Remembering John Lennon Thirty Years Ago! (1 Viewer)

[JPPT1974]

Where were you all when John Lennon was shot and killed in NY while with Yoko Ono, his wife to the Dakota Apartment by Mark David Chapman, an unemployed Hawaii security guard.

Chapman was sentenced to twenty years to life, with being paroled everytime he has been up for it. As he won't get out at all it seems. The way it is going.

Lennon was in the planning stages of a comeback and a tour. Until Chapman ended that sadly! I was only six-years old and wasn't familiar with him nor the Beatles.

Now I have almost all of their CDs and a post in my bedroom. Would love to hear you all's take on that December 8th 1980 night!

 

[Jazzbo]

http://www.saintsreport.com/forums/showthread.php?t=185533

 

[UndeadSnoopy]

I have a Beatles thread but I don't like to bump my dead threads. I tried to bump an old Guido Beatles thread but it wouldn't let me for some reason. I just chose this randomly.

Hey Guido. Your avatar back then makes me think you would like a "fishing trip".

Anyway, I thought this was a great article for those of us so lucky to be caught between The Beatles and Grunge. Billy Corgan's comments are great.

The Smashing Pumpkins' Billy Corgan: What John Lennon means to me

My first encounter with John Lennon and The Beatles came when I was around five years old. I had copy of Meet The Beatles, and at the time, they just seemed like one big Beatle to me. I didn't really

www.musicradar.com

 

[baarbogast]

Once Lennon left the Beatles, he was a has been to me.

 

[TheMadCowTipper]

I was eight(damn I feel old) Watching the wheels is good stuff.

 

[Bill]

I was watching the Monday Night Football game on the evening when he was murdered. I was 20.
I still remember the shock I felt when Howard Cosell made the announcement during the broadcast.
As the story quickly exploded all over the media, each new report of what happened just made me feel like a part of me died. Though I have never idolized Lennon (or any person for that matter), I couldn't help but think about his connection with the music I grew up with.

I never cry over the death of a celebrity.
But I almost cried when John Lennon died.

 

[UndeadSnoopy]

I was watching the Monday Night Football game on the evening when he was murdered. I was 20.
I still remember the shock I felt when Howard Cosell made the announcement during the broadcast.
As the story quickly exploded all over the media, each new report of what happened just made me feel like a part of me died. Though I have never idolized Lennon (or any person for that matter), I couldn't help but think about his connection with the music I grew up with.

I never cry over the death of a celebrity.
But I almost cried when John Lennon died.

I was watching the game in my bedroom. I was a lucky kid to have a TV in my room. I remember rushing out of it and telling my mother the news. She was never a Beatles fan but I remember the shocked expression on her face.

 

[T.P.]

I was watching the game in my bedroom. I was a lucky kid to have a TV in my room. I remember rushing out of it and telling my mother the news. She was never a Beatles fan but I remember the shocked expression on her face.

That is exactly my story..except the first person I told was my brother..He was in disbelief as I was..

 

[superchuck500]

Once Lennon left the Beatles, he was a has been to me.

I think it took him some time to find his footing, but he did some really good solo work. There are about 10 or so songs that I can listen to anytime.

There are a few pretty good documentaries that focus on John post-Beatles. Personally, I find the couple of years where John and Yoko were estranged and he was spending a lot of time in LA being drunk to be the most interesting. He was a mess.

Above Us Only Sky is a recent release on Netflix about John and Yoko's relationship, especially post-Beatles.
LennoNYC was a few years ago (made by the same director) focuses on the whole post-Beatle period
The US vs. John Lennon details John's anti-war activism and the efforts of the Nixon administration to deport him in 1974 and his ultimate green card in 1976

 

[superchuck500]

I was watching the Monday Night Football game on the evening when he was murdered. I was 20.
I still remember the shock I felt when Howard Cosell made the announcement during the broadcast.
As the story quickly exploded all over the media, each new report of what happened just made me feel like a part of me died. Though I have never idolized Lennon (or any person for that matter), I couldn't help but think about his connection with the music I grew up with.

I never cry over the death of a celebrity.
But I almost cried when John Lennon died.

I was seven. I wasn't allowed to stay up to the end of MNF at that time. But I had a big clock radio (with the flipping "digital" numbers) next to my bed and I listened to the radio every night going to sleep (my dad showed me how to use the sleep button). I'm sure it was WRNO or WTIX or some other NOLA station at the time, but I was laying there, still awake, and they announced that Lennon had been shot. I knew it was a big deal but at seven, I obviously didn't fully understand it. But I'll never forget that moment.

 

[Mr. Blue Sky]

I was seven. I wasn't allowed to stay up to the end of MNF at that time. But I had a big clock radio (with the flipping "digital" numbers) next to my bed and I listened to the radio every night going to sleep (my dad showed me how to use the sleep button). I'm sure it was WRNO or WTIX or some other NOLA station at the time, but I was laying there, still awake, and they announced that Lennon had been shot. I knew it was a big deal but at seven, I obviously didn't fully understand it. But I'll never forget that moment.

