John Lennon - Across The Universe
(Note: I am not one for 'revisionist
history'. I would not be in favour of rewriting textbooks in schools to
remove all references to some of the most evil men in history: Adolf
Hitler, Pol Pot, Idi Amin etc. Therefore I always fail to understand why
some Beatles fans get so twitchy about naming John Lennon's killer. Do the
same fans throw up their arms in horror when passing a cigarette machine because
its contents 'murdered' George? I suspect not The nearest equivalent
hysteria I can think of is that in JK Rowling's magical world of Harry Potter
there is some sort of 'fear' of the name Voldemort! The British press would
never refer to the moors murders without mention of Brady and Hindley and names
like Sutcliffe, Nielsen, Christie and Crippen are both well-known and also
reviled forever for the horrors they perpetrated. It is in the same
spirit of revulsion I have no problem typing the name of Mark Chapman and will
not apologise for doing so. If you don't want to read my thoughts because
of that then please browse away from this page.)
My mum came into my room on Tuesday morning and told me to "prepare myself for a shock". I immediately thought my grandfather had died or been taken more seriously ill. In retrospect, awful though it sounds, I would have taken it better if that was what had happened.
She told me John Lennon had been shot. I replied, "how is he?" and she slowly
shook her head and said "he isn't - he's dead."
What? John? The most important man in the world to my life at that time? The
Beatle? The Walrus ?? The man whose new LP I had queued around the corner to buy
just a few weeks ago? Dead? My head couldn't take it in.
I sat on the floor with my radio and tuned from station to station...why were
they all playing Imagine? Ah..7.30 - the news...no, I don't want to hear that,
find another station...no...another - and so on as the news began to sink into
my reality.
I made a shrine in my bedroom window. I hung up my electric guitar and
surrounded it with LP covers. I went out and bought every English newspaper (to
my utter regret a few weeks later I cut them up to make a collage for my bedroom
wall - each newspaper is now worth a fortune !). I got to school VERY late.
My friend and I offered to spend Wednesday afternoon (general studies period) in
the school Music Room playing John Lennon records for other fans to show their
respect. We were told to do two songs live for every record played (I was a
singer/pianist/guitarist, he a pianist). So we booked the room and advertised
the event. 15 minutes before the event on Wednesday we had to move to the school
hall ! I recall rows of girls in Beatles scarves wearing round John Lennon specs
in floods of tears as Colin and I played Across the Universe, If I Fell,
Imagine, Isolation and others. It was my first gig. It helped me grieve yet gave
me such a feeling of pride that I could share John's music in this way - and
that so many others amongst my school friends felt the same grief.
Of course, I wanted to know the story of what had happened too. There are many
versions and conspiracy theories but the one generally accepted as nearest to
the truth goes something like this...
Mark David Chapman was, actually, a very nice young man. A massive Beatles fan
and especially of John. To some extent he had even modeled himself on his hero -
as so many of us have done over the years. He was a good, clean living young man
who taught in his local Sunday School.
Then (on my birthday !), Oct 9th 1975 Sean was born after a very long struggle
by John and Yoko to conceive and carry a baby full term (Yoko had had several
miscarriages, of course). John was the proudest parent there could ever be. He
knew he had made mistakes in the fatherhood of Julian and promised himself he
would not make the same mistake again this time around. No being away on long
tours, coming home and finding his son another couple of inches taller - no
missing out on first smiles, first words etc. His EMI contract almost at an end
he felt free - free from contracts, free from expectations and no burden on him
to sing or record ever again unless he wanted to. So he didn't.
John stayed at home and looked after the baby while Yoko multiplied the family
fortune through careful business investments. John changed the nappies
(diapers), John sang Sean to sleep, John danced with him to stop him crying.
John cooked the bread...John was doing what he wanted to do - be a daddy !
And the world missed John. They called him crazy - "dreaming my life away" as he
sat there watching the wheels go round. And Mark Chapman missed him too. The
story goes that he started to believe he could help fill the gap. He tried to
look like John until people in restaurants asked him to sign
autographs...marrying a rather plain, Japanese wife helped maintain the
charade...he was even invited on stage to perform as John. And so the 'madness'
began...
Chapman started booking into hotels as John Lennon. He booked airline tickets
too. As he descended into a form of schizophrenia he was actually starting to
believe he was John Lennon. And he was happy...and the world still missed John,
the 'loony ex-Beatle locked away in the austere Dakota buildings near Central
Park.' The man who had said (according to the press) "I have made my
contribution to society"
Then Sean started school and who needs a full-time househusband. While on
holiday in Bermuda (?) John started thinking about making another record. he had
listened to the radio playing the New Wave music of 79/80. He knew that if the
world could put Lene Lovich in the charts then they could also listen to Yoko
(at last). he sang his new ideas for songs over the phone to Yoko - she had
thought the same and sang her songs back...and the world welcomed John Lennon
back into the fold and bought his new album Double Fantasy. The single, Starting
Over hit the charts too. And Mark Chapman, like any John Lennon fan bought the
album.
And they say he liked it...but he knew it wasn't him...and if John Lennon was
back in the world - where did he fit in? With his mental decline in freefall he
fed its fever by reading and rereading JD Salinger's 'Catcher in the Rye'.
Swinging moment by moment between being John Lennon's biggest fan and seeing his
oft-time hero as some sort of grotesque impostor he bought another airline
ticket to New York. He stood as so many fans had done before him in the shadow
of the Dakota and waited for a glimpse of his god and was rewarded with a
signature on his copy of Double Fantasy. In his own way, John Lennon had signed
his own death warrant for, as he got into the car which would take he and Yoko
to their final recording session Chapman proudly clutched his prize...and
waited.
Returning home late at night after putting the finishing touches to Yoko's
'Walking on Thin Ice' John got out of the car. His attention was drawn by
Chapman's "Excuse me Mr Lennon," and as he turned his head a volley of shots
littered the air. John fell, his blood-splattered glasses flew across the
pavement (sidewalk), Yoko screamed. A nearby police patrol picked up the latest
crime statistic and bundled him into the back of the car and headed for the
hospital. Part way there one of the two police officers looked around and
thought he recognised their passenger. As he asked "Are you John Lennon?" the
barely conscious John vaguely nodded and muttered a final "Yeah".
On arrival at the hospital, emergency crews tried for some time to revive their
patient but to no avail. John had crossed his universe, watched his final wheel
go round and the man who told us to give peace a chance and that all we needed
was love had left this stage for the final time. Turned out nice again*
And the whole world mourned. Starting Over hit number one, closely followed by
Imagine. Tributes poured out like New Year's Eve champagne. As so many
discovered that month - you don't know what you got - until you lose it.
And I did my concert. And I still miss him. Bless you...
(* at the end of the Beatles version of Free as a Bird you hear a
ukulele. As it fades you hear the words "made by John Lennon." John
never said that. The words he recorded were "Turned out nice again",
a catchphrase of wartime British comic George Formby. When that was
played backwards for the single.................)
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