When John Died.

[Sally]

Can you remember what you did when you heard John died?

I remember my Mum breaking it to me gently, I was only 13 and he was my pin up, my idol, so cried a bucket load for about a week and my brothers took the piss and then me and my friend who also loved the Beatles used to play Julia all the time which made us cry even more.

So it would be interesting to see how it was for you.

[Rellevart]

I'll never forget it. I was living in Germany for 6 months on a college foreign exchange program. I came down for breakfast and the mom of my German family said "I have some bad news for you." Of course, being so far away from home, I immediately panicked and thought something had happened to a friend or family member, but she told me no, that John had been killed. I couldn't quite take it in and I remember telling her that I wasn't going to university that day because I had to find out more. I sat in front of the radio for HOURS and the DJ never said anything about it, the news never mentioned it and they didn't play any of his songs, so I was starting to think that maybe she'd gotten it wrong. But right at the stroke of noon, they started playing "Starting Over" and I just went "Oh, S**t."

Of course, my oh-so-considerate roommate got on my case that night..."What are you so upset about? It's not like you KNEW him or anything." Gee, thank you for your sympathy, you rotten little toad.

[beatlemad]

I was only 4 and to be honest I can't remember when I first knew about his death.

[Sally]

Of course, my oh-so-considerate roommate got on my case that night..."What are you so upset about? It's not like you KNEW him or anything." Gee, thank you for your sympathy, you rotten little toad.

I can relate to that so much, that is exactly how my brothers were.

[SandySunshine]

I was one year, one month, one week and one day old when John Lennon was killed.

[Rellevart]

Hmmm...I guess this is the official "Make Sally and I feel like old farts" thread. :wink1:

[AnyRoad69]

I came straight of the school as I heard John lennon would be dead.
i was 11 Years old.

[SandySunshine]

Hmmm...I guess this is the official "Make Sally and I feel like old farts" thread. :wink1:
Sorry Darlin'!!!!!! I'd have loved to have been born many years earlier and had the opportunity to experience Beatlemania first hand!!!!!

[Sally]

Hmmm...I guess this is the official "Make Sally and I feel like old farts" thread. :wink1:

I was just thinking that myself, wish I hadn't bloody started it now :laugh5: and they didn't have to suffer the pain of losing two Beatles!

[SandySunshine]

Well, I'm not sure who to blame for being just a young snippet of a girl!!!!!!

[Sally]

Sorry Darlin'!!!!!! I'd have loved to have been born many years earlier and had the opportunity to experience Beatlemania first hand!!!!!

Hold your horses, I am not that old!!!! :laugh5: :laugh5: I didn't exactly experience Beatlemania first hand either, probably third hand!

[SandySunshine]

Hold your horses, I am not that old!!!! :laugh5: :laugh5: I didn't exactly experience Beatlemania first hand either, probably third hand!
Oops!!! Sorry!!! :blush4:

[Sally]

Oops!!! Sorry!!! :blush4:

:rolleyes: Tsk! The Youth of today......................!:teeth1:

[SandySunshine]

I'm only young!!!!!! I didn't know what I was doing!!!!!
My mother told me that I was getting old the other day!!! She said I should consider the fact that being 25 makes me a quarter of a century old!!!!

[sourmilkpinky]

Well I will make you all feel young :) I was moving out of my college dorm for Christmas break.... a fresh 19 year old. I remember thinking....how awful...my mother is going to be upset. My mother was a Huge John & Yoko fan....I on the other hand had been aware of The Beatles...but I wasn't a 'fan'.

[Sally]

Well I will make you all feel young :) I was moving out of my college dorm for Christmas break.... a fresh 19 year old. I remember thinking....how awful...my mother is going to be upset. My mother was a Huge John & Yoko fan....I on the other hand had been aware of The Beatles...but I wasn't a 'fan'.

A mother into John and Yoko is cool!!

[sourmilkpinky]

I think so now of course ;)

[SandySunshine]

Neither of my parents were really fans of the Beatles, although they were obviously old enough to remember!!!!!! My dad was a Mod and more into the Who, the Kinks and the Small Faces. My mum....well......she doesn't seem to like anything vaguely musical really!!!!!

[sourmilkpinky]

My mom was more into the artsy side of John & Yoko than the music...and of course the politics.
My father was into classical...

