John Lennon was murdered 45 years ago today

[Chasstev365]

Last edited Mon Dec 8, 2025, 09:21 AM - Edit history (1)

Ironically, I never watched Monday Night Football, but did that night. However, I went to bed a half an hour before the announcement was made.

When I woke up, I put on GMA and David Hartman recaped what had happened and as they went to commercial break they played, "I read the news today oh boy; about a lucky man who made the grade. And though the news was rather sad."

Boom: It hit me like a ton of bricks.😞

With Lennon's murder and the Reagan administration coming in, this was the day that the spirit of the 1960's truly died.

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[TBA]

1. After I heard an interview with his son Julian...

I stopped liking John Lennon.
Nobody deserves to be murdered for sure but I think his "peace and love" was BS.
He completely abandoned Julian. He literally walked out of his life and Julian still bears the scars.

Sad because his music is phenomenal but I can't even listen to it anymore without thinking about Julian.

[Chasstev365]

3. I can truly understand that.

John Lennon could be a cruel, rotten human being, but he had a truly fucked up childhood. Paul McCartney was more of a father to Julian than Lennon.

I wasn't cannonizing Lennon, rather, marking a turning point in history and a senseless murder.

[TBA]

21. Certainly true.

[Blues Heron]

16. The peace and love stuff came mostly from Yoko whose home country had gone warlike and got nuked for it

She basically gave him the idea to use his immense megaphone for good- war is over if you want it etc.

[raccoon]

35. A lot of famous people have been shitty parents. Or shitty spouses.

[H2O Man]

37. So unlike John's father.

Last edited Mon Dec 8, 2025, 01:50 PM - Edit history (1)

I mean, John had such a good role model on how to be a good father.

[at140]

2. Lost my wife on this day 2 years ago

After 36 fantastic years.
Stage-4 cancer.

[Chasstev365]

4. I'm so sorry

[Celerity]

5. So sorry to hear.

[mountain grammy]

27. I'm sorry..

[yardwork]

36. I'm so sorry for your loss.

[electric_blue68]

40. So sorry. Terrible scourge of an illness!

[DFW]

46. That must have been a cruel blow

I’m sorry to hear it. My wife has battled cancer twice, so I know what you must have gone through.

[johnnyfins]

6. I was 12 years old.

I was a MASSIVE Beatles fan. I woke up on the morning of the 9th and Strawberry Fields was on the radio, and then I heard the horrible news. I begged my mom to let me stay home from school. I don't remember crying, but I do remember that it was hard to process. Still is, a little.

My older sisters saw Bruce Springsteen in Philly the next night. He came out and said how hard it was to play, but immediately tore into Twist and Shout. They said it was the loudest crowd they had ever heard in the old Spectrum.

[Chasstev365]

9. Thanks for sharing; I was 15.

[Botany]

7. It still hurts.

I remember that awful night with the snow falling, then the car radio started playing imagine, and then
the announcement of John’s death. It still hurts.

[lastlib]

8. I was studying for my tax law final exam....

...had the radio on to a rock music station (of course), and the DJ announced it. Shocked me to my core! I started singing "Imagine" in my head, and could barely study after that. Went to bed and couldn't sleep. His murder totally changed my mind about gun control.

[Walleye]

10. I was walking across Midtown Manhattan, and stopped to watch the lighting of the Christmas tree

At Rockefeller Center. When I got to work, I heard about John Lennon being murdered and it wasn’t that far from where I had been. I was really pissed and sad, in New York City of all places. I can’t watch the lighting of the Christmas trees anymore without thinking of that

[electric_blue68]

42. Oh, that's such a Sad Association!

[Half-step]

11. I delivered the Detroit News as a teen...

and somehow I didn't hear the news that evening. However, when I went to load up my bike on the 8th, I was stunned to see his face on the front page everywhere. It was a very rough day for me.

[dflprincess]

22. I went to bed right before the news broke

In the morning when I opened my apartment door itcwas the headline on the Minneapolis Tribune that broke it to me. Not sure how long I stood looking down at the paper trying to process what I was reading.

