John Lennon: When You Heard the News That Day (oh boy)

[Zomby Woof]

It seems like a hundred years ago some days, and other times just like yesterday.

I was in the 8th grade, 13 years old. I was just beginning that very year to truly appreciate the Beatles and their deeply influential body of work. Lennon was the most fascinating one of them, and his songs by and large captivated my adolescent angst and gave my expanding mind a soundtrack.

I was watching Monday Night Football when the news broke. I'll never forget how stunned I was. WHO THE FUCK WOULD SHOOT JOHN LENNON?? WHY??? :cry: I still don't understand, and I have resigned myself that I never will.

We talked about it at school the next day. Most of us watched the football game, and that was in the era when we all got our news from three networks and the morning paper.

Rest in Peace, John Lennon. The world has missed you in these troubled times, 26 years out.

Where were you when you heard the terrible news? Like Kennedy, MLK, RFK, the Challenger, or September 11, it's one of those moments frozen in time...


"A voice from the past cried give peace a chance, he paid our price, now he's free at last. Imagine, they called him a dreamer..." - David Hlubek, Fall of the Peacemakers, dedicated to John Lennon and Martin Luther King, 1983.

[MorningGlow]

1. Oh gods I remember

I was in 10th grade and a HUGE Beatlemaniac. I hung with a group of friends who were all Beatle nuts. So it hit me especially hard.

I remember waking up to the clock radio and hearing "In My Life". I was pretty groggy and thrilled that they were playing a Beatles song. Then they played another, and another. I woke up more, trying to figure out what was going on. There was a lot of anticipation about John's new album, so I thought maybe they were doing a big thing about John to promote it.

Then the DJ came on the air and said "John Lennon shot to death last night" etc. etc.

I was in total shock. I screamed for my mother, and she came in and was all business--"Okay, just get ready for school. Go." She knew that was the only way to keep me from completely losing it. She was right--it got me up, dressed, and on the bus, but the rest of the day was a complete blur. I just remember crying and hugging my friends. Most teachers didn't bother to try to get us to learn anything that day.

Still stings, but I'm trying to follow Yoko's idea of making this a day of peace. It's the best way to honor John's memory.

[Rabrrrrrr]

2. I was listening to the radio that night, and when the news was announced,

I thought, "Wow - almost on my birthday". And I was sad.

I wasn't into the Beatles then, though, so it wasn't a crushing blow, not in the way that Zappa's death was for me. I knew and respected John Lennon, though, so it had some meaning, but I didn't grasp the full import of it.

[MadHound]

3. Working at a college radio station

Monday evenings were our featured album show, we would play a new album in its entirety. What was the album that night? Yeah, you guessed it, Lennon's "Double Fantasy" I was about halfway through side one when the news tickers all started ringing, spitting out copy that Lennon was dead, had been shot. By the time I ripped the copy, composed myself(Lennon was/is an important figure to me) and got back to the booth, there were only a few minutes left until the end of side one. I let it play through and then went on air with the tragic news. Then, the best tribute I could think of was to continue with side two of Double Fantasy, and then followed up the rest of my shift with all Lennon/Beatles.(I loved AOR formatting, you are free to play so much).

The phones were lit up all night long, people calling in, crying, in disbelieve, just wanting to emote. A sad, tragic night, probably the worst I spent while in the radio biz.

[Jokerman]

4. I was in class the next morning.

I wasn't feeling well the night before so I turned in early. The next morning I was in my first class of the day when the prof casually mentioned the tragic death of John Lennon the night before.

I was stunned. After sitting there for a couple of minutes I just got up and left.

That night I attended the candlelight vigil that was held on campus and I ran into the prof that I had walked out on. I apologized to him for my behavior that morning.

He was very cool about it and said that he would have done the same thing.

[RetroLounge]

5. I was in Florida visiting my Grandparents

I was 19 yrs old. I slept in and when I got up for breakfast my Grandmother asked me if I knew who John Lennon was. Then she put the newspaper on the table in front of me. I was stunned. I spent the day listening to the beatles. The entire day. I couldn't believe he was dead. I had been a beatles fan since forever.

I can say with certainty that if Liam or Noel were shot, no one would play Oasis on the radio all day long, nor listen to it.

Score one for the Beatles, albeit a sad one...

:cry:

RL

[NashVegas]

6. My Obnoxious Sister Woke Me Up in the Middle of the Night

And stood there waiting for my reaction.

I kicked her out of the room and went back to sleep.

[wildhorses]

7. it still hits me too hard for words

[buddhamama]

8. i was a young girl

8 yrs old when it happened. I heard it on the news.

i don't remember so much my reaction as the reaction of my Mom-
she was devastated by Lennon's death.

i had an appreciation for the Beatles as young as i was,
and Lennon's solo stuff
i would scream "Well We All Shine On" as the record played (Instant Karma was a fave of mine as a kid)


when I think of that time and what he was saying with his music, i think of my Mom.
Rarely would she talk about her time in the Service (Navy) and her views on the war/state of the world
i think she, as so many of us do, allowed the artists of the day to speak for her...

thank you John,
Shine On and On and On.

