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John, Elton
Although I have lived near New York City for my entire life, there are only three incidents that I associate with Manhattan of which I will always have near photographic recall. The most recent, of course, has been the horrific events concerning the World Trade Center. The earliest was when I was a small child and the entire northeastern United States was crippled by a power failure that came to be known as the Blackout of '65. The second incident occurred when I was older. It was infinitely more crippling than a power outage and the sickening reverberations spread much farther than the northeastern United States. In a matter of minutes, the news had circled the globe. John Lennon had been mortally wounded by a crazed lunatic with a handgun.
"What happened here as the New York sunset disappears
I found an empty garden among the flagstones there."
Lennon loved New York City. He loved the lifestyle it allowed, the options it presented, and the relative anonymity it offered him. Finally away from the hamster-wheel of superstardom, he was able to be himself. Creating music became secondary to lounging about the house, but he would occasionally emerge from his self-imposed hibernation to record or produce the odd track or two. His ability to be honest with himself was something that every one of his fans respected. If John wanted to sit back 'watching the wheels', then that was his prerogative. Now and then, he and Yoko would take out an ad in The New York Times just to say hello or happy Christmas to their fellow city residents. He'd even drop in at WNEW at a moment's notice to play records with a somewhat stupefied deejay named Dennis Elsas. He loved the city and the city was glad to have him.
"And we are so amazed. We're crippled and we're dazed.
A gardener like that one no one can replace."
Gun laws in America are very different from those in Europe. For years, the number of New York City cab drivers slain by a handgun is greater than what takes place among the entire population of Great Britain. Comparatively speaking, New York is a very dangerous place. It is also stimulating, so maybe Lennon thought it was worth the risk. Then again, maybe he didn't think of it at all, or no more than a frequent flyer might imagine a plane crashing into a building. As reality, it was unfathomable, if not to Lennon, then to the millions of residents who would have risked their own lives to save him.
"Lived here, he must have been a gardener who cared a lot
Who weeded out the tears and grew a good crop
Now it all looks strange."
There is now a hole in the spirit of rock and roll, maybe in the spirit of mankind, that can never be filled. Everybody, even people who were adamantly not Beatles fans, could sense the void. Depending on who was talking, John Lennon was a hero, an anti-hero, a coward, a pillar of strength, lazy, or driven. He was a mass of contradictions, but he was always human...and fragile, as humans tend to be. Elton John, who worshipped the Beatles as a youngster, knew this firsthand. He met Lennon through a mutual acquaintance and the two became very good friends. Lennon assisted on his version of "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds" and then Elton John reciprocated by contributing his talents to Lennon's single, "Whatever Gets You Through The Night". The sessions were pure joy for each of them, prompting Lennon, in a moment of casual conversation, to agree that if his song became a #1 hit, he would appear onstage with Elton John. Although he had said this because of his absolute certainty that it could never happen, it did. Elton John decided to collect on John Lennon's promise. Lennon, though, had been inactive for so long that he was terrified at the thought of appearing onstage. He was convinced that he would be viewed as a has-been and debated whether or not he could actually do it. On Thanksgiving night in 1974, Lennon was backstage, still vacillating and vomiting from nervousness, when Elton John announced him to a capacity crowd at New York's Madison Square Garden. The crowd was ecstatic. Here, in his adopted home city, in a live atmosphere that was once so familiar but now so foreign to him, John Lennon witnessed the genuine affection that people had for him. It wasn't the hysterical screaming of Beatlemania that he heard. It was respect and an outpouring of gratitude. He was no has-been and, in fact, had taken on the status of a living legend. Lennon was celebrating the only #1 record that he would enjoy as an ex-Beatle, until the month of his death.
The friendship between Elton John and Lennon thrived. Elton John became the godfather of Lennon and Ono's son Sean, and both were excited by the prospect of recording together since they each had become affiliated with Geffen Records. After a small lapse in his own popularity, Elton John re-surfaced as a superstar of the ‘80s and performed before 400,000 people at a free concert in Central Park. Lennon's home at the Dakota apartment building loomed over the horizon, on the border of the park, and resounded with the echoes of the show, including a touching rendition of Lennon's "Imagine". Later that year, on December 8, it would resound with the sound of five gunshots. John Lennon was dead.
"I've been calling but noone answers...
I've been calling Hey, Hey, Johnny"
 
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