I'm
shouting all about love
While they treated you like a dog
When you were the
one who made it all so clear
All those years ago
I'm talking all about how
to give
They don't act with much honesty
But you point the way to the truth
when you say
All you need is love
Living
with good and bad
I always looked up to you
Now we're left cold and sad
By someone the devil's best friend
Someone who
offended all
We're living in a bad dream
They've forgotten all about mankind
And you were the one they backed up to the wall
All those years ago
You were the one who imagined it all
All
those years ago
Deep in the darkest night
I send a prayer to you
Now in
the world of light
Where the spirit free of the lies
And all else we
despised
They've forgotten all about God
He's the only reason we exist
You were the one that they said was so weird
All those years ago
You said
it all though not many had ears
All those years ago
You had control of our
smiles and our tears
All those years ago
It was 10:50 at night when the limousine returned to the Dakota, a gothic apartment building near Central Park in New York City. From the limo emerged Yoko Ono, famed and often hated wife of former Beatle John Lennon. Following her came John himself. As he approached the door of the building, Mark David Chapman, the man for who Lennon had given his final autograph, took a combat stance and fired five bullets.The first two struck Lennon's back, the next two hit his shoulder and the final shot missed its target. As Lennon staggered into the doorway of the Dakota, Chapman dropped the weapon and clutched a copy of J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye. He was arrested as soon as the police arrived at the scene and Lennon was taken to Roosevelt Hospital in the backseat of a police car.
At the hospital Lennon had a weak heartbeat, but virtually no blood pressure and had lost three quarts of blood. He was soon pronounced dead. Less then half an hour after the shooting, at 11:15 PM, during Monday Night Football, Howard Cosell, a close friend of Lennon's, reported the incident, and the world was told of the death of one of the most famous men in the history of Rock and Roll.
~ Emmy Ludwig
"One of the great figures of the entire world, one of the great artists, was shot to death horribly at the Dakota Apartments, 72nd Street and Central Park West in New York City. John Lennon is dead. He was the most important member of the Beatles, and the Beatles, lead by John Lennon, created music that touched the whole of civilization. Not just people in Liverpool, where the group was born, but the people of the world."
"Now Daddy is part of God. I guess when you die you become much more bigger because you're part of everything."
~ Sean Lennon after the death of his father, age 5
I finally was able to sit down and do just what I started this page for, a tribute to my hero, John Lennon. As of right now, most it is is quotes from various people about Lennon. I am also working on a page about The Beatles and a page on how much Lennon loved Yoko Ono (she wasn't bad, just misunderstood) and also what a great father he was to his son Sean.
Please, read, enjoy, etc. And hang in there, some quotes are long, but damn good. Yes i know no one likes to actually READ, but tough, that's all you can do here. (if you read anything on this page at least read what I myself wrote .. hehe... thanx)
~ by Emmy Ludwig (printed in the December issue of Souderton's School Newspaper, The Arrowhead)
When most people think of December, they think of the holidays and vacation, but to those who cherish the greats of rock'n'roll, December is a tragic month.After a time out of the public spotlight, 40-year-old John Lennon had just re-emerged and was about to begin his career anew. But, on December 8, 1980, 25-year-old Mark David Chapman walked calmly up to former-Beatle John Lennon and shot him four times, killing him almost instantly. Lennon died around 11:00 PM, leaving his wife without a husband, his sons without a father, and the world without a hero. For many it was one of the most disastrous events in rock'n'roll.
Chapman was arrested immediately and was sent to Attica State Prison in New York for 20 years to life, with no chance of parole until 2000. He has also received some psychological help.
People mourned for days over the loss of this great musician. Today people still honor Lennon's name on the anniversary of his death.
Lennon was best know for being a member of the Beatles, a group in the 1960's that revolutionized music and our culture in many ways. He is also famous for the career he made for himself after the break-up of the Beatles. He made several albums as a solo performer and several more with his wife. Perhaps his most famous song is "Imagine," a song he wrote alone.
Lennon made a name and an image for him when he began his movement for peace in the late '60's. The public did not entirely agree with Lennon's opinions or actions and, in the end, this caused quite a controversy.
But still, Lennon has become one of the greatest names in the history of rock and roll, and will always be remembered that way, no matter how the public saw him in the '60's.
Said Cristin Allen Goetz in the introduction to "A Working Class Hero," a tribute CD made by various artists in the memory of John Lennon, "Lennon left us with a feeling that each one of us have the power and responsibility to try to make the world a better place."
Later in the CD jacket David Sheff, a reporter for Rolling Stone, told of interviews he made to find the heroes of many prominent figures. The names most frequently mentioned were: Martin Luther King, Mahatma Ghandi, and John Lennon. Czechoslovakian President, Veclev Havel (one of the prominent figures Sheff interviewed), even said: "John Lennon, more than anyone else, believed in man's ability to save himself."