[deutsey]

9. I was in 11th grade and woke up before dawn

which was odd for me at that time...my mom practically had to drag me out of bed 10 minutes before the bus came.

I reached over and turned on my radio and turned the dial in search of something to listen to. I stopped when I heard "A Day in the Life" (one of my favorite songs).

I lay there and listened to John's sad, dreamy voice singing in the darkness, was glad the DJ didn't talk over the final crashing chord, and, as it reverberated into silence...the DJ said somberly: "John Lennon, dead at age 40."

The rest of that day at school was a grief-stricken daze for me.

RIP, John.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

10. happiness is a warm gun. i always think of that when lennons death is mentioned.

[Omphaloskepsis]

11. I was three years old...

Four years later my dad bought me my first Macintosh.

[BarenakedLady]

12. I remember

But only vaguely. I have a horrible memory. Most of my childhood is gone. :(

[nini]

13. I had a 3AM job start at the Post Office

When I got in a coworker told. I was stunned - I know I must have asked 20 times if he was kidding. He wasn't :cry:


I remember watching a vigil for him in Central Park on TV where the played "Imagine" - it was one of the most moving things I have ever experienced.

I still ask WHY this happened - it absolutely doesn't make a bit of sense.

[kedrys]

14. I was in my college dorm room

One of my buds called me and said "John Lennon was just shot outside the Dakota Hotel. He is no more."

I dropped the phone.

Sat down on the floor.

Not sure what happened after that.

:cry:

[Samurai_Writer]

15. It was the day before my 20th birthday...

And I had just found out I was pregnant the day John Lennon died. My husband and I had tickets to go see "Beatlemania" the next night. I was at home when I heard the news on the radio. I couldn't believe it. We went to see Beatlemania the next night, and the grief and sadness in the crowd was palpable. It was a wonderful way to honor John Lennon, to be in a theater full of people, all sharing in our goodbye to a wonderful man and musician.

My son was born the following July. He's 25 now, and has grown into being a wonderful, caring man.

[SteppingRazor]

16. It's my first memory.

Other than recalling that the house we lived in until I was three years old had blue shag carpet (I spent a lot of time staring at the carpet in those years, what with all the crawling around.)

I remember every TV station playing the same thing -- everyone placing flowers at the site -- and thinking how dumb that was that they were all showing the same thing. I also remember everyone was so sad, even my parents, who had me very late in life, and were fans of the previous generation's music (Sinatra, etc.)

[rug]

17. Drinking Power's whiskey at a bar in South Brooklyn.

[L A Woman]

18. i was in the 8th grade, too...

and heard it on my clock radio bright and early in the morning. I went to school and my home ec teacher was crying...

As I recall, I had already been listening to the "Double Fantasy" album my mom had purchased and that one song...the name escapes me...always reminds me of that day. :-(

[Roon]

19. I was delivering papers and noticed the headline

when I was folding. I never heard of the man.

[zingaro]

20. I was 12. I cried because

my sisters were crying.

[mohinoaklawnillinois]

21. I heard the news the next morning when I got up to go to work.

I never watched television in the morning back then. I always had the radio on in the kitchen. I was stunned, I remember thinking, "why would anyone want to shoot John Lennon"?

I still don't get it, even today it's totally senseless.

[bumblebee1]

22. I was eating breakfast in boot camp

I could remember the radio playing Beatle song after Beatle song. I made the comment about this. Then I was told about John Lennon.

[montanto]

23. I was in the 12th grade

my dad told me when I got home from school.

[av8rdave]

24. I was in flight school, studying when my roommate came in and told me

[Pendrench]

25. Sophomore in high school...I remember going to bed and listening to the radio

to hear updates on his condition. When the word finally came that he died, I got out of bed and went into our living room to watch the news on TV. I was up for awhile when my dad came into the room...I remember just looking at him and saying "He died."

Even though my dad knew I was a huge Beatles' fan, I thought that he might tell me to get back into bed (because I had to go to school the next day)...but all he said was "Just don't be up too late".

My dad's the best.

Tim

[mdmc]

26. I was getting ready to do my homework

If memory serves, I was playing Activision Hockey on my Atari. When I turned the game off to watch TV and do some homework, the news of Lennon's death was on the TV.

Rest in Peace John :patriot:

[SeattleGirl]

27. In the middle of a big fight with my ex

The TV was on, and when the news broke, we both stopped in mid-yell, and spent the next few hours, sitting on the couch together, staring in disbelief at the television.

[catzies]

28. It was the same day my beloved only grandfather died

I was just 18 years old and single at my mom's house with an almost 6 month old baby girl living in California but we had been lucky enough to see him in Key Largo at Thanksgiving just a few weeks before.

So I was already dealing with that when the news came on MNF and I remember all of us just being a total wreck.

And of course I adored and worshipped the Beatles since birth (and to this day) and was totally devasted upon receiving the news of that horrific second death that day.

And yet, somehow, George's death although not unexpected crushed me so much more. :shrug:

on edit: HOW THE FUCK COULD I FORGET THIS. I remember being scared to death that that's what happens when you elect Nixon's head of the CIA* to be Vice President. At 18 I was terrified of Reagan & Bush.

*I erroneously though Bush was head of the CIA under Nixon.