John Lennon, 72 years old....

[ollinger]

....today, had he not been senselessly killed by a different sort of victim, a psychotically deranged paranoic. How much more interesting life would be if this ambassador of peace were still around, rallying iconoclasts and tilting at windmills. No other killing seems to sadden me as much as this one still does.

[Larrysümmers]

its sad that it happened, but his work here was done, it was his time.

[LuckyR]

Biologically? yes. Artistically? We'll never know...

[Seth]

Weak era IMO.

[r2473]

At least we still have Yoko.........

[ollinger]

^^ Yoko apparently has lobbied against parole for Chapman. He's served a long time for a guy who was seen as mentally ill at the time and who insisted on changing his plea from insanity to guilty. He was sentenced to 20 to life.

[Dedans Penthouse]

Originally Posted by r2473

At least we still have Yoko.........

^^^lol-beat me to it.
And to think that Lennon once cited the Kim Jong-il look-a-like's banshee-wailing, caterwauling as something "ahead of it's time" .... talk about "p-whipped" ....

Anyway, John Lennon rocking during his 'Yoko/post-Beatle' years: "New York City" (1972):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9C8C1psZiL8

Standing on the corner, just me & Yoko One
We was waiting for Jerry to land,
Up come a man with the guitar in his hand
singing "have a marijuana if you can."
His name was David Peel* and we found that he was real
He sang "The Pope smokes dope everyday!"
Up come a police man, shoved us up the street,
singing "Power to the people today!"

NYC!...NYC!...NYC!
Que pasa New York?...Que pasa New York?

Well we went to Max's Kansas City, got down the nitty-gritty
With the Elephant's Memory band,
Laid something down as the news spread around
about the Plastic Ono-Elephant's Memory Band
Well we played some funky boogie and laid some tutti-frutti
singing "Long Tall Sally's a man"
Up come a preachman tryin' to be a teacher
singing "The Pope's a red herring in drag!"

NYC!...NYC!...NYC!
Que pasa New York?...Que pasa New York?

Well we did the Staten Island Ferry, making movies for the telly
played the Fillmore and Apollo for freedom,
Tried to shake our image, just a cycling through the Village
but found that we had left it back in London
Well nobody came to bug us, hustle us or shove us
so we decided to make it our home
If the man wants to shove us out, we gonna jump and shout:
"the Statue of Liberty said 'COME'!"

NYC!...NYC!...NYC!
Que pasa New York?...Que pasa New York?

NYC down in the Village
What a bad-*** city!
Que pasa New York?...Que pasa New York?

Bad-*** city!....Bad-*** city!....que pasa NY?...

* ref. to "David Peel & the Lower East Side" (a NYC 'diggers' street band of the period, better known for their song "Up Again the Wall, Motherf**ker")

[RF20Lennon]

Chapman robbed this generation of MUSIC!!

[GS]

After reading a recent book about Todd Rundgren, I found out that Chapman was infatuated with both Rundgren and Lennon, so he flipped a coin and Lennon came up heads.

[r2473]

Originally Posted by RF20Lennon

Chapman robbed this generation of MUSIC!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZzXEFDznoA

What happened here
As the New York sunset disappeared
I found an empty garden among the flagstones there
Who lived here
He must have been a gardener that cared a lot
Who weeded out the tears and grew a good crop
And now it all looks strange
It's funny how one insect can damage so much grain
And what's it for
This little empty garden by the brownstone door
And in the cracks along the sidewalk nothing grows no more
Who lived here
He must have been a gardener that cared a lot
Who weeded out the tears and grew a good crop
And we are so amazed we're crippled and we're dazed
A gardener like that one no one can replace
And I've been knocking but no one answers
And I've been knocking most all the day
Oh and I've been calling oh hey hey Johnny
Can't you come out to play
And through their tears
Some say he farmed his best in younger years
But he'd have said that roots grow stronger if only he could hear
Who lived there
He must have been a gardener that cared a lot
Who weeded out the tears and grew a good crop
Now we pray for rain, and with every drop that falls
We hear, we hear your name
Johnny can't you come out to play in your empty garden

[r2473]

Originally Posted by ollinger

How much more interesting life would be if this ambassador of peace were still around, rallying iconoclasts and tilting at windmills. No other killing seems to sadden me as much as this one still does.

This is pretty darn good by the way. The references and overall description fit well.

Very nicely done.

[stringertom]

Originally Posted by RF20Lennon

Chapman robbed this generation of MUSIC!!

Chapman stole us of an icon and his music. Lennon's influence went well past what was recorded on vinyl. Forty years before a politician won on a campaign of "hope and change", John was pioneering the concept of a musician being bigger than his songs. The anti-war movement was bumped vigorously by his participation. Divorce and interracial romance...he did both before both became SOP in our culture. Fashion? Who can forget his abrupt changes after India, drug experimentation, transoceanic migration and finally second fatherhood and stay-at-home parenting. The guy was way ahead of his time and I still badly miss him!

Many people of my generation link their memories to the "Where were you when JFK was shot?" question. I remember Howar Cosell interrupting the MNF telecast to announce that John had been shot...cooling down after a hit with my best friend on his indoor teaching court on a crisp late fall evening on Long Island. I was in shock for an hour, not wanting to drive home through my tears. That whole week was so depressing but the Sunday memorial after his death helped me through the blues. Instead of the moment of silence Yoko requested, I sang "Imagine" softly to myself.

[Kevin T]

Originally Posted by Dedans Penthouse

^^^lol-beat me to it.
And to think that Lennon once cited the Kim Jong-il look-a-like's banshee-wailing, caterwauling as something "ahead of it's time" .... talk about "p-whipped" ....

Anyway, John Lennon rocking during his 'Yoko/post-Beatle' years: "New York City" (1972):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9C8C1psZiL8

Standing on the corner, just me & Yoko One
We was waiting for Jerry to land,
Up come a man with the guitar in his hand
singing "have a marijuana if you can."
His name was David Peel* and we found that he was real
He sang "The Pope smokes dope everyday!"
Up come a police man, shoved us up the street,
singing "Power to the people today!"

NYC!...NYC!...NYC!
Que pasa New York?...Que pasa New York?

Well we went to Max's Kansas City, got down the nitty-gritty
With the Elephant's Memory band,
Laid something down as the news spread around
about the Plastic Ono-Elephant's Memory Band
Well we played some funky boogie and laid some tutti-frutti
singing "Long Tall Sally's a man"
Up come a preachman tryin' to be a teacher
singing "The Pope's a red herring in drag!"

NYC!...NYC!...NYC!
Que pasa New York?...Que pasa New York?

Well we did the Staten Island Ferry, making movies for the telly
played the Fillmore and Apollo for freedom,
Tried to shake our image, just a cycling through the Village
but found that we had left it back in London
Well nobody came to bug us, hustle us or shove us
so we decided to make it our home
If the man wants to shove us out, we gonna jump and shout:
"the Statue of Liberty said 'COME'!"

NYC!...NYC!...NYC!
Que pasa New York?...Que pasa New York?

NYC down in the Village
What a bad-*** city!
Que pasa New York?...Que pasa New York?

Bad-*** city!....Bad-*** city!....que pasa NY?...

* ref. to "David Peel & the Lower East Side" (a NYC 'diggers' street band of the period, better known for their song "Up Again the Wall, Motherf**ker")

Speaking of Yoko, the following video demonstrates her true talent...blindfolded no less! A true arteeest.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqP3wT5lpa4

[TennisLovaLova]

John Lennon was murderer by the illuminati

[Disgruntled Worker]

And your brain was murdered by too much television.

[Sander001]

The tragedy is that Lennon did not become a martyr for mental health care needs. 32yrs on and things are far worse.

[ollinger]

^^ Not worse at all, actually. Laws now require parity for mental health care and general medical care, de-institutionalization has certainly not cured schizophrenia but means that large state hospitals that warehoused up to 7000 patients each half a century ago now sometimes house 300, the rest being in far more humane community residences. There's always been a tiny percentage of that population that commits violence (psychotics are actually statistically less likely to commit violence than the rest of us), you just hear about it constantly now when it happens because news programming occupied half an hour of the day before the 1980s, now it's 24 hours.

[TennisLovaLova]

Originally Posted by Disgruntled Worker

And your brain was murdered by too much television.

Stop the illuminati propaganda please

[Bhagi Katbamna]

Lennon was a guy who wrote songs about not being materialistic at the same time that he had 3 apartments in NY just for storing his stuff while living in a 4th apartment.
Unfortunate that he got shot though.

[ollinger]

^^ materialism is defined as the tendency to value physical posessions over spiritual values. One can own lots of things yet at the same time not overvalue them, and one can have good spiritual values that supercede the importance of posessions.