It's an amazing song, the perfect closer to the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album. The other Beatles made significant contributions to the song, but the the ink was laid down from John's pen.
Today we remember the night in our lives -- exactly 30 years ago -- when Lennon was taken away from us. Of all the tragic deaths we use as mileposts to mark the passage of time, this one strangely escapes us. We do remember the startling announcement we heard with so many others while watching Monday Night Football.
“Yes, we have to say it. Remember this is just…a football game, no matter who wins or loses. An unspeakable tragedy, confirmed to us by ABC News in New York City. John Lennon, outside of his apartment building on the West Side of New York City — the most famous, perhaps, of all of the Beatles — shot twice in the back, rushed to Roosevelt Hospital. Dead…on..arrival. Hard to go back to the game after that news flash, which in duty, well, we have to tell you."
Click here to hear those words from Howard Cosell as New England kicker John Smith was lining up for a field goal against the Miami Dolphins.
After that everything is a blur...
Here's a clip of Howard interviewing John at halftime of a game in 1974. Damn.
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I remember Cosell's announcement. I did not remember who was playing or anything else about the game, even though it was the Dolphins.
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