I was living on Pearl Street in Provincetown, Massachusetts. The TV was on. Breaking News. No! No! Disbelief. Then shock. I couldn't just stand there so I telephoned Dennis, my rock-n-roll buddy in Lansing, Michigan. I could tell I'd awakened him. "Dennis, you gotta turn on your TV ... somebody shot John Lennon."
On the following Sunday Rodney and I were driving to Michigan. We pulled into a rest area to observe the ten minutes of silence in honor of someone we loved.
John Lennon said a lot of things for a lot of us, things we felt but could not have expressed so perfectly because we all could not be lyrical and rock geniuses.
"God is a concept by which we measure our pain. I'll say it again: God is a concept by which we measure our pain. I don't believe in magic. I don't believe in I-Ching. I don't believe in Bible. I don't believe in tarot. I don't believe in Hitler. I don't believe in Kennedys. I don't believe in Buddha. I don't believe in mantras. I don't believe in Gita. I don't believe in yoga. I don't believe in kings. I don't believe in Elvis. I don't believe in Zimmerman. I don't believe in Beatles. I just believe in me, Yoko and me, and that's reality. The dream is over. What can I say? The dream is over ... yesterday. I was the dreamweaver but now I'm reborn. I was the walrus but now I'm John. And so, dear friends, you'll just have to carry on. The dream is over."
Hard to believe it is so long since JOhn was murdered. Harder still to realise if he had lived he would be 70 - but hey, strawberry fields forever...
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