He was happily married to Yoko Ono, and they had a five-year-old son named Sean.
On the evening of December 8, 1980, a demented young man named Mark David Chapman, who wanted to be famous, waited outside The Dakota, the famed Manhattan apartment building where the Lennons lived. John and Yoko had spent the evening at a recording studio, and when their limo dropped them off, Chapman called out, Mr.
Lennon! When Lennon responded, Chapman pumped five bullets into Lennon, who died a few minutes later of his wounds. It was 11:50 P.
M.
I attended a concert by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band at the Spectrum in Philadelphia that night. Bruce s fifth album, The River, had been released that fall, and Hungry Heart was somewhere near the top of the charts.
I was a 19-year-old sophomore in college. My friends and I drove about 3 hours to the Spectrum from Carlisle, and we saw a killer show. The Boss played for about 4 1/2 hours that night.
The concert let out at about the time that Chapman fired the fatal rounds.
Nobody told Bruce Springsteen that John Lennon had been shot, so nothing was said during the show. We were completely ignorant of events when we left the arena to head for the cars.
When we got to the car, all of the Philly radio stations were playing nothing but Beatles and John Lennon songs, and we could not, for the life of us, understand why. Finally, there was a break in the music, and we heard the terrible news. Obviously, that s a night that is forever burned into my memory, both for the incredible show we saw, and then for the horrific events that we learned of after the end of the show.
John Lennon did not deserve to die. With him died a little piece of my childhood and many of the dreams of a generation.
Rest in peace, John.
You re still missed. It s hard to believe that 26 years have passed since that night.
Eric,
I won t disrespect Lennon on your blog , and not on the anniversary of his death, but My thoughts on John Lennon will wait for another day.
I appreciate he might be part of your youth, but think that there are many more deserving of rememberance.
Like the other Mark (I hate agreeing with him), I think the Stones were far more entertaining. There were other British groups, at that time, that were far more talented than the Beatles, but they didn t have Epstein, George Martin or world media hype behind them.
Despite my very large 60s collection, I m proud to say that not one Beatles album can be found within it. I cringe when I hear c***p like Yellow Submarine, She Loves You, Lady Madonna, etc. I have a lot of time for Ringo as a person, and Harrison as a person/musician.
For the other two; well I agree with VMI.
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