[underpants]

28. That's how I found out. Went out to get the paper the next morning

The Daily Press in the Virginia peninsula.
Pulled it out of the box under the mailbox, flipped it over to read the headlines as went back in the house, absolutely froze in place. What?!??!

[electric_blue68]

41. Woah!

[PJMcK]

12. I was interning for Leonard Bernstein

He also lived in the Dakota and a couple of days after the murder, the Maestro held a wake at his apartment. It was a Who's-Who of New Yorkers and others: politicians, actors, musicians and even Yoko showed up late in the evening.

I shared drinks with Lauren Bacall who was rehearsing for a Broadway musical called, "Woman of the Year." Little did I know that several months later, I would begin to work with the show's songwriters, Kander & Ebb, which has developed into a successful decades-long professional and friendly relationship!

Since I wasn't a John Lennon fan, his murder affected me more on a societal level, that is, no one was safe in NYC at that time. Thankfully, that has changed dramatically.

[electric_blue68]

43. Interesting! Loved Leonard Bernstein! Went to his ❤️ Young People's Concerts.

[DFW]

47. Then you must have met John Mauceri, right?

He has more “Lenny” stories than snow has flakes.

[PJMcK]

49. John was a friendly colleague for a bit

There was a period in the ‘90s when I helped him with some programming. He’s a very smart, talented man who told great stories. Very successful. My business changed and our paths haven’t crossed for years.

[DFW]

50. John is a friend, and I see him every January

Sometimes in South Carolina, sometimes in New York, sometimes both. But usually at least once a year for the last twenty years or so.

[Siwsan]

13. I can sharply remember the instant I learned of his death

I was an 'A' school instructor at the 32nd Street Naval Station in San Diego. My friend called me with the news and I said to her that she must have misunderstood the name. Was she sure it wasn't Jack Lemon? She was sure. I melted into a puddle of grief. That moment still haunts me.

[malaise]

14. I will neverforget that day

Rec

[GreatGazoo]

15. Strawberry Fields became the place to gather whenever legends fell

like Jerry Garcia in 1995. Amid the crowd a guy laid out a large case full of taped shows and insisted that others take one.

I went when George Harrison's death was announced in November of 2001. Life magazine was interviewing people and I had time to think before they got to me. None of us there really knew Harrison, just as we had not known Lennon. Their legend eclipsed their personhood. I said something like 'George was a piece of our childhood. The Beatles filled our young hearts with wild optimism that things would get better because we were all going to love each other until they did. I mourn not only the death of George Harrison but the death of a beautiful dream.'

I felt the same way, even more so, about the murder of Lennon which came just weeks before the inauguration of Reagan. He was a complex person, flawed and talented. Smart and sardonic. He became an icon because of all that we projected onto him. Our silly dreams about love and ending war forever. We were young, stoned and a bit naive but normal boring cynical people don't change the world, only those who imagine.

[electric_blue68]

44. Yeah,I went to Strawberry Field's after Harrison died.

[walkingman]

17. For sure the beginning of the shit show called Reagan. The so-called "War on Drugs"

propagated by a very corrupt administration. Not only the end of the short-lived "Age of Enlightenment" but the beginnings of the anti-union and push for religion in politics.

[Beatlelvr]

18. 45 years!

My god how time has flown.
I was 29 and heard it on the radio coming home from a party. My roommate came home, found me sobbing and said, "I guess you've heard."
For all his faults and lack of good parenting roll models, he was a big part of my adolesence. He helped me, a very shy, bored teenager, navigate through it. Gave me something to look forward to (a new album!) and be excited about. Music has always been my "go to", and I consider myself so lucky to be a teen during the Beatle era.

[Auggie]

19. I was watching this game. I'll never forget the moment.

[Clouds Passing]

20. John

[Gimpyknee]

23. Mark David Chapman, Lennon's killer, was again denied bail earlier this year.

Good.

