All We Are Saying ...

He was the Walrus. He taught the world that all we need is love. He was a self-admitted dreamer, until one fateful night 25 years ago. On December 8th, 1980, Mark David Chapman, a former Beatles fanatic robbed the world not just of a beloved rock star, or a worldwide symbol of peace and love, but a true artist who changed the way the world viewed music. No one can take away John Lennon's contributions to the rock canon or his work on promoting peace through non-violent methods. But perhaps his biggest contribution was changing music itself. Lennon was instrumental in merging music with a message. He knew what he wanted to say and poured his soul into hit record after hit record.

Twenty-five years is a long time. We sometimes sit and wonder what Lennon would have gone on to do. The past two decades have seen plenty of fodder for classic Lennon songs - just imagine how much fun he would have with the current Bush presidency. Since we know a lot of you guys aren't going into work tomorrow because of Blizzard 2005, we highly suggest pulling out your vinyl copy of "Imagine" and listening to it. Listen to the heartfelt plea of the title track. Listen to the scathing attack on Paul McCartney on "How Do You Sleep?" Listen to the true, once-in-a-lifetime love on "Oh, Yoko."

Thanks, John.

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By Rod Barrera in News on December 8, 2005 8:00 AM 0 Comments

Comments [rss]

Declan McManus

I want to die sitting on the toilet, so it seemed like a good career move.

Match Striker

With such a cool name why would you change it to Elvis? I pose the same question to Armin Tamzarian.

Declan McManus

declan.mcmanus@hotmail.com

my people will do your people.

odam

since your comments are always quasi-anonymous, we have no idea who you are or how to get in touch with you. the same can't be said for you.

Declan McManus

I should be granted a column on this here website.

odam

austinist heart declan

Declan McManus

Every hipster in this town should just pop on Plastic Ono Band and realize how irrelevant their favorite band likely is.

sean

Right now I'm sitting in my car, waiting for the defroster to melt the ice on my windows, reading news sites on my laptop since my wifi reaches all the way to the curb.

I'm listening to 90.5FM. Give Peace a Chance is playing. I go to Austinist and what do you know, I read the title of this post just as I'm hearing those exact words on the radio.

I suppose it's not all that improbable.

Rod

I undertand your point about MDC, but I don't think he killed Lennon to get famous. He truly believed that Lennon had become a phony. He thought that Lennon had become all that he had opposed during the '60s. Lennon was living he posh life in the Dakota and had basically become a sham. MDC was obsessed with Holden Caufield from "Catcher in the Rye" and thought it was his mission to remove the phony. And besides, the little people in his head formed a committee and ruled that Lennon must be killed. Weird, but true. There's an interesting book called "Let Me Take You Down" about the inner-workings of MDC. It's a demented yet great read.

Cait

It seems like so long ago in some ways, and yet like yesterday that I first put Double Fantasy on the turntable (remember those?)

I DO wish that people would stop mentioning the name of John's murderer. People who kill for fame (whether or not they are themselves deranged) should be themselves forgotten.