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NEW YORK (Reuters) – John Lennon’s wife, son, former Beatles bandmates and fans paid tribute to one of the world’s most revered singer-songwriters on Tuesday, 40 years after his assassination in New York.
The group’s co-founder from Liverpool, England, had just celebrated his 40th birthday on October 9, 1980 and would have turned 80 this year.
Mark David Chapman, a borderline psychotic from Hawaii, shot Lennon four times at point-blank range on December 8, 1980 for what he called “self-glory.” The musician was returning home to the Dakota Apartments in Central Park with his wife, Yoko Ono. Lennon died on the way to the hospital.
Paul McCartney, Lennon’s songwriting partner, wrote in a tweet Tuesday that it was “a sad, sad day, but remembering my friend John with the great joy he brought to the world.”
Ringo Starr, the other surviving Beatle, said: “I’m asking every music radio station in the world to play Strawberry Fields Forever. Peace and love.”
The Beatles released Lennon’s composition “Strawberry Fields Forever” in 1966. In a section of Central Park named after the hit song and landscaped by Ono in his honor, fans gathered Tuesday to drop flowers and photos.
Ono asked for peace and the reform of the arms law.
“The death of a loved one is an empty experience,” he said in a tweet. “After 40 years, Sean, Julian and I still miss him. ‘Imagine all the people living life in peace,’ ”he added, quoting a line from Lennon’s song,“ Imagine.
Ono also tweeted the photograph he took of Lennon’s bloodstained glasses, with the message: “More than 1,436,000 people have been killed by firearms in the United States since John Lennon was shot and killed on December 8, 1980 “.
Julian, Lennon’s son with his first wife Cynthia, posted a photo of his father with the words “As time passes,” which his half-brother Sean Ono Lennon touched.
Written by Richard Chang, Editing by Rosalba O’Brien