"Once upon a time there was a man who heard music and poetry, and he told us what he heard, and people everywhere in all the kingdoms of the earth fell in love with what he made of himself, and he lived in a castle with his wife and child and had untold riches laid at his feet, and then one day a little man hid in the dark and with four jerks of his finger killed the man who made the music."He had a magnificent life. He fell deeply in love and knew enough about the heart and its lazy habits to never allow his essential connections to go stale. Like other great artists, he was a teacher. He taught us something about integrity. And risk. He taught us about speaking up against injustice. And he is an integral part of my extravagant, far-flung dreams about the potential power of art. It is no inspiring feat to capture the attention of the millions-- Dallas can do that. But to capture the imagination of millions is an accomplishment on a wholly different scale. It is mythic. His life and our view of him were of course mucked up by all the byproducts of success, image making, celebrity and high finance. But his achievement always rose above the cheapness of publicity, the empty craziness of stardom. He proved that you can follow your vision, explore your talents, speak your mind-- take any leap you dare. In a cautious age, John Lennon was uninterested in existing on any but his own terms. He sang and wrote what he believed, and he trusted us to listen. And he was right: we listened. Taking his lesson to heart, embracing his radiant example, ennobles the work we do. John1s success, his awesome ability to communicate with millions-- to say difficult things to people whom other felt were fit to hear only the emptiest words, to say emotionally venerable things to the most cynical and say them so well they could not be denied-- remains a towering standard. He teaches us faith in oneself, confidence in and affection for the human community.
I am left with the one thing I wanted not to say, because it's so old and so f**cking funeral: we are better people because of John Lennon. And now, when we need to be better still, and braver, with a deeper, more encompassing vision, losing him is terrifying. It just cuts so deeply. It's hard to believe our luck has gotten this bad.
Discography:"If it wasn't for John Lennon, a lot of us would be some place much different tonight. It's a hard world that asks you to live with a lot of things that are unlivable. And it1s hard to come out here and play tonight, but there1s nothing else to do." ~ Bruce Springsteen at a concert in Philadelphia not long after the death of Lennon
Then Bruce and the E Street Band tore into Springsteen's own anthem, Born to Run, making it clear that playing was the best thing to do. Guitarist Steve Van Zandt let tears roll down his face, and organist Danny Federici hit the board so hard he broke a key.... "I wanna know love is wild, I wanna know love is real," yelled Springsteen, and the audience yelled back.
~ Jay Cocks's article, the Last Day in the Life* * *
"He is God to me as far as music is concerned..... You could just hear it from his soul. And that1s what turns me on the most. Also the fact that he didn1t give a damn about all the stuff, he just wanted to make music. He was brilliant. I definitely love him in the Beatles as well but even more after wards, for me."
~Lenny Kravitz* * *
"I though he had a sense of life, the pulsation of life, and he loved Yoko Ono and made no apologies for the way he lived, for anything he did."
~ Howard Cosell* * *
"Lennon's death was not like Elvis Presley1s. Presley seemed, at the end, trapped, defeated and hopeless. Lennon could have gone that way too, could have destroyed himself. But he did something harder. He lived. And, for all the fame and finance, that seemed to be what he took the most pride in.
He beat the rock-n-roll life," Steve Van Zandt said the day after Lennon died. "Beat drugs, beat the fame, beat the damage. He was the only guy who beat it all." That was the victory Mark Chapman took from John Lennon, who had an abundance of what everyone wants and wanted only what so many others have, and take for granted. A home and family. Some still center of love. A life. One minute more."
~ Jay Cocks's article, the Last Day in the Life* * * Do you see a time when you'll retire?
John: "No, I couldn't, you know."
YOKO: He'll probably work until he's eighty or until he dies.John: "I can't foresee it. Even when you're a cripple you carry on painting. I would paint even if I couldn't move."
~Rolling Stone Interview, January, 1971* * *
"I'm happy to be 40 years old. I'm in the best shape I've ever been in my life, and I feel the best I ever felt."
~ John Lennon, November 10, 1980* * *
"My life revolves around Sean," Lennon told some radio interviewers from San Francisco on the afternoon of the day he was killed. "Now I have more reason to stay healthy and bright.... And I want to be with my best friend. My best friend is [my] wife. If I couldn't have worked with her, I wouldn't have bothered... I consider that my work won't be finished until I'm dead and buried, and I hope that's a long, long time." As he spoke those words, Mark David Chapman waited for him out on the street.
~ Jay Cocks's article, the Last Day in the Life
With the Beatles:
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Lennon's Solo Albums:
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Films:
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© 1999 ~*~ mel ~*~