[Sally]

My parents were Pink Floyd (the boring era) and Dr Hook! They were too old for Beatlemania and Elvis come to think of it.

[sourmilkpinky]

If I am not mistaken...when I did get home...I found out that my mom was in New York at the time as well.....but we weren't close...and never talked about it.

[DizzymissLizzy909]

Don't want to make anyone here feel like "old farts". :wink1: I wasn't born in 1980, though... my dad used to tell me when I was younger about a "famous rock star John Lennon who was shot to death right in front of his home". I had no idea who John Lennon or the Beatles were back then, but I eventually I became a fan. My mom hasn't ever talked about where she was when she heard about his death, but my dad told me he sobbed when he heard the news (he was about 26 then), and that always shocked me to hear.

[beatlebangs1964]

Ain't nobody too old or too young for Beatlemania.

[twovirgins]

I was a freshman in highschool I remember it very well I couldnt beleive it
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/67/John_Lennon_death.jpg

[Rellevart]

my dad told me he sobbed when he heard the news (he was about 26 then), and that always shocked me to hear.

Thank god, your dad is quite a few years older than me. :wink1:

To all of you whose parents were fans at that time...are they still fans?

Another thing I remember from then is that Yoko called for a "moment of silence" the next weekend and I didn't want to deal with my evil roommate, so I told the family I was going out for a walk and I had the pop radio station on and when they did the moment of silence I kind of lost it walking down the sidwalks of our suburb. This adorable little totally stereotypically German man was biking by and said to me (in German, of course) "Are you ok?" and I said back to him "Yes, I will be, a friend just passed away, so I'm sad." I know he wasn't really a friend, but I couldn't think of a better way to explain it to a passerby....

[Lynner]

I had just gone to bed. The phone rang. It was a good friend of mine (at the time) and a fellow Beatles fan. She told me he'd been shot. I got off the phone, told my sis and we prayed for him to be okay. The tv was on in the other room and we heard the announcement. My sister went into hysterics. I called my friend back and we cried on the phone together. I was 18 at the time.

[luvsthebeatles]

I was born about 11 years too late...

My parents have never told me about what they remember. My dad, I'm positive didn't think twice about it (he was one of those parents back then who wanted to 'throw the Beatles off of the Ed Sullivan show... and he didn't even own a tv :rolleyes:). My mom just called Chapman a flippin idiot, and that was the end of the conversation we've had about it.

I've often wondered what my uncle did when he heard. He was a big Beatles/John fan. Makes me feel closer to him, knowing that we have something in common... :smile1:

[Loony_leo]

Well I was born in 1989....and when I found out it was about 16 years after the fact.....

My mom sister and I were having a girls day out... the car was parked by a corner store and my mom was getting us some candy. My older sister and I were listening to the anthology version of and your bird can sing, which when I was a little kid I thought it was the funniest thing in the world. I especially loved the part where john echoes himself, and I asked my sister who was doing that. She told me it was john and I said something like "John the funny one....hehe I love him.... when I grow up I wanna marry him." And then she told me......my repley was... "What?? the funny one is dead? NO! He can't be dead..." I asked my mom about it later and she explained that the guy who did it was really sick. I was a really naive little girl and I just could not understand how someone could do that....

[motherTheresa]

i was in my 20's and working at the time. my feeling was one of total shock

& disbelief. i couldn't believe it-that he was dead, for one, and that he

had been murdered, was beyond comprehension. i had loved the beatles

since first seeing them on ed sullivan as a child, and john had always been

my favorite. i was heartbroken. :cry1: my chest literally ached. it was as

if i had lost a family member. i had a subscription to "rolling stone" magazine

at the time, and man was i floored when i saw the cover! yoko lying on her

back, clothed, with john wrapped around her, nude. just a TAD startling in

light of what had just transpired. in retrospect, however, i find it fitting.

[DizzymissLizzy909]

To all of you whose parents were fans at that time...are they still fans?


My dad is. Not as big of a fan as he was in the 60's I think, but he still enjoys poping in one of their albums from time to time and he's probably the only one who will watch any of the Anthololgies with me! Actually, what's really scary is my grandmother, who's 75 now, used to like the Beatles more than my father!

My mom also "pretends" that she isn't a fan, but I think she enjoys their music. I've caught her humming along to Let it Be once or twice.

