Forty years is a long time to be without someone, let alone a person who changed the course of human history and culture as we know it. This December 8th, it will have been that long since John Lennon was murdered outside The Dakota apartment building in New York City. On that evening, the life of the internationally renowned cultural icon was cut short, tragically establishing Lennon as perhaps the most prominent of Rock n Roll’s martyrs. However, this year doesn’t just mark the fourth decade since his passing; October 9th would have been his 80th birthday. In other words, John Lennon has now been gone from the world for as long as he was in it.
In the spirit of his birthday, Lennon’s widow, Yoko Ono, sat down with American Songwriter to discuss some of her favorite of John’s works within the context of their storied love affair and her own personal bereavement process following their “big separation,” as she puts it. Certainly, Ono’s reputation amongst Beatles fans has historically been controversial—to put it politely. That being said, in reading this interview, which covers many of his classic songs with the band, it is difficult not to be struck by the realization that, though to the masses Lennon’s personage represented many things, he was also a husband and a father. Further, despite achieving extraordinary heights of fame and fortune, his childhood was marred by poverty and abandonment—experiences that would appear in such songs as “Strawberry Fields Forever” and “Julia,” and which would manifest in personal struggles throughout his adult life. All of that to say, we are reminded in this interview, and on the anniversaries of both his birth and death that Lennon, the legend, was also, in a word: human.
As a musician myself, whose entire life’s trajectory was changed forever at thirteen upon buying a Beatles album (and subsequently an electric guitar), I can personally say that the lasting legacy of John (Paul, George, and Ringo) is alive and well. Further, as a fellow human being who is – like everyone else – flawed, impermanent, and always a work in progress, I find it so valuable to be reminded that my heroes were too. Often it is their humanity—replete with challenges and yearnings—that made them great artists in the first place. John was no exception to this rule, and though the tragedy of his death still looms large, I celebrate the life of the legend, and the man, that was John Lennon.
Read the full interview with Yoko One, the first part in a longer series, HERE!
