This week, 30 years ago, John Lennon was shot dead in New York. In Singles Club, Alexis and Rosie are joined by John Harris to cast their ears over some of Lennon's music; Nobody Told Me from John Lennon and Yoko Ono's Milk and Honey, God from John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band and I'm a Loser from Beatles for Sale.
Thousands of people gather outside the historic Dakota building after learning John Lennon had been shot and killed there.
So on Dec. 8, 1980, hours after Lennon gave Chapman an autograph, he shot Lennon several times with a .38 pistol.
When John Lennon was shot to death outside his Manhattan apartment building on Dec. 8, 1980, hundreds of thousands of people gathered to grieve outside his home. Some winters draw only a small crowd, but this year, the 30th anniversary of Lennon's death, thousands of people went to pay their respects throughout the day. To some, the continued enormity of Lennon's death seems to outweigh his contributions in life. Lennon didn't guide the nation like John F. Kennedy or change the world in the manner of Martin Luther King Jr. And yet, 30 years after his death, his fans return.
(Read "Lennon Lives.")
In the center of Strawberry Fields, musicians lead the crowd in a continuous Lennon sing-along, alternating between the melancholy ("Working Class Hero") and the uplifting ("I Feel Fine"). If you ask a Lennon fan in Strawberry Fields what drew him or her to the late singer, you'll likely hear the same three words a lot. "He promoted hope and peace," says one fan. "I fought men and I hit women ... I am a violent man who has learned not to be violent and regrets his violence." (See pictures of the Beatles' final year together.)Initial reviews seemed unsure of what to make of the newly subdued rock star (though this would change after Lennon's death, when the album received near universal praise). Ono can't say what exactly has changed, but 30 years after Lennon's death she feels that people have grown more accepting of his utopian ideals — and her role in his life. Fans singing along quickly discover that the famous protest song has many more lyrics to it than anyone ever remembered. Above the crowd, on the seventh floor of the Dakota, two burning candles sit on the windowsills of Lennon and Ono's White Room — the one in which they filmed the "Imagine" video. We may not remember the verses to "Give Peace a Chance," but we will always remember the chorus.
