On this night December 8, 1980 John Lennon was gunned down outside the Dakota building where he lived on Central Park West. I was full into my rock ‘n roll years then, running a band and playing regularly in the NYC clubs and on the road. When we heard the news my drummer, Steve Missile and I met and went to all the clubs that existed then on the Eastside Manhattan to commiserate with fellow musicians, including J.P.s, Eric’s, Friends, Dr. Generosity, and Home Bar, where I once got drunk with the great man. He used to frequent the clubs and listen to the local bands. As we went from bar to bar we saw that all the music had stopped. Obviously there was no way a band could play with our hero lying dead on the streets of New York City. We were all just devastated. I’m not sure some of us ever truly recovered. It was the end of an era and it weighed heavily on our hearts. I wasn’t John’s friend, like Elton who wrote “Empty Garden”, but I had to say something. So I wrote a song that following week called “Where Does the Music Go” that we produced for my self-titled album almost a decade later. It was subtle and didn’t mention John’s name. But I know what it was about. And that’s all that mattered. Every year at this time I still weep for the loss the world experienced that night so many years ago and wonder – what if? What if… 😞
What was John’s Lennon’s chart like, December 8th that year?
My husband, who died last year, was NYPD officer, on the 12 midnight to 8am shift. He got to the station house around 11:15 and the cops were crying because they knew. It was such a senseless crime.