As I write this, it's nearing the end of the anniversary of the death of John Lennon.
It's always a sad observance for me, and more often than not, I try not to think about it overmuch, as it's very depressing.
Have I ever mentioned here before just how huge a Beatles fan I am? The first records I remember ever owning were Beatles 45's... Help/I'm Down, Act Naturally (forget the other side), a number of others, that I played over and over. I was probably 8 or 9 when I had those, and made the mistake of placing them in a metal record rack that, one day, got more than its share of sunlight, warping the records beyond playability.
It was probably not long after that I bought my first Beatles album... but ah, I get ahead of myself.
I'm pretty certain that I saw the Beatles on Ed Sullivan... probably not the first time or two they were on, but almost every time after that (my family were religious Sullivan watchers). I don't recall seeing them on any other special... but I may well have. I distinctly recall watching "Help!" when it aired on NBC -- it must've been shown once a year for a while.
Anyway... my first Beatles album was "Revolver," which I bought used at a church rummage sale, believe it or not. My second album was "Introducing the Beatles," the Vee-Jay album, which I got at a record store at the Tacoma Mall that no longer exists (it was next to the also no-longer-existing Toys Galore, where I got my first ventriloquist dummy).
My next Beatles-related purchase would've been an 8-track-tape of the Beatles Live at the Star Club in Hamburg... but I know I had been recording Beatles songs off the radio for quite some time before (and after) that, like when one of the radio stations did an all-Beatles weekend.
The summer between junior high and high school, I worked for Stan Johnson, a man from the church my family went to, who was running for office. The money I made campaigning and canvassing for him was used to purchase a black-and-white TV, as well as a stereo that had radio, cassette, 8-track, and record player all in one. I also bought the Red and Blue collections (you know, the two-record sets '63-'66 and '67-'70, or something like that). After that, I think Sgt. Pepper was next on my purchase list, but I could be mistaken.
Like I said, I was a huge Beatles fan... and a few of my friends were Beatles fans as well.
I still remember the day John was killed. John was my favorite Beatle, and not just because I'm Jon... his music just spoke to me in a way that Paul or George or Ringo couldn't (not that I didn't like their stuff, too). When Double Fantasy came out, I loved all the songs I heard from it... especially "Starting Over".
That night, long ago, I was in my bedroom, talking on the phone to my then-best friend. I had my own telephone in high school, and I heard my family's phone ringing. I went to answer it, and it was a friend of my youngest brother's, who told me what had happened. I immediately turned on the radio, and sat there, in shock.
I couldn't believe it... and the more I heard, the harder it was to believe. Why would someone shoot John? No matter what came out about his murderer, it still made no sense to me... as if there could ever be any sense in it.
I had started teaching myself guitar that year... I was a senior in high school, and had purchased a copy of "Beatles Complete" (a songbook that wasn't complete by any means... and a lot of songs weren't in the right key, either) as well as a "Beatles Guitar Course" book. I was making pretty decent progress, but after John's death, I dedicated myself even more to learning guitar (sadly, as good as I got at one point, I haven't even picked up a guitar in a long time). Of course, I played Beatles songs, especially John's songs.
Even after I went into the Navy, I still wanted more Beatles stuff... especially books about the Beatles, although I knew that at one point in each book, I'd hit the point where the group broke up... or for more recently-written books, the point where John was killed.
And every single time, I hoped that this time around, things would end up differently.
It's been 25 years since John's been gone... and sometimes it feels like it was just yesterday. It's sad to realize that John's been gone longer than I was aware of him when he was alive.
Jon