We Don’t Miss John Lennon Only On The Anniversary Of His Assassination

 Imagine all the people living life in peace. You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one. I hope someday you’ll join us, and the world will be as one.

John Lennon

October 9, 1940 – December 8, 1980

On the anniversary of John Lennon’s killing, every fan page and newspaper, every music blog and every related website commemorated his life and his passing.  But we realized that this homage should not be limited to the actual anniversary date of this horrific act only, but that true Beatles fans, Lennon fans and most real human beings miss John – as they should – every day.  Thus, our take on this infamous event, a few days later.

As John Lennon and his wife Yoko Ono returned to their New York apartment at the Dakota on December 8, 1980, a killer lurked in the shadows, waiting for the right moment.

Lennon and Ono were returning from the recording studio where they were mixing Ono’s song “Walking on Thin Ice,” which featured Lennon on guitar. “John and I were gloriously happy in the first week of December. In our minds, we were a team – old soldiers,” Ono recalled to British newspaper The Daily Mirror.

Going Home

John Lennon back stage at The Club House, Busch Memorial Stadium, St. Louis, Missouri, August 21, 1966. Photograph by Bob Bonis and reprinted by the Bob Bonis Archive.

As they passed the small autograph-seeking crowd gathered outside their building’s entrance, Mark David Chapman, who Lennon had signed an autograph for hours earlier, stepped out from the archway in which he was hiding and raised his revolver, aiming directly at Lennon’s back. Five shots cracked into the night. One of the .38 Special’s hollow point bullets missed, two hit Lennon in the left side of his back, and two penetrated his left shoulder.

Police arrived on the scene within minutes to find Lennon lying in the lobby bleeding profusely. Outside they found Chapman waiting calmly for his arrest, holding a copy of J.D. Salinger’s 1951 novel A Catcher In The Rye. In the book he had written, “This Is My Statement.” He signed it Holden Caulfield, the story’s protagonist, which had become a cultural icon of rebellion and angst.

The Mirror reports that upon realizing the severity of Lennon’s wounds, officers placed him in the back seat of a squad car and rushed him to a hospital; they did not believe he would make it if they had to wait for an ambulance. But upon arrival, Lennon’s pulse and breathing had stopped. Attempts to resuscitate him proved futile, the damage sustained and the volume of blood lost was simply too great. Shortly after 11 p.m., Lennon was pronounced dead. And the world changed forever.

Worldwide Mourning

The death of Lennon, one of the most iconic and outspoken Beatles, rocked the earth to its core. Fans poured into the public to share their grief. The world had watched his mind blossom with each new Beatles hit. Following the breakup, they listened to him espouse love and world peace with his solo projects and public protests. His murder left an indelible scar on the realm of music, and the hope for a better world.

Chapman had been a devout Beatles fan, but Lennon’s increasingly controversial statements, such as how The Beatles were more popular than Jesus, would come into direct conflict with his religious beliefs and his perceptions of reality. In a 2001 article, author Lynne H. Schultz quotes Chapman as saying, “At that point, my mind was going through a total blackness of anger and rage.” As his disgust with society continued to fester, so did his obsession with killing Lennon.

Lennon’s remains were cremated, but no funeral was held. A week after his death, at the request of Yoko Ono, millions of people around the world took pause for ten minutes in silent reflection of Lennon. The New York Times reported that thirty thousand people gathered in Liverpool, but over 225,000 occupied New York’s Central Park to remember Lennon while every radio in the city went silent.

In the time before the trial, Chapman underwent extensive psychiatric evaluations and was diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic. Although he was encouraged to enter an insanity plea, Chapman opted for a guilty plea and was sentenced to 20 years to life with the possibility of parole. He has been denied parole eight times and remains incarcerated to this day.

