The phone call

I woke up one morning to the phone on the wall. I stumbled to answer trying not to get wrapped in the long curly cord.

“Hello?” I muttered wondering who would be calling me at this time or morning.

“John Lennon has been shot. John Lennon is dead” came the anxious reply.

It was a cool December morning and before the Internet, all I could do was turn on the morning news shows to confirm that a former Beatle had been assassinated.

So what do you do? How do you feel?

Personally I’d never known John Lennon except through the television and vinyl recordings. He was never my favorite Beatle. After the band broke up (and I blamed part of that on John bringing in Yoko) I never followed his solo music. Even his ‘lost weekend’ with Harry Nilsson didn’t catch my attention other than I thought here was another rocker who has lost his way. When I read he had gotten back with Yoko and was making some new music, I still wasn’t ready to listen.

But now a Beatle was dead.

The band will never get back together again because there cannot be a Lennon /McCartney without a Lennon.

By this time, many of our teenage idols had gone and the ones remaining were either living off forgotten fame or awash in cultural wishes. A few strong ones adapted to the changes and progressed and became wealthy while they continue to tour and feed the masses what they whimsy remember.

A few that have been remembered, like John Lennon, have formed a brand that continues recycling images and digging into the vaults for songs that might keep the vision alive.

Imagine that.