It’s hard to believe it’s been thirty years since John Lennon was shot outside his home at the Dakota in Manhattan. Amazing how time has fled and we remember Lennon as a still vibrant artist at age 40 rather than as a 70 year old, as he would be today. It still seems shocking even after all these years. I remember hearing of his shooting first from the lips of Howard Cosell as I watched Monday Night Football. It was before the time of instant information, before the days of the internet and 24/7 news coverage, so you couldn’t simply flip to CNN and catch on the spot information. All you had was Howard Cosell, who fortunately , being a very astute newsman, understood the gravity of the news he delivered.
Strange days, indeed.
I always carry the memory of John Lennon in his earlier incarnation as a Beatle, when he shared the mic with Paul as frontmen and was the wiseass with a quick comeback in A Hard Day’s Night, which stands as a very fine film today. It’s hard to get across to a younger generation how vast the influence and reach of the Beatles was in the 60’s. Early on, my sister was a big Beatles fan and had a copy of his book of scrawlings and verse, In His Own Write. I loved to flip through the pages of this book, taking in his rough drawings and witty little ditties. I wonder what became of that book?
So thirty years have come and gone since Lennon came and went and we’re left with a treasure trove of music that lives on. I wanted to show a video and had a lot to choose from. I first thought of Power to the People, a song which I can still hear in my memory coming from a tinny transistor radio speaker. Or one of the songs from his final LP, such as Nobody Told Me. But I settled on Instant Karma. Maybe it was its chorus of “we all shine on… ” that attracted me. Seemed fitting. Shine on, John.
Redtree Times 