RIP: John Lennon

[Che Guava]

25 years ago today, a great voice in music was silenced...

Fans pay tribute to John Lennon

Hundreds of white balloons have been released in John Lennon's home city of Liverpool as music fans around the world mark 25 years since his death.

The former Beatle was shot outside a Manhattan apartment on 8 December 1980 by Mark Chapman, who is serving 20 years to life in a New York prison.

In a newly released interview, Chapman describes his "compulsion" to kill Lennon as "like a runaway train".

Other tributes included a concert in London with music stars such as Lulu.

Lennon had just turned 40 years old when he was shot and killed in New York.

Paul Weller and Jamie Cullum were among musicians paying tribute at the concert at London's Abbey Road studios on Thursday.

BBC Radio is celebrating the work of the former Beatle with its Lennon Night between 1900 and 2030 GMT.

Badly Drawn Boy, Sugababes and Katie Melua were among other artists taking part in the concert, featuring re-interpretations of Lennon songs.

The transmission was being broadcast simultaneously on Radio 2 and across the US on Sirius Satellite Radio, in Manhattan, New York.

More than 1,000 messages to Lennon were tied to the balloons released from Liverpool's Albert Dock at 1200 GMT.

James Andrews, nine, from Bournemouth, was one of the youngest fans to take part in the balloon release.

He said: "I just wrote Merry Christmas John on my balloon. I love The Beatles and especially John Lennon."

A Japanese couple paid tribute to the ex-Beatle in Saitama, north of Tokyo
A Japanese couple paid tribute in Saitama, north of Tokyo

Another message read: "Looking around at all that's happening in the world today we need his voice now more than ever! He was the only hero I ever had, from Jim Cushman, USA."

Several other events marked Lennon's death in Liverpool, the city of his birth.

Images of the singer were projected on to the George's Dock building.

A civic service to celebrate his life is took place at Our Lady and St Nicholas Parish Church, opposite Pier Head.

Fans also held a commemorative event at Strawberry Fields, in Central Park, near the Dakota building where Lennon lived.

A one-minute silence was held at Virgin Megastores in central London at 1100GMT.

It was the first time in the store's history that trading ceased to salute a music artist.

A major exhibition on the musician and his work is currently being held in Paris.


In addition to being marked by events and radio broadcasts, a number of television programmes will examine aspects of the singer's life and the circumstances surrounding his death.

A documentary about Mark Chapman, the man who killed the singer-songwriter, has already prompted anger from Lennon's family.

The Channel 4 documentary I Killed John Lennon, which will feature recordings of Chapman taped by his biographer in 1990, has been criticised by the singer's cousin, Stanley Parkes.

Mr Parkes said the broadcast glorified a murderer, although Channel 4 has denied the claims, adding that the neither the killer or his family had received payment.

Meanwhile, Tom Brook - the first British reporter on the scene following the fatal shooting - will look at the impact of Lennon's life and death in his documentary, One Night in December.

It will be broadcast on BBC News 24 at 2130 GMT.

 

[vbraun]

You know, people say I look like John Lennon.

 

[De Lorimier]

A working class hero is something to be.

 

[nonconformist]

Yeah, John Lennon was great guy.

But isn't this a bit excessive? Projecting him images on buildings?

 

[Che Guava]

Meh, for one day a year, I don't think that's too excessive...

 

[Oruc]

The guy seemed really arrogant and full of himself from what i read

 

[De Lorimier]

The guy seemed really arrogant and full of himself from what i read

I would be for less. In fact, I am for less!

 

[Oruc]

I would be for less. In fact, I am for less!

The guy wrote music for a living.

 

[Sparta]

The guy seemed really arrogant and full of himself from what i read

Agreed, completely. Some of the stuff I have seen of him recently certainly doesn't paint him in too friendly a light at all. I don't know where the idolatry comes from considering how much he despised most of his fans. I wish I wasn't at work right now so I could dig up some choice quotes. Then again, I wish I wasn't at work right now for a lot of reasons ...

 

[nonconformist]

Meh, for one day a year, I don't think that's too excessive...

Ah, but then again, as I say, there are no more heroes.

 

[Richard Cribb]

A working class hero is something to be.

You beat me to it.

 

[Sparta]

You beat me to it.

Upon seeing luceafarul was the last poster, I'd somehow correctly guessed the position of the resident anarchist with regard to the author of "Imagine" ...

I'm with noncon, though. There are no [more] heroes.

 

[nonconformist]

Now if someone projected David-Lloyd George on a building......

 

[RoboPig]

The guy who shot him shares a name with my best friend

 

[MobBoss]

Loved John Lennon....hate Yoko Ono. Yoko was the worst thing that ever happened to him.....

 

[RoboPig]

i (for once) agree with mobBoss, yoko should be tried for crimes against humanity for spillting up the beatles

 

[Pontiuth Pilate]

I know I'm going to be dragged over the coals for this, but... Harrison was a better musician.

 

[Irish Caesar]

I'll take a beating, too, when I say... I never really liked the Beatles that much. Their early music was nothing spectacular, and their later stuff was a lot of drug-induced nonsense. I agree very much that John's death was a horrible tragedy, but I never understood what made him such a "visionary."

 

[Birdjaguar]

I don't know where the idolatry comes from considering how much he despised most of his fans. I wish I wasn't at work right now so I could dig up some choice quotes.

IIRC on Dec 8, 1980 he stopped to greet a fan and sign an autograph on the way into his apartment building...

i (for once) agree with mobBoss, yoko should be tried for crimes against humanity for spillting up the beatles

John had already left the Beatles emotionally and intellectually by the time he met Yoko; she was the excuse he needed to step out. He and Paul had already gone their separate ways musically. Don't blame Yoko for being what John needed.

 

[Birdjaguar]

I'll take a beating, too, when I say... I never really liked the Beatles that much. Their early music was nothing spectacular, and their later stuff was a lot of drug-induced nonsense. I agree very much that John's death was a horrible tragedy, but I never understood what made him such a "visionary."

Liking their music is a personal thing, but don't forget that they were innovators that drove what bands have done ever since. Those not around in 1964 cannot understand how they completey redirected popular music and opened the gates of innovation for all those who followed. Without the popularity of the Beatles, there wouldn't have been the Stones, Kinks, Who, Cream, Traffic, etc.

The early Beatles albums, that you call nothing special, were absolutely stunning and fresh in 1964-65. No one had ever written and sung such songs before. You lack the perspective to grasp the power of what the put on vinyl. Rubber Soul and Revolver then turned music into entirely unexpected directions again. Their early music sounds ordinary today because it is the foundation for everything done today.