Friday, October 8, 2010

Happy birthday, John Lennon

So John Lennon would've been 70 years old today. It definitely makes me take pause. As one of the four Beatles, he was my second favorite, next to Paul McCartney. I remember listening to Beatles albums with my best friend Alison Prendergast when we were in elementary school, lipsincing to the words, pretending that they were our boyfriends. Alison somehow always managed to nab Paul, and I got stuck with John. When perhaps that should've been just fine.

Google is celebrating Lennon's birthday today with an incredibly clever logo. Click on it and you'll see this:



I remember where I was the day Lennon got shot. I was studying for a journalism final at Roanoke College when we got the news — the old-fashioned way: on TV. No Internets or Facebook or Twitter then. I felt as though someone I'd known had died.

And I had known him. Through his music, which will last forever. Just imagine...

1 comment:

David Terrenoire said...

I was 30, near 31 and a month and a half away from being a father.Jenny was asleep when I went to bed, but woke up and asked what was wrong. I said, "Somebody shot John Lennon" and felt like somebody had put a bullet in my youth along with it.

I worked in the record industry at the time. Everyone had a stereo in their office, of course, but the only music I remember anyone playing for days after the murder was either Double Fantasy or the Beatles.

I can't believe that almost 30 years later, the news still devastates me.