The words from the Newsreader on my Radio Alarm that day woke me abruptly from my usual comatose dream-like state of just another 5 mins before getting up work routine. …John Lennon is Dead.
It does not seem like 40 years since that day, a day of sombre disbelief, perhaps in the world we know now it could be said not much shocks us. That day was like a Kennedy moment, we all remember where we were and what we were doing.
Perhaps the shock was amplified by the magnitude of Lennons Fame, or his and Yoko’s total advocation of Peace and Love made it hard to comprehend, The nature of his Death,being shot by a fan who he had signed an Autograph for,or maybe his recent re-emergence into the world of Music after many years of absence whilst being a parent and Family guy had brought hope of more songs and Possible Beatles Collaborations.. .Or maybe it was growing up with somebody that co constructed the soundtrack to mine and many Peoples younger years.
Lennon was not a Saint, He was a man with faults,opinionated and Hard to work with some may say, but he was a genius.
Lennon/McCartney songs will be played forever, quite simply because Musically and Lyrically they connected with people and always will,that is the genius.
I was fortunate to visit New York a few years ago, I took some photos, thought a bit about John, The Music, Listened to a Busker playing Beatles Songs who got into an argument ( i think that may have amused Lennon…New York Life!). Stared at where he lived and the streets he would have walked, Subway and Stalls with souvenirs,Artists Painting What would he have made of it.
You may say I’m a Dreamer………