The Day John Lennon Died..

(I am ignoring the obvious story of the day for what I originally planned to post here today). This is one of those days I will always remember. 31 years ago, I was watching Monday night football when Howard Cosell broke in with a stunning announcement. John Lennon had been murdered outside his apartment in the Dakotas in New York City. I was not a huge Beatles fan at the time, I became one over the next few years. But I remember thinking how sad this was.

John Lennon had taken five years off from his singing career. He had started to become successful again. His freshly released album "Double Fantasy" was climbing the charts as well as the ironically named single "Starting Over". After he was murdered, the album rose to the number 1 position and stayed there for almost two months. The single stayed number 1 for five weeks. The album ultimately won the Grammy for Best Album. I remember watched the Grammy show while at UK and being surprised that it won. "Starting Over" lost out to "Bette Davis Eyes" for Song of The Year.

I remember this day for an entirely different reason now. It's my lovely wife's birthday. It's always a running joke when Donna will say "What's tomorrow?" and one of us will say "It's the day John Lennon died".

Proving that you can find anything on Youtube, here's a clip of Howard Cosell breaking into the Monday Night Football to announce John Lennon's murder. This moment regularly makes Top Ten list of the MNF most memorable moments. Howard Cosell announced it as New England tried to win the game on a last second field goal (which was blocked) and the game went to overtime. Notice how primitive the graphics look compared to today.