Early Years

Bob Bonis had the pleasure to know John Lennon while serving as U.S. Tour Manager for The Beatles (as well as for The Rolling Stones) during all three of their American tours between 1964 and 1966. With his trusty Leica M3 camera, Bonis captured never seen before moments of John Lennon and The Beatles as they grew under the watchful eye of the world. His photographs chronicle the years of the band’s rise to fame, and snapshots of the moments leading up to Lennon becoming the musician, activist, and icon the world fell in love with.

These iconic and intimate photographs are available now for the first time as strictly limited edition, custom-printed fine art prints from the Bob Bonis Archive. Each photograph is hand numbered, estate embossed, and comes with a Certificate of Authenticity from the GRAMMY Museum® at L.A. LIVE!

John Lennon: although your life ended at the hands of insanity, and way too early, your message of peace and love still rings clear, and you live on in our hearts day after day. We miss you constantly. Your music and your messages changed the world forever; thank you for your unequalled contribution to peace.

All John Needed Was Love: Meeting Yoko Ono

John Lennon on stage, JFK Stadium, Philadelphia, PA, August 16, 1966 #1

A dream you dream alone is only a dream. A dream you dream together is reality.

Yoko Ono, Grapefruit

The British invaded and conquered, and The Beatles continued to shine their light on a world shaded with war and civil unrest.

But little did John Lennon know at that time, in 1966 (or was it 1965?), his meeting of Yoko Ono would bloom into a loving relationship, let alone a symbol of world peace.

There are actually two differing accounts of how Lennon and Ono met. The story as told by the Lennons places the two meeting on November 9, 1966, at the Indica Gallery in London where Ono was preparing for her conceptual art exhibit.

According to this version of the story, Lennon was initially unimpressed with Ono’s exhibits as he felt most concept art he encountered was anti everything. A particular piece of Ono’s work, though, convinced him to stay — a ladder with a spyglass at the top, which upon looking through, revealed the word “YES.”

The other account of the pair’s first meeting, as told by Sir Paul McCartney, puts the two in London in 1965 while Ono was collecting original music for the score of a book. McCartney didn’t want to give her his own manuscripts, but suggested she ask Lennon. He agreed and gave Ono the original handwritten lyrics to “The Word,” according to the biography titled, “Paul McCartney: Many Years From Now.”

Although their relationship was often embroiled in controversy, nobody could deny the love they had for each other as it shifted into both Lennon’s and Ono’s work, and inevitably, out into the world. During their first years together, Lennon’s work began to spark with new life, but it bore a humble request – give peace a chance.

The pair quickly became an icon of the era, bringing into the limelight a juxtaposition of violent global affairs and the power of love. The Vietnam War continued to rage on unabated, and Lennon, with Ono by his side, showed the world what life could be like if we were to imagine world peace, together.

Despite the differing accounts on how Lennon and Ono met, the mark that they, as partners, left on the planet and the message of peace they brought to the people has been etched into modern history, and continues to resonate as the future unfolds.

And, despite decades of various debates about Yoko’s influence on, and suppositions that she was responsible for the break-up of The Beatles, and that she was the reason behind Lennon’s divorce from the well-loved Cynthia, the fact remains that John found love (albeit with a lot of road bumps and hardships) and, after all, as John eloquently put it, “All You Need Is Love.”

John Lennon was clearly one of the most prolific and influential musicians the world has ever known. And while there are many photographs of John by numerous photographers, we are fortunate that Bob Bonis, who served as U.S. Tour Manager for The Beatles (as well as for the Rolling Stones) from 1964 – 1966, through his unique access to Lennon, was able to capture some of the most poignant, playful, powerful, intimate and iconic photographs of John in the earliest days of The Beatles’ conquest of America.

These photographs are now available for the first time for fans and collections through The Bob Bonis Archive at BobBonis.com. All photographs are issued in strictly limited editions, and every print is hand numbered, estate embossed, and accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity from The GRAMMY Museum® at L.A. Live.

Thank you, John Lennon, for making the world a better place. We miss you. The world misses you. Looking at your photos reminds us that one person can indeed make a difference.