John Lennon was murdered outside the Dakota 30 years ago today. Although I had been a fan of the Beatles' music -- namely "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" -- I don't really remember the exact moment I heard about his assassination other than being home and seeing it on TV. Perhaps I was just young enough not to appreciate the enormity of it all (I can remember the attempt on President Reagan's life just three months later like it was yesterday -- and I didn't even like him -- but he was THE president). It wasn't until many years later when I first heard Susanna Hoffs -- nearly a decade my senior and an obvious Beatles freak -- sing about the tragedy did I finally cry about it. Something about the dread in her lyrics and her plaintive vocals on "Weak With Love" -- from her 1996 self-titled sophomore LP -- took me back to that day in December 1980, and seemed to allow me to feel exactly what every Lennon fan felt at the time. (Listen to/download the song HERE.)The Times asked people where they were when they got the news. Do you remember where you were?
10 comments:
I know exactly where I was, and what I was doing. Quite coincidentally, I suspect, Kenneth, you posted right before (or right underneath) a photo with a major clue.
I was home from college watching Monday Night Football with my dad when Howard Cosell, welled up with tears, made the national announcement of the tragedy. There wasn't CNN to switch over to, and MNF/Cosell continued making updates.
I heard it in the morning when I woke up to the radio news.
As for Reagan I don't remember.
It's weird that Reagan's would be assassin's family was friends with the bushies.
I was watching "Lou Grant" on the little black-and-white TV in my dorm room in Tucson.
Watching Monday Night Football with my friends when Howard Cosell made the announcement. It was a completely unexpected shock. Still is, actually.
I was on the road in Roanoke, VA with Imogene Coca and Mamie Van Doren. Google them!!! Ha!
I was 5, and in kindergarten. I was probably napping or coloring.
I remember listening to the radio (KIIS FM in Los Angeles). They played one his new songs (I believe it was either "Woman" or "Starting Over"). Afterwards, there was a brief pause and they told the listeners that he was dead. A HORRIBLE memory for me.
A rainy day in Santa Barbara, studying in my dorm room, listening to KNX-FM out of LA. The DJ was crying.
ou know I am a Bangles/Hofffs fan ;-) Yeah today I thought about that song. I was only 7 at the time but very aware of music (and the Beatles as my parents love them). I guess my mom and dad tried to not make a fuss about it, specially since we lost my grandfather only months before, and I figure they downplayed it. The result is that I cannot remember finding out until several months later.
I was three weeks old.
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