[MustLoveBeagles]

29. He's safer where he's at

It may be 45 years on but people haven't forgotten.

[DinahMoeHum]

24. Queen - Life Is Real (song for Lennon)

[milestogo]

25. ER Doctor who tried to save John Lennon:

Last edited Mon Dec 8, 2025, 10:32 AM - Edit history (1)

Edit: The news reports said he was dead on arrival, two bullet wounds. This doctor says there were 4 bullet wounds, but none to the heart. He did have massive blood loss however. When Lennon was brought in he did not have a pulse, and although the doctors worked on him for 45 minutes, he never regained a pulse. That kind of injury is just not survivable.

[IthinkThereforeIAM]

26. I remember exactly where I was...

... and what I was doing when it was announced. I was in Denver seeing Denver Ear Institute about a cochlear implant, staying at my aunt's place, when mom and aunt Char(RIP) told me.

On edit: I had lost my hearing due to spinal meningitis complications 4 years earlier, while my family vacationed in Denver. And it was St Joseph's Hospital downtown Denver, where a neurosurgeon had just came out of surgery, that saved my life! 104 fever and stiff as a board... 20 minutes longer and I would have been toast!

[Martin68]

30. I will always mourn the death of this inspirational artist. John struggled with the demons of a difficult childhood, and

overcame the issues that plagued him to become a good father and husband as he matured. I mourn the music we never heard.

[MustLoveBeagles]

31. When it was announced on TV I remember mom screaming as she ran out of the room

I went to the kitchen to comfort her and she asked me why all her heros kept dying. She barely touched her dinner and ended up crying herself to sleep. I was 8 and had just discovered his music.

[Chasstev365]

32. George, Paul, and Ringo: All Those Years Ago 1981

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[Upthevibe]

33. Chasstev365.........

I just posted this clip on my FB page.

R.I.P., John.......

[Orange Buffoon]

34. I was a 21-year-old exchange student in Scotland that year.

I had my alarm set to the BBC at 6 a.m. The first words I heard upon waking were "John Lennon was shot and killed on the streets of New York this morning." I was still half in a sleep state and had a hard time processing it as reality--I thought I was still in a dream.

We had maids at the university, and I remember them gathering in a cluster and discussing the heartbreak of it and their memories of the Beatles, as they had been adolescents or young adults during those years.

[Mossfern]

38. This is a very meaningful day today

My big sister's birthday on this day - 85 years ago- she's still pretty damn lucid and funny
I was raped and nearly killed - 52 years ago- still in therapy for PTSD and CPTSD
John Lennon was murdered - 45 years ago- still a shock and so saddening
My son got married - TODAY 12/8/2025 - YAY!!!!!

Today is a very important day for me, with mixed blessings and curses.

[H2O Man]

39. An empty garden .....

[electric_blue68]

45. NYC'r here. Was listening to one of the 2 big Rock stations, and one of my favorite DJs...

He broke the news of the shooting, then later his death. Absolutely stunned, and horrified. I was 27.

The weird thing was as a young kid I'd be going to the dentist on north side of 72nd St, just before the Avenue west Central Park.
So we got out of the subway, turned the corner, and passed by right by The Dakota's kind of impressive entrance once to a few times a year.

So the DJ did a good thing, and opened up the phone lines for people to talk. Went on for hours. More of the station's DJs came in. It was a bit like a family.

Several days later there was a memorial in Central Park. On the way there by bus, I finally cried (not loudly). There was a brief light snow shower, winds moving it our way as we walked in.

It felt like a powerful part of "The 60's" was taken away from us.
Still a sad, terrible tragedy to this day.

[Omnipresent]

51. I read somewhere that there is only one entrance into the Dakota

Also, that Yoko has to walk through the area john was lying, while she held him as he was dying.

[electric_blue68]

52. As fas as I know there was only one entrance, Unless a very small service entrance elsewhere

[DFW]

48. I was in a house outside Boston with a friend from England.

I lived there for about 2 years. We were heading for a convention in New York in a day or two. We always used to joke around quite a but. Not that time.