'Round Midnite: John Lennon's Birthday
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Those of you who know me, know that John Lennon was one of my personal heroes. The night he was shot I hopped in a cab and rode across the Park to the Dakota. I got there before most of the rest of the throng arrived, and tied my bead necklace to the fence, one of the first mementos on what became a memorial wall. I spent the all-night vigil at the front of the barricades (I am readily visible in the archived news footage they show every few years on the anniversary of his death). I sang "Give Peace A Chance" from the time we learned he'd died until the first newspapers arrived on the scene, announcing in bold headlines what we already knew. I somehow anticipated the cheer that went up from the crowd when the papers were held aloft, and still remember the sickening feeling I experienced, hearing these people cheer. Of course, they were not cheering that Lennon was dead, it was a nervous laughter of a cheer, acknowledging that the news media had taken our pictures and put them on the front page with the headlines. Still, it sickened me. I spent the entire night there, and left at 7am, came back to my apartment and wrote a song for John Lennon, called "The Way Things Go." It was a harrowing night and morning, one I will never forget.
Here is a tribute from "Those Were The Days:"
"John Winston Lennon -- composer; musician; one fourth of the famed rock group, The Beatles; husband of Yoko Ono; father of Julian and Sean -- was born on this day in 1940 in Liverpool, England. Its hard to imagine what the world would be like without his influence on music.
There is hardly a soul anywhere in the world who isnt familiar with the songs he wrote as half of the team of Lennon and McCartney. When The Beatles were no longer touring, John Lennon collaborated with Yoko Ono in avant- garde works. He then began to express his political views through his music, and in some cases, his actions. Live Peace in Toronto was his first gesture for world peace. And, he returned the coveted Order of the British Empire award (the MBE) to protest British involvement in the Nigerian Civil War. He continued his quest for peace in Give Peace a Chance and with his bed-in for peace at the Amsterdam Hilton following his marriage to Yoko Ono.
His music traced his lifestyles, his views, his childhood, his pain, and jubilation: Cold Turkey, Instant Karma, Mother, Working Class Hero, Jealous Guy, Crippled Inside and How Do You Sleep. Imagine, from the LP of the same title, became his best known work. It also made a statement, paying homage to nonmaterialism. Then there was the LP, Sometime in New York City, filled with anti-establishment verses. Mind Games and Walls and Bridges followed.
Whatever Gets You Through the Night was cause for celebration. It was his first solo #1 hit in the U.S. Lennon then recorded an LP with Yoko, each alternating songs on Double Fantasy. He celebrated his son Sean with Beautiful Boy, his wife with Woman and his new life with both in Just like Starting Over.
He had barely begun to start over when, on December 8, 1980, John Lennon was shot to death outside his New York City apartment building.
Its hard to Imagine ..."
(From 440 International, Those Were The Days)