Image via WikipediaIt was 30 years ago tonight that John Lennon breathed his last. Lennon has always been and will always be my favorite member of The Beatles. Not that it particularly matters, but in order my favorites are Lennon, George Harrison, Ringo Starr, and last would be Paul McCartney. I liked Lennon and Harrison the best because they were both guitarists, and I played guitar. There was always something about McCartney that rubbed me the wrong way.A friend of mine posted on his Facebook page the following question; "Where were you when you heard the news of John Lennon's murder?" I posted a response to the question on Facebook, but thought that I would talk about it here as well.
I was 19 years old when John Lennon was gunned down outside his home on December 8, 1980. He had just released his first new music in several years with the release of "Double Fantasy," a collaboration with his wife Yoko Ono. Half the songs were performed by John, and half by Yoko. I really wanted to get the CD, but we had a rule in our house that I couldn't buy myself anything prior to Christmas.
I didn't actually hear the news of the tragedy the night that it occurred. I had to get up early the next morning to go to work, so I went to bed a little early that night. The next morning my mother knocked on my door to make sure that I was up for work. It was then that she told me that Lennon had been shot seven times. (He was struck by four bullets, but three passed completely through his body.) Logic completely escaped me at that moment, and I asked if he was alright. She told me he had died.
I was devastated. I got up, and got ready for work, but my heart wasn't in it. I dressed in black. The only reason I went in at all was that I had to open the store I was working at and had to get the cash drawers ready for the day. I told them I was sick and took the rest of the day off. My mother, understanding my grief, waived the "no purchases before Christmas rule" and allowed me to go purchase the new CD. I listed to John's portion of the disc and The Beatles the rest of the day.
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