It was 30 years ago today: Memories of John Lennon

Sitting in a dimly lit ballroom/press room at Disney, it's important to remember that Wednesday, December 8, marks the 30th anniversary of the death of John Lennon, shot by a deranged fan in front of his Dakota apartment building on a sidewalk in New York City.

I was an attendee at the winter meetings that week in 1980 in Dallas in my role as Expos PR man. Just 24 hours earlier I had asked my wife to marry me at the lobby bar of the Anatole Hotel. She had just flown in from Montreal. The next night, driving back from dinner, I was chilling in a taxi with Debbie, my fiancee, and with hockey hall-of-famer Michael Farber, the baseball beat writer for the Gazette. The cab radio played a seemingly unending succession of Beatles songs, no announcer, no breaks. When we asked the driver why, he explained Lennon had been shot and killed. The reaction was one of stunned silence. Coincidentally as we continued on in deep thought we were within several blocks of Dealey Plaza where another of my childhood heroes had been assassinated 17 years earlier. It's one of those moments you always remember. Lennon's words still resonate, still are important.

Imagine there's no Heaven 
It's easy if you try 
No hell below us 
Above us only sky 
Imagine all the people 
Living for today 

Imagine there's no countries 
It isn't hard to do 
Nothing to kill or die for 
And no religion too 
Imagine all the people 
Living life in peace 

You may say that I'm a dreamer 
But I'm not the only one 
I hope someday you'll join us 
And the world will be as one 

Imagine no possessions 
I wonder if you can 
No need for greed or hunger 
A brotherhood of man 
Imagine all the people 
Sharing all the world 

You may say that I'm a dreamer 
But I'm not the only one 
I hope someday you'll join us 
And the world will live as one

 

 

Comments

[Sharkey]

Very nice tribute Richard. I wasn't even alive when he died but wow, I can't believe it's been 30 years.

[Tom Degan]

When a celebrated person passes on, we may pause and reflect for a moment on his or her life and career, but then we move on. We may watch with appreciation the brilliant performance of a long dead James Dean in the film Giant and think not a thing about his absence from our lives. That's not the case in this instance.

I sure do miss John Lennon.

It is ironic, and maybe even fitting, that our final vision of him is not as the sweet old curmudgeon we always knew he would turn out to be - but as the Lennon of 1980: Forever young, eternally whimsical, steadfastly defiant, deadly serious, and hopelessly silly - all of the paradoxes that were combined in this one incredible, enigmatic persona.

I'll say it again. I sure do miss John Lennon.

I won't recap the events of that horrible moment thirty years ago tonight. It's too painful a memory. I'll close by saying that those of us who are old enough to remember are fortunate to have lived during the period that John Lennon thrived. On this, the seventieth anniversary of his birth, it's best not to dwell on the manner in which he died, or on all that might have been. I think it's best that we reflect on a wonderful life, nobly lived - and the music - that beautiful, timeless music. Dream. Dream away. Magic's in the air....

http://www.tomdegan.blogspot.com

Tom Degan

[Johnny Rhythm]

He's been going in and out of style, but he's guaranteed to raise a smile!