I miss that Jealous Guy

It may have been easy to miss two days after the 16th anniversary of the Montreal massacre, but 25 years ago today, John Lennon was gunned down by Mark David Chapman just outside his home at Manhattan's Dakota apartments.

This page was all of 12 years old in 1980, and had not yet grown to appreciate Lennon beyond his work with the Beatles. However, when my father responded to the TV report of the shooting by exclaiming "Good!", my older sister took up a screaming match with him as she was much more aware of what Lennon stood for. I think that was the first time I truly realized how wrong adults can be.

As I became more familiar with Lennon's solo stuff and his work with the Plastic Ono Band, I came to realize that music could mean a lot more than it appeared at the surface. Through his songs, we could imagine "nothin' to kill or die for", we could "give peace a chance", and "war is over" if we want it.

After hearing that last song played over a TV charity appeal this morning, I've been wondering what it would be like if John were still with us, and what he would have to say about our culture of paranoia, patriotic hysteria, and false celebrity. Actually, I really wonder what he would have done to Paul McCarteney for playing that f**ked up piece of sh*t "Freedom" song at the Super Bowl a couple of years back, and doing those credit card ads. What did John say about "Instant Karma"?