Time flies fellow infidels. It was 26 years ago today, a day that will live in the infamy of rock and roll. I was 15. It was a Monday night. I was in my bedroom at my parent's house listening to the Monday Night Football game between the Miami Dolphins and the New England Patriots. It was blacked out and we could not see the game on TV. Since Mondays were my mom's day off, it was the night she always had guests over and a dinner party of some sort. On many of those occasions, I would shut myself into my room and into my own little world. I was sitting on the floor and was reading some magazines while listening to the game.A phone call arrives. It was my friend Kevin who called me and told me, "Dude, they shot Lennon." I was kind of confused there for a moment, and said, "What? Who got shot?" He then told me, "Someone shot John Lennon." I was in a state of disbelief and told my friend that I would talk to him later. I had to hear it for myself. Shortly thereafter, a break in comes in on the radio (WIOD 610) from the news service announcing that former Beatle John Lennon had been assassinated in New York City by some nut job. I changed the station to the rock station at the time, WSHE 103.5 FM and they were broadcasting news reports. I stormed into the middle of the dinner party and yelled "Somebody just fucking killed John Lennon" and I walked back into my room. Not even noticing the disruption to the dinner party of folks who really did not care that much. I was a huge Beatle fan you see and a big John Lennon fan too. I had started collecting Beatle records at that time since the sixth grade. I had them all. The albums, the 45's, magazines, posters, songbooks. I knew all the songs on the guitar and piano. I had always hoped for a reunion, but now that was history as was an incredible songwriter.
That night, they started playing Beatle songs 24/7. I slept with the radio on and heard Beatle songs in my dreams that night. The next morning, I pulled out an old t-shirt of time with the Sgt. Pepper cover on it. I wore it with a black arm band to school the next day.
Interesting that at 15, John seemed so old. Looking back in time now as a pirate at 41, I realize heck no, he was young, but what he accomplished in his 20's and 30's alone, is amazing to consider. Recording Sgt. Pepper at 27 years old. Writing Strawberry Fields at 27.
John was an idealist and clearly not meant for the times that he lived. He was living a utopian ideal which cannot exist in reality. But he did give people some great music and some great lyrics.
Everybody always raves about his song "Imagine" being his magnum opus. To me though, it was this little short song on his first solo album that I found to be one of his best works. It is simply entitiled "Love."
Love is real , real is love
Love is feeling , feeling love
Love is wanting to be loved
Love is touch, touch is love
Love is reaching, reaching love
Love is asking to be loved
Love is you
You and me
Love is knowing
we can be
Love is free, free is love
Love is living, living love
Love is needing to be loved.
Have a great weekend infidels.
1 comments:
Well, I can’t say I remember what I was doing that Monday night. I don’t think it was any different from any other day or night. I think I went to bed early. Like Mike, I was 15 and in my first year of high school. In fact, we were both in the same high school along with Pete. Yet, we weren’t to become friends until many years after high school. I do remember the next morning very clearly. So clear, that I can visualize it now as if I were watching a movie. I woke up and got up to get ready for school. I got dressed, brushed my teeth, combed my unruly hair and went to down the hall to the kitchen to eat breakfast. When I got to the kitchen counter, there was a note with my name on it from my grandmother. I opened it up. It was written in Spanish. As soon as I read it, I dreaded what was written on it and believed or tried to believe that she had to be mistaken. On it she had written something along the lines of:
John de los beetle esta muerto or murio.
My heart sank. I still get chills today remembering even as I write this now, it gets to me.
I quickly turned around and ran to the tv and turned it on (back then there was no MSNBC, or CNN, or internet I could quickly bring up with a few keystrokes). I think I switched from one channel to the next as they were on commercial break and finally landed on channel 10 with Good Morning America. They too were just about to go on commercial break and with it I saw John’s pic from the White Album the words “John Lennon 1940-1980” with the words “I read the news today oh –boy” from “A Day in the Life” playing in the background. I was devastated. I don’t remember the rest of my day or that week. I think I spent it in daze. The dream was over.
It’s funny, Mike, 40 seemed old and so far away to me back then. Look at us now. I still feel the same and don’t think I’ve changed much, but the mirror says otherwise.
(I posted this on Pete's blog too)
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