Same here.. we were living in Metrybrah at the time, Lennon was killed a week and a day after my 7th birthday.. ill never forget waking up the next morning to the news on tv while getting ready for school.. I didn’t understand the fuss, and i asked my Mom ‘What’s a Beatle?’.. my Mom was always very encouraging of whatever i was interested in as a kid, so that afternoon she picked me up from school and she gave me two giant coffee table books about The Beatles.. i can still remember the smell of the pages of those books, which i memorized cover to cover.. . Shortly after, she bought me two albums (back when we had those), A Hard Days Night and Live at Shea Stadium.. I remember putting them on the record player; i could barely hear the music through all the screaming girls, but from that moment on, i stopped wanting to be a fireman, or an airline pilot, or whatever little kids want to be- I wanted to be Paul McCartney.

I became a fanatic, which has ebbed and flowed over the years as i’ve gotten into other music, but i always come home to them and i’d still consider myself a very big fan.

 

[Mr. Blue Sky]

I think it took him some time to find his footing, but he did some really good solo work. There are about 10 or so songs that I can listen to anytime.

There are a few pretty good documentaries that focus on John post-Beatles. Personally, I find the couple of years where John and Yoko were estranged and he was spending a lot of time in LA being drunk to be the most interesting. He was a mess.

Above Us Only Sky is a recent release on Netflix about John and Yoko's relationship, especially post-Beatles.
LennoNYC was a few years ago (made by the same director) focuses on the whole post-Beatle period
The US vs. John Lennon details John's anti-war activism and the efforts of the Nixon administration to deport him in 1974 and his ultimate green card in 1976

John was an excellent solo artist.

I think Paul did solid work while solo, as well as with Wings, but he also had some duds.. i cant think of any duds John ever had.. I wore out my CD of the Imagine documentary soundtrack when i was younger; it had a great cross section of ‘John songs’ from his Beatles period as well as solo.

One thing i recently discovered about Paul McCartney, and i mentioned this in another thread a few weeks ago.. is that he recorded the album Venus and Mars at the old Sea Saint studios in Gentilly in ‘75 with Wings.. there are some great pics online of he and Linda enjoying Mardi Gras that year, if you’re inclined to look.. but the one hit from the V&M album was Listen to What the Man Said.. i’ve always liked that tune, but now it’s sounds even better when i listen to it, knowing that it’s the only hit song by any Beatle to have been recorded in NOLA.

 

[superchuck500]

John was an excellent solo artist.

I think Paul did solid work while solo, as well as with Wings, but he also had some duds.. i cant think of any duds John ever had.. I wore out my CD of the Imagine documentary soundtrack when i was younger; it had a great cross section of ‘John songs’ from his Beatles period as well as solo.

Yeah, now that I run through it on Spotify, there's a lot of depth on those albums. I thought some of that Plastic Ono stuff was indulgent noise when you see live footage but the studio albums don't come across like that at all. Then, of course, there's the dark/quiet period between 1975 and 1980 where he was fighting his legal battle and then was estranged from Yoko and not doing well. But then he returns from that with Double Fantasy, which is just a beautiful pop record.

 

[superchuck500]

One thing i recently discovered about Paul McCartney, and i mentioned this in another thread a few weeks ago.. is that he recorded the album Venus and Mars at the old Sea Saint studios in Gentilly in ‘75 with Wings.. there are some great pics online of he and Linda enjoying Mardi Gras that year, if you’re inclined to look.. but the one hit from the V&M album was Listen to What the Man Said.. i’ve always liked that tune, but now it’s sounds even better when i listen to it, knowing that it’s the only hit song by any Beatle to have been recorded in NOLA.

The sessions for that Wings record yielded this little gem that didn't make the album but was released on the posthumous Linda McCartney collection Wide Prairie. I love the authenticity of this song (both the authenticity of the writer not being a New Orleanian but being captivated by it and also the authenticity of the effort to make a song that sounds like New Orleans music especially with the rolling piano even though it doesn't quite pull it off) - I include it on any New Orleans playlist I make. It's just goofy and fun.

New Orleans (song)

From Wide Prairie liner notes: We were at Sea Saint Studios in New Orleans working on Venus and Mars when Linda came up with this number. References to the Dew Drop Inn and The...

www.the-paulmccartney-project.com

 

[Mr. Blue Sky]

The sessions for that Wings record yielded this little gem that didn't make the album but was released on the posthumous Linda McCartney collection Wide Prairie. I love the authenticity of this song (both the authenticity of the writer not being a New Orleanian but being captivated by it and also the authenticity of the effort to make a song that sounds like New Orleans music especially with the rolling piano even though it doesn't quite pull it off) - I include it on any New Orleans playlist I make. It's just goofy and fun.

New Orleans (song)

From Wide Prairie liner notes: We were at Sea Saint Studios in New Orleans working on Venus and Mars when Linda came up with this number. References to the Dew Drop Inn and The...

www.the-paulmccartney-project.com

Just tried clicking your link but it said ‘Link Unavailable’

That’s cool though,, i wasnt aware of that song.. or that Linda had ever done anything remarkable, musically-speaking.

But i digress...