Timeless, those Beatles are, timeless. :smile1:

[SandySunshine]

i was in my 20's and working at the time. my feeling was one of total shock

& disbelief. i couldn't believe it-that he was dead, for one, and that he

had been murdered, was beyond comprehension. i had loved the beatles

since first seeing them on ed sullivan as a child, and john had always been

my favorite. i was heartbroken. :cry1: my chest literally ached. it was as

if i had lost a family member. i had a subscription to "rolling stone" magazine

at the time, and man was i floored when i saw the cover! yoko lying on her

back, clothed, with john wrapped around her, nude. just a TAD startling in

light of what had just transpired. in retrospect, however, i find it fitting.
I have that very picture on a clock on my bedroom wall!!!!! My mother HATES it!!!! She said it's rude and that I shouldn't have it there because my daughter (aged 2) comes into the room and will see it!!!!

[sourmilkpinky]

I am sure my mother is still a fan. Probably more a fan than ever....she is probably with John :)

[Loony_leo]

To all of you whose parents were fans at that time...are they still fans?




Yeah.....my parents were the ones who brainwashed me when I was the tender age of 7. But they are not as big fans as I am......

It's funny.... I think music wise my dad has the biggest influence on me.... he's gotten me into alot of the classic rock bands and artists he likes..... his favourite beatle is also John.

[Dr. Dreamer]

Shock! Disbelief! I was just 17, ya know what I mean?- lol
I also remember the moment of silence on December 14th. My parents never liked him but were shocked too when the news came. I cried too but never really cried my eyes out though until 2000 when I finally got to see the Imagine mosaic. I was alone on a trip and when I got to my hotel room, I suddenly burst into uncontrollable tears. Imagine 20 years of grief spilling all out at once. Scared me outta my wits but I think in that moment, rather after it, was when I realized though he was physically gone, he was "around" and maybe I wasn't alone...

[LovinLennon909]

My parents had been fans, absolutely, but they were too young to have been a part of the Beatlemania thing. Nevertheless, they both mourned John's death.

By the way, SandySunshine, I have that RS cover hanging up next to a picture of the "Two Vigins" cover--everyone I know hates those pictures passionately, but I think that's why I keep them up!

[SandySunshine]

By the way, SandySunshine, I have that RS cover hanging up next to a picture of the "Two Vigins" cover--everyone I know hates those pictures passionately, but I think that's why I keep them up!
Exactly!!!!!! :wink2: The friend I was with when I bought it couldn't believe I was getting it!!!

[Maxine]

I was only 9 years old back then and I didn´t really know much about the Beatles, but I remember hearing about John´s death on the news. I vaguely remember it was "a big deal" on the news and I understood that this was an important person. It wasn´t until 2,5 years later in the summer of 1983, when I became a Beatles fan, that I realized how big a loss for the world it actually was. And then I got sad. :cry2:

[Fluxus]

It's a complete snapshot memory for me. I was 16 and the biggest Beatle nut in my high school. People called my house that night but I had gone to bed early and my mom wouldn't wake me up.

That morning I noticed lots of Beatle songs on the radio. My folks had set the Atlanta Journal Constitution on the kitchen table. "A Day In The Life" was playing. "John Lennon Slain by New York Gunman." It was a picture of John in a suit and tie (from his immigration fight). I thought, "Congressman John Lennon? Not MY John Lennon!" I watched the coverageon the Today show, then went into my bedroom and bawled my eyes out. "Watching the Wheels" was playing.

[Loka]

I was born two years after, but when my Mum told me (I grew up with the Beatles´music) I was only four and looking at the White Album photograph of him (probably one of the most impressive...) and I said I liked his eyecolour because it´s like mine, green...and then she said "You know, someone shot him just to become as famous as he was." She wouldn´t tell me about Mark´s other reasons (mentally) for killing my Bigger Brother (as I used to think when I was small) but I cried then. I still get this feeling when looking at this photo, it´s a very special one for me.

[ringo_rama]

I was born a few years after it happened, but I asked my parents (neither of them are Beatles fans) how they found out.

My mom, aunt, and uncle all found out when they were watching the news with my grandfather. He had no idea who John Lennon was, and none of them were really Beatles fans but they were all pretty shocked.

My dad heard it on the radio when he woke up December 9. He said that he didn't really show much emotion, but he was in disbelief. I asked him exactly what he thought at the time, and he said that he just wanted to hear what Paul, George, and Ringo had to say.