A brilliant musician. One of music’s most genius songwriters ever. An activist for peace. A husband and a father.
Tomorrow, Oct. 9th, John Lennon would have been 70 years old. Unfortunately, Lennon’s family, and the world, were robbed of getting to see him grow old. The way he died, 30 years ago this December, was a shock to the world – murdered outside his home in NYC by a deranged fan.
During the second half of the 1970’s, Lennon took a break from recording, spending most of his time raising his son Sean, and taking his yacht on voyages to the south Atlantic. In 1980, Lennon returned with a new album, Double Fantasy, that he wrote and recorded with Yoko Ono (see IRC’s interview with Yoko earlier this year).
In the weeks following his tragic death, Lennon’s Double Fantasy went on to become a number one album with songs like “(Just Like) Starting Over”, “Woman” and “Beautiful Boy”. In the days before Double Fantasy was officially released, Lennon was enjoying the early buzz and positive reviews from deejays, fans and critics. But also during this time, his assassin, Mark David Chapman, was in New York, stalking Lennon, and waiting outside the Dakota where John, Yoko and Sean lived, with a plan to carry out a violent murder that shocked the world. On December 8, 1980, as Lennon returned to the Dakota following a radio interview about the release of his new album, Chapman emerged from the dark, cold night, walked up from behind, and shot John Lennon five times.
But his shortened life was not wasted; he left us with volumes of wonderful music, a significant contribution to the cause of world peace, and even drawings, paintings, books and film. Putting aside for a moment the inarguable contributions of the other Beatles, especially, of course, the second half of the celebrated Lennon-McCartney songwriting duo, Paul McCartney, no other single musician (with the exception of Bob Dylan) in the annuals of modern popular music wrote and recorded as many memorable, successful and iconic songs as Lennon – songs that are recognized and enjoyed by millions of people worldwide to this day.
In addition to the dozens and dozens of songs Lennon wrote with McCartney during The Beatles’ reign of the pop music world for a solid seven years, Lennon is revered for timeless songs like “Give Peace A Chance”, “Imagine” and “Happy Xmas (War is Over)”.
While his life ended way too soon, John Lennon still lives on in the hearts of millions, if not billions, of people from every corner of the earth. His music is as relevant and timeless today as it was decades ago.
One can only imagine what the world would be today, and what music Lennon would have produced over the past three decades, had he been alive to celebrate his 70th birthday. Thank you for all the magnificent music that will live on forever.
“Revolution” – The Beatles
“And Your Bird Can Sing” – The Beatles
“Girl” – The Beatles
“Imagine” – John Lennon
“Ballad of John and Yoko” – The Beatles
“Strawberry Fields Forever” – The Beatles
“Woman” – John Lennon
“Happy XMas (War is Over)” – John Lennon & Yoko Ono
On November 12th, the 30th Annual John Lennon Tribute will take place at New York’s Beacon Theater, and feature performances from artists like Jackson Browne, Patti Smith and Cyndi Lauper. Proceeds from the tribute show will benefit the Playing for Change Foundation, an organization whose mission is to promote peace around the world.
Limited Time Discount at Amazon for Lennon’s Signature Box collection
If you are a serious John Lennon fan, we propose that you may wish to grab your box set of John Lennon’s remastered solo albums. The sound quality is freaking amazing. And, for full disclosure, if you buy Signature Box via this website, we get a little bit of coin from it to help us pay for web hosting fees.
“Scribble” – Underworld from Barking
