It Was 25 Years Ago Today...

John Lennon's death is one of those things I kind of have a vague memory of, but it could be something I've completely made up in my head. More just an impression of sadness from my mother and me not understanding what was going on. Bear in mind, I was two at the time.

The Beatles were, for me, one of the cornerstones of my movement into adulthood. I'd heard the Beatles during my childhood, watched Yellow Submarine and Help, and could even sing along with the songs. But when I was thirteen or so, shortly after my family got its first CD player, I sat down with my dad and listened to a Beatles album all the way through, and something just clicked in my head. That album was Sgt. Pepper - not even my dad's favorite (that's Abbey Road), but for the first time I heard music as something more than words set to a beat with instruments playing in the background; I heard it as all the wonderful and terrifying things music can be. I expanded from there, of course, but even now I'll still listen to Sgt. Pepper from time to time, and Abbey Road, and the "White Album."

Today though I think make a nice playlist that's John's and John's alone. Just my way of saying "thanks."