John Lennon..killed by a coward twenty eight years ago yesterday as he was returning to his apartment after a recording session and/or interview..the creep had the nerve to ask him for his autograph earlier..which was eerily caught on tape..
here is Jealous Guy..one of my favorite of his..
never forgotten John...never..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6lLs2dC9NaE
John was and still is very important to me. The day he died was one of those moments that will never leave me. It was horrific and marked the end of an era. As he said once 'The Dream Is Over' - and it finallly was.
John's quick and cutting wit from which he made important social observations has been an influence on every generation since. No longer were rock stars the 'pretty boys with nothing important going on between their ears'. He was a deep thinker.
While I don't think everything he did in his solo career was phenom.... I do think a lot of it was important. I also think he and Paul needed each other even if they stopped writing as a team somewhere after the second album. While Paul influenced John to write more accessable music (not lyrics - don't confuse what I'm saying), John's influence on Paul was to write music that was more stripped down with lyrics that were less banal.
Case in point would be John's song 'John Sinclair'. John got more than a bit carried away with the 'got to, got to, got to....'. Conversely, look at just about anything Paul has done past the 'Venus and Mar's album.
The Beatles were probably my first important musical influence. Zep and Aerosmith followed.
I'm sorry that I'm rambling here but I spent the anniversary of John's death just quietly remembering him and what he meant to me.
John you're missed but you're still here to those of us that remember you as more than an image in an old video.
Just an additional thought - one of my trips to NYC brought me to the doorway of the Dakota. It's a small, dark, unassuming place that only gives away it's importance by the doormen at the gate. It was a strange sensation to be standing on the spot where John was fatally attacked. Strange and somehow humbling.