Alycia Lourim.
-A fan, but more of a believer in someone that lived a life of truth and most importantly love.

I’ve been reading your “Ticket to Ride” book – very enjoyable and will soon be getting your “Lennon Revealed” book as well.

I’m just upto the part where you decided to stop carrying pencils in your pockets when covering the Beatles tour.

I wanted to share with you and everyone else this poem that I wrote as a tribute to John as well as to other tragedies of the 20th Century.

AN ODE TO THE CENTURY PAST

That was the age of despair, disrepair
but this is now, the New Utopia.

That was the time when we killed off our muses
throwing their remains to the ravenous dogs.

Our innocence disemboweled, our hopes quartered
with five hollow-point bullets on that cold december night.

When six million replaced six six six as the accursed number
of all eternity and
six million nameless faces, six million faceless names
were extinguished for that greatest crime of all -
Existence.

But this is now, the Neo-Utopia.

That was the age of despair, disrepair
When raven-black sun
threw rays of shadow upon the earth and
giant bullfrogs ate pygmy antelopes
hooves, bones and all.

But still we fought on, hoping for meaning to appear
yet when it arrived, it was only in our dreams
dissipating as soon as we awoke and tried to grab at its
gossamer threads with our crude, clumsy hands.

And this is now, the Last Utopia.

I have always admired you and enjoyed your great stories of life on the road with the Fab Four back in the day. Now, I’d like to share with you my own experience.

Whenever I’m asked what the worst day of my life was, without hesitation I answer “December 8, 1980.” I still remember that horrible day as though it were yesterday.

I was two months away from my 16th birthday living with my parents in Houston, Texas. That afternoon, I grudgingly performed the annual rite of putting up the Christmas lights on our house. As usual, some of the bulbs were burned out so I decided to walk down to the nearby Target store to get some replacements. As I passed through the store, I happened to glance over at the latest 45′s (singles) and noticed the cover sleeve to John Lennon’s first new release in 5 years “(Just Like) Starting Over” which had just entered the Top 40. Without having even heard the record, I bought it on the spot along with the bulbs I needed. As a lifelong Beatles fanatic (with John my favorite), I just knew I wouldn’t be disappointed. I played it several times on my record player that evening and liked it a lot. It reminded me a bit of the Beatles’ classic “In My Life”. I was really excited that John was finally making music again. As I did with all of my records, I wrote the date I bought it inside the sleeve…”Dec 8, 1980″.

I went to bed around 9:00 p.m. (since I had school the next day) and was a little annoyed that my dad’s Monday Night Football game on the TV in the next room was a little too loud but I eventually dozed off. About two hours later, the ringing of the phone suddenly woke me. It was my best friend Martin. Still half asleep, I barely comprehended what he was saying. Something about Howard Cosell and John Lennon. Then, he told me John had been shot and was dead on arrival at a New York hospital. At first, I thought this was one of the sickest jokes he had ever played on me as he knew how much I revered John. I told him with a few choice expletives what I thought of his “joke” but he kept swearing it was true and the more he spoke, the more concerned I became. But, I still couldn’t believe it. I got off the phone and went into the TV room and asked my dad if he’d heard anything and he said Howard Cossell had just announced John’s death on Monday Night Football.

It was as though a sledgehammer had hit me while, at the same time, I felt completely numb. Some total jerk had assassinated my hero and the icon of an entire generation. Since my childhood, hardly a day went by that I didn’t listen to at least one Beatles tune and often several. I had even been inspired to play guitar from the age of 12…all because of the Beatles, but especially John Lennon.

Over the next week, completely depressed and locked away in my room, I played all of my Beatles albums non-stop as well as two of John’s solo albums that I owned. Later, my sister Peggy gave me John and Yoko’s Double Fantasy album for Christmas. Like millions of others, Martin and I quietly watched the John Lennon memorial service on TV the way others had watched JFK’s funeral seventeen years earlier.

For me, John wasn’t just the leader and guiding spirit of the greatest musical act of all time. As an absolutely genius songwriter, he always gave us hope and knew just the right lyrics to get us thinking about a wide array of subject matter. His greatest legacy is that his songs are timeless and will be passed down through many generations to come. I still miss him and his music every day. Thank you John for what you, Paul, George and Ringo gave the world.

It is still impossible to answer that question. My brother’s Chinese wife and to his daughter and my own son and the high school students I teach all get around to asking, “Why?” Kennedy. King. Kennedy. Politics has always been dangerous. Unpopular stands can engender violent reaction.
I still don’t have an answer. Someone that human, who didn’t use the power we gave him. We are so much the poorer for losing him. We needed him.
MMD

Larry