John lennon . John lennon. John lennon was shot and killed tonight in new york city. An unspeakable tragedy. I said, do you realize what you have done here . And he said, i killed myself. He said, im john lennon. People came out here, singing beatles ballads. They just want to try to feel close to a man whom they say touched their lives. Thats how much love people had for john lennon. His music made our good times better. His music made our bad times at least livable. If he hadnt dreamed so beautifully, it wouldnt hurt so much. Here we are, 40 years later, talking about this man and this mans music. My role in society or any artist or poets role so to rye to express what we all feel, not as a preacher, as a leader, but as a reflection of us all. John, he was always a person that was ahead of the curve. His lyrics were always about the truth. I asked him at one point what his secret was for writing great songs. He said, you write the truth and you make it rhyme. It sort of dawned on me that love was the answer when i was younger. First expression of it was a song called the word. Spread the word im thinking of have you heard the word is love seemed like the understood lying theme to the universe or everything that was worthwhile. Who was john lennon . At one time john lennon was probably the most famous rock n roll musician, maybe the most Famous Artist in the world. Growing up, i remember seeing the beatles on ed sullivan and being totally stunned. I want to hold your hand i want to hold your hand i want to hold your hand the beatles, who originated as a small time act out of liverpool have no rivals as the kingpins of the teenage set. John lennon forms and led and was the beatles long with paul mccartney, George Harrison and ringo starr. Here they are. You couldnt live your life through the 60s with the radio on with your friends and not know every beatles song beginning to end. What do you like about the beatles any way. This way they dress and their hair and their looks. They look like girls. They do not. They transforms pop music, pop culture. Beatlemania, the screaming of young woman. Smart one would be john lennon. The cute one was paul mccartney, deep one was George Harrison and cute one number two was ringe starr. Looking back today, using different words, we would say he was the punk guy from the beatles. He was too intellectually good for beatlemania. The skracreaming of adoration sickened him. He was offended they werent listening to the beatles music. In 1964, the ban started a film that made fun of the hysteria of beatlemania, a hard days night. We were involve in the so many things and making things work, making movies, public appearance, performing at shows and traveling the world and doing all that. There was no time to reflect. It was an empty, hollow experience for john. At the peak of his popularity, hes writing and singing a song like help. This is our latest record. They promoted the record on black pool late night out. Help i need somebody not just anybody help kw you know i need someone help help is a cry for help. He was a massive insecurity. No matter how famous he became, no matter how much people showed they loved and adored him, he never felt loved, never felt secure. He felt he wasnt loved as a child because his mother had given him into the care of johe moms older cyster. When johns mother died, john was 16. Years later, he found that pop stardom didnt fill the void. It didnt ease the pain that defined his life. He found meaning and purpose in yoko. Yoko ono was an artist from new york who was living in london at the time. He met yoko first in he would fall in love. He was married already to cynthia. John was married when the beatles started up. His wife had a son named julian. But he would fall in love with japanese artist and already be married, have a kid. Its hard to describe how radical that was in 68. John lennon, he and his girlfriend yoko ono. John cynthia is better than her. That woman said, cynthia is better than her. Thats his wife. Yoko ono is his girlfriend. Yoko ono was a rebel and a troublemaker. He got license from her to be the person hed always wanted to be. The reason that yoko had such an effect on him when they met was yoko said, you can be yourself. You dont have the say yes all the time. You can do what you want. If you want to do real art john thought art was what yoko did, collage, performance art, that kind of thing. Never occurred to john that a song like Norwegian Wood was art. It was art. I wanted a girl or should i say she wanted me gone a long ways from i want to hold your hand to eleanor rigby. What direction are you trying to move your music . Were trying to move forward, and people seem to be trying to hold us back. The beatles had gotten together when they were very young. They had lived intense lives together. For creative reasons and business reasons, these guys started pulling apart. The event is so momentous that his to hatorians may mark the british empire. The beatles are breaking up. Yoko ono was initially vilified by beatles fans. They saw her as stealing away john lennon, but yoko ono did not break up the beatles. The beatles broke up the beatles. Some of the things said about you hasnt been kind. It was depressive the way they have been picking on yoko and saying she was ugly and personal things. But i know she isnt. John left england because the press were attacking yoko so viciously. They went to new york. In new york they got a lot more respect. The 1970s was a time of turmoil in new york. Even with the lack of jobs it was an exciting time and a creative time. New york its a bit like london only more so. Always hitting congas in the park. Hiphop developed, punk rock developed, disco develops. All at the same time. Different parts of the city coming together, bouncing off each other. Yoko had a lot of friends here in new york. Elton john, he was tight with david bowie as well. John loved new york, and new york was america, freedom. People didnt run up the street and bother john and yoko. They wouldnt bother them the way beatlemania kind of fan dom. But he was over the beatles. One time one of the fans said to him, hey, john, when are you going to get the beatles back together . John looked at him and said, when are you going to go back to high school . He was proud of the beatles but that was done and past and Like High School you dont go back, you go forward, you do something else. He was happy to say hello. He loved his fans and loved new yorkers. Some of us had a healthy relationship with him and his music and his celebrity, but there are others that didnt. There are others that felt like they owned him. Can take you to deep, depressive lows. Or, give you unusually high energy, even when depressed. Overwhelmed by bipolar i . Ask about vraylar. Some medicines only treat the lows or highs. Vraylar effectively treats depression, acute manic and mixed episodes of bipolar i in adults. Fullspectrum relief for all bipolar i symptoms, with just one pill, once a day. Elderly patients with dementiarelated psychosis have an increased risk of death or stroke. Call your doctor about unusual changes in behavior or suicidal thoughts. Antidepressants can increase these in children and young adults. Report fever, stiff muscles, or confusion, which may mean a lifethreatening reaction, or uncontrollable muscle movements, which may be permanent. Side effects may not appear for several weeks. High cholesterol and weight gain, high blood sugar, which can lead to coma or death, may occur. Movement dysfunction, sleepiness, and stomach issues are common side effects. When bipolar i overwhelms, vraylar helps smooth the ups and downs. When bipolar i overwhelms, cheddar, jalapeno and sour cream onion the spicy nacho stack. I wish i could stack pringles but i dont have hands or a mouth to. Cool, play my dance playlist. Theres a flavor stack for everyone. Sort of. Natures bounty is here for you. Ready to take your immune support to the next level . The number one herbal supplement brand has everything you need to help keep your immune system strong. Immune support comes naturally with natures bounty. You earn unlimited double miles on every purchase every day. Objection my credit card doesnt earn double miles on every purchase. I object to your objection with the capital one venture card, you earn unlimited double miles on every purchase. And may it please the court, earn 100,000 bonus miles when you spend 20,000 dollars in your first year. Ill allow it. No further questions, your honor. Well, just one. Whats in your wallet . ® visibly fades the dark spots away. New neutrogena® rapid tone repair 20 percent pure vitamin c. A serum so powerful dark spots dont stand a chance. See what i mean . Neutrogena® cue rachael ray. Hey friends today were whipping up some delicious recipes. So . Whos hungry . Pets love rachael ray nutrish® and its kitcheninspired recipes. With real meat, poultry or fish. Rachael ray nutrish®. Real recipes. Real ingredients. Real good. ® politics was in the air in those days, come on. You know, you couldnt avoid it. When john and yoko arrived in new york, i think they were at their most political. Being artists, when we get into something, we get into it, you know what i mean . We want it to be right there down on the front lines, but as we always said to everybody, with flowers, but still right down there. We want to go all the way with it. I read somewhere that the war movement was over. Ha ha. He had a way of coming up with simple lines, like, all we are saying is give peace a chance. All we are saying is give peace a chance everybody thinks that, but john gave people the words to express that. Give peace a chance was an anthem for those who believed in finding an alternative to war. The time has come for action. John was very vocal about his opposition to richard nixon. He made nixons enemies list. Nixon was hellbent on deporting him. And it ruined his life for many years. Almost destroyed his career. He came out of it, miraculously, but it was a huge burden. All of these songs that hes writing, theyre not the most melodic songs. Theyre protest songs. And the public is at best indifferent. The critics hate it. And i think johns really wounded by it. He finds himself in 72 having purged himself, in many ways, of his popularity. It was a very depressing time for him, and he had difficulty dealing with that. John had really become reckless inside their marriage. Yoko sent john away. He went to l. A. For some 18 months. John would call it the lost weekend. While john was in los angeles, it sounded like times were getting pretty wild out there. And wed had some pretty wild times in new york, and i knew that john could get out of hand when he drank a lot. It was keith moon, harry, me, ringo all living together in that house, and we had some moments, folks. But it got a little near the knuckle. And thats when i realized, theres something wrong here. This is crazy, man. He spent several months, really, for the first time in his life, being what he thought of as a sort of carefree bachelor, but actually hating it, really, and pleading with yoko to have him back. So then he went back to yoko. One day i drove up to central park with john and yoko. It turned out that they were going to see the apartment at the dakota for the first time. I think john liked the english gothic castle kind of feeling of the place. You go to the dakota, i dont want to say youre going to an ivory tower, but you are kind of removing yourself. It was one of the most wellknown buildings. It was occupied by all very famous people. Lauren bacall and leonard bernstein, and Roberta Flack and judy garland. The kind of place that people go to who want quiet. The dakota is the dowager queen mother of apartment houses. It started out as the only large building on Central Park West. Gradually the city grew up, but the dakota remained. It remained the most distinctive building in the entire city. We all know that First Impressions count, and First Impression of the dakota is its entrance. A twostory high archway, and beneath it, a very elaborately designed wroughtiron gateway. You dont pass the dakota and think its an ordinary building. Going through times square, id seen some guy selling the new york city tshirts on the sidewalk. And i bought a few, and i bought one and gave it to john. It was the summer of 74 when we were taking pictures on the roof of his apartment. And with the skyline all around us, i said, you still have that tshirt that i gave you last year . And he said, yeah. And i said, well, why dont you put it on then . We took a series of pictures. We never really expected that picture was going to be the one that he would be remembered by so well. He used to go into a coffee shop around the corner on 71st street. And the owner, he introduced him to me once. He says, oh, you know, this is john lennon. He pretty much walked around the neighborhood and lived an open life there. And he wasnt concerned with security or anything. For the very First Time Since the very, very beginning of the beatles, he doesnt have a record contract. Hes free. And so he retreats back into the dakota, he retreats back into family life. He becomes a father. Sean was born on johns birthday on october 9, 1975. He was born on october the 9th, which i was, so were almost like twins. If im feeling depressed, without him even seeing me, he sort of picks up on it. And he starts getting that way. So its like i can no longer afford to have artistic depressions, which usually produced a miserable song, but it was something i could use, you know. Now i have sort of more reason to stay healthy and bright. I can no longer wallow in it. I ran into him. He said, im giving sean swimming lessons at the y across the street. He said, ive been the house husband, you know, and ive never enjoyed life more. And the look of him when i saw him, it was he looked so different. He looked so calm and relaxed. As he would say, he found himself centered for the first time. When i was a producer of channel 7 eyewitness news, we had a reporter named joel siegel. He went to cover the big apple circus to do a story on it. And while he was there, he noticed that in the audience was john lennon just sitting amongst all the ordinary people. And joel went up to him and said, can i ask you a few questions . And very often celebrities say, no, not now. Im with my family. Speak to my agent. And john said sure. How does he like to the circus do you think . How do you like the circus . I see. He cant say a word. Hes got a little bored applauding. Whats your favorite part of the circus . I like the clowns and the little dogs. Would you give it all up to run away and join the circus . Ive already given it up. I havent decided where to run though. After spending five years raising his son, sean, and basically being withdrawn from the business and withdrawn from the pressures of being in public life, john learned a lot about becoming an adult, and learning that a sober life is actually a very rewarding life. He sings about it, right . Watching the wheels. No longer riding on the merrygoround i just had to let it go thats what he learned in those five years from 1975 to 1980. What it was like to have a relationship, what it was like to have a family. By late 1979, he has several songs. Take one of the new one. Yoko said to me, what i tell you now is top secret, and you cant ever tell anyone. Wow, i wish i could get a deal on a smartphone, but im not a new customer. Well, actually now, new and existing customers can get our best smartphone deal. Its historic. That is historic. Which means. Im making history, right . Yea, i dont know if id exactly sa wow. Me, dave brown. Existing customer who got the greatest deal in history. Just like every other customer gets. Oh thats cool too. Its not complicated. At t is making history. Everyone gets our best smartphone deals, including the lates preorders. What . whatever you have at home, knorr sides can turn nutritious veggies into mouthwatering meals. Veggies taste amazing with knorr. Todays the day to get to your toyota dealer. Toyota. Lets go places and take an extra 15 off s. Todays the day to get to your toyota dealer. Save on the ninja foodi 279. 99. Take 50 off all serta bedding. Get up to 40 off sonoma bath and so much more plus, get kohls cash plus, free store pickup. Let the gifting start shop kohls and kohls. Com. Noticks and fleas . O simplifies protection. See ya heartworm disease . No way simparica trio is the first chewable that delivers all this protection. And simparica trio is demonstrated safe for puppies. Its simple go with simparica trio. This drug class has been associated with neurologic adverse reactions, including seizures; use with caution in dogs with a history of these disorders. Protect him with all your heart. Simparica trio. But i cant say i expected this. Because it was easy. To fight these fires, we need funding plain and simple. For this crisis, and for the next one. Prop 15 closes tax loopholes so rich corporations pay their fair share of taxes. So firefighters like me, have what we need to do the job, and to do it right. The big corporations want to keep their tax loopholes. Its what they do. Well, i do what i do. If yould like to help, join me and vote yes on prop 15. So youre a small businor a big one. You were thriving, but then. Oh. Ah. Okay. Plan, pivot. How do you bounce back . You dont, you bounce forward, with serious and reliable internet. Powered by the largest gig Speed Network in america. But is it secure . Sure its secure. And even if the power goes down, your connection doesnt. So how do i do this . You dont do this. We do this, together. Bounce forward, with comcast business. John was very comfortable being in new york. He liked new york. Bob gruen was also not only their favorite personal photographer, he was a friend. It was an early spring day. And we got some really great pictures. Theres a nice of picture of them skipping up Central Park West. We went into central park. I remember john had this floppy hat on, like a hippie style. And i got pictures with him and yoko tucked underneath it. And they were passing some flowers little yellow flowers around the tree. And so that was the kind of experience they could have in new york. I didnt really think about music at all. My guitar was sort of hung up behind the bed literally. And i dont think i took it down for five years. In 1980, the urge to make music hit again. John basically said that it was like suddenly he was possessed. He started hearing songs in his head and he was inspired. Oh, it came over me all of a sudden, love i didnt know what came over me i just suddenly had, if youll pardon the expression, diarrhea of creativity. Yoko encouraged him to travel to bermuda to evoke his creative chops. And travel by boat to bermuda. I sailed from newport to bermuda 2,000 miles, 7 days at sea for my first ocean trip. And it was the most fantastic experience i ever had. A day out, a terrible noreaster hit. The crew was felled. One person after another seasick. The captain just says to me, you want to take over the wheel . I said, do