was expected, but assassination was some thing that happened to politicians not musicians. There were the cruel ironies that made the murder particularly wrenching. One was that a man known for his peace advocacy would die in such a violent way from a deranged “fan”. Lennon had disappeared from the limelight for five years to become a househusband. His comeback album the aforementioned ‘Double Fantasy’ was released exactly 3 weeks before his assassination.
Many tomorrow will be playing ‘Imagine’ his signature song.
While that song has never become in any way irrelevant this one seems somehow apropos for 2020.
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Professionally Identified and joined WP August 26, 2013
DSM 5: Autism Spectrum Disorder, DSM IV: Aspergers Moderate Severity
It is Autism Acceptance Month
“My autism is not a superpower. It also isn’t some kind of god-forsaken, endless fountain of suffering inflicted on my family. It’s just part of who I am as a person”. - Sara Luterman
07 Dec 2020, 7:17 pm
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07 Dec 2020, 7:19 pm
I was 12, lying on my belly on the floor watching tv. I think the news was on, and it was interrupted.
My parents hosted a baby shower the following weekend and I was so upset I didn't want to participate.
I was more upset about it than the adults.
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And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make.
07 Dec 2020, 8:15 pm
I was in my bedroom, listening to the radio, when WABC announced that John Lennon had been shot. I was just about to turn 20. I didn't have as "strong" reaction as I probably should have had. I didn't understand why people got up in the middle of the night to commemorate someone.
I liked Lennon, I liked the Beatles---It's just an alien emotion for me----to feel so strongly about one person.
ASPartOfMe
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08 Dec 2020, 9:53 am
How the B-52’s’ ‘Rock Lobster’ Brought John Lennon Back to Music
Around five years later, he exploded back into action in a matter of moments.
“I was at a dance club one night in Bermuda,” Lennon told Rolling Stone in an interview recorded three days before his death in 1980. “Upstairs, they were playing disco, and downstairs I suddenly heard ‘Rock Lobster’ by the B-52’s for the first time. Do you know it? It sounds just like Yoko’s music.”
In particular, Cindy Wilson’s scream toward the end of the song was reminiscent of Ono’s approach. “I said to meself, ‘It’s time to get out the old ax and wake the wife up!’” Lennon said.
Almost immediately he and Ono started working. He’d write a song and sing it to her on the phone; in New York, she’d come up with a song of her own as a reply. The result was Double Fantasy, the last full album Lennon ever worked on before his death in December 1980.
It’s a story that circulated for some time, but B-52's' guitarist and original drummer Keith Strickland said in 2012 he eventually had to uncover some solid evidence. He found it in the form of an audio interview on YouTube.
Aha, they’ve finally caught up to what we were trying to do all the time, which is another form of expression!” he said, name-checking “Rock Lobster.” “And we thought, ‘This time, surely, they’re gonna understand it!’” He asked fans to listen to something current and compare it to his output with Ono: “See if we weren’t on the right track in 1969.”
Ono told Songfacts that the stories were most definitely true. “Listening to the B-52's, John said he realized that my time had come,” she explained. “So he could record an album by making me an equal partner and we won't get flack like we used to up to then.”
In 2002 Ono made a surprise appearance with the band. “The audience didn't know, and we started doing ‘Rock Lobster,’ and then she comes out and does the scream," Strickland recalled. “It was so exciting. It was one of the highlights of our career for me”.
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Professionally Identified and joined WP August 26, 2013
DSM 5: Autism Spectrum Disorder, DSM IV: Aspergers Moderate Severity
It is Autism Acceptance Month
“My autism is not a superpower. It also isn’t some kind of god-forsaken, endless fountain of suffering inflicted on my family. It’s just part of who I am as a person”. - Sara Luterman
ASPartOfMe
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08 Dec 2020, 5:23 pm
Mark David Chapman shot Lennon four times outside of his New York apartment earlier that night. He died en route to the hospital. Shortly thereafter, legendary sports broadcaster Howard Cosell broke the tragic news to the world.
What people didn’t hear, was the behind-the-scenes back and forth between the Cosell and Frank Gifford. ESPN’s Outside the Lines released audio of the incident on the 30th anniversary of Lennon’s death. The two Monday Night Football hosts were at odds over what to do. Cosell didn’t want to break the news.
For one, he and Lennon were friends. Cosell had interviewed him several times over the years. He also felt with a few seconds left in a tie football game, that perhaps it would be better to let the ABC News program Nightline handle it. Gifford told him the obvious. This was too big to ignore, regardless of the game.
“You’ve got to. If we know it, we’ve got to do it … Don’t hang on it,” the former NFL quarterback told him. “It’s a tragic moment and this is going to shake-up the whole world.”
With only three seconds left in the game and the Patriots preparing for the potential game-winning field goal, Cosell broke the hearts of millions of people around the world.
The Dolphins blocked the kick and would go on to win in overtime. But few people were paying attention by that point.
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Professionally Identified and joined WP August 26, 2013
DSM 5: Autism Spectrum Disorder, DSM IV: Aspergers Moderate Severity
It is Autism Acceptance Month
“My autism is not a superpower. It also isn’t some kind of god-forsaken, endless fountain of suffering inflicted on my family. It’s just part of who I am as a person”. - Sara Luterman
