Lennon's legacy

TWENTY years ago today John Lennon was shot dead in New York. Britain awoke to hear the tragic news. Paul McCartney, whose song-writing marriage with Lennon had ended in bitter divorce a decade earlier, summed up the national feeling. "I can't take it in at the moment," he told reporters outside his Sussex home.

"John was a great guy. He is going to be missed by the whole world."

Paul was right. Lennon is still missed by much of the world. His legend goes beyond that of other pop stars, probably because he was more complex than most.

By turns he was mop-top and a hairy hippy, angry young man, clown, writer, political agitator, anguished artist, absent father, doting father, icon and, ultimately, martyr.

With The Beatles he had changed the world of music, fashion, culture. Without them he sought to change the rest of it, becoming an unofficial ambassador for the peace movement.

That was why his loss was felt so keenly across the world. For some, the violent death of the peace campaigner marked the end of a dream begun in the free love era of the late Sixties.

It was a random, stupid murder, the sort that compels modern superstars to surround themselves with security guards. Earlier that day, loner Mark Chapman had approached Lennon outside the Dakota building where he lived with second wife Yoko Ono in New York. The singