On December 8, 1980 at around 10:50 p.m., John Lennon was shot outside his New York City apartment building, The Dakota. After being rushed to the hospital, he was pronounced dead on his arrival. In a world where everything is a commodity, the album Lennon had signed earlier in the day for his killer went up for sale in 2012.
In the last few months of his life, Lennon was making a comeback with his Double Fantasy album and had songs in constant rotation on the radio and MTV. My favorite single from the album was released as a single not long after his death: “Watching the Wheels.”
Unfortunately, the song also makes me think of his death, but his death also gives deeper meaning to this song. Lennon wrote “Watching the Wheels” about his years of retirement from music before returning to it.
Through my years of watching shadows on the wall since then, I have missed the music he would have continued making, but I appreciate the joy in the music he did give us.
Every year, there are various events remembering Lennon. For example, The Beatles Story museum in Liverpool remembers the anniversary by holding their annual John Lennon peace vigil.
What is your favorite John Lennon song or performance? Leave your two cents in the comments.
(Some related Chimesfreedom posts.)
I have a distinct memory of lying on the couch listening to Scott Muni talk about John Lennon on what I thought was the day he died, but it was in the afternoon so maybe it was the next day (10:50pm was definitely way past my bedtime in 1980). Did that actually happen? Up to that point George was my favorite Beatle, but I feel like I cried along with the Professor, and something happened for me. 12/8 is an important date for me pretty much every year since. But if he died so late at night, I wonder what I’m recalling. Either way I feel very lucky that WNEW was my rock station growing up.
Thanks for the interesting comment. Like many others, I learned the news from Howard Cosell during the broadcast of Monday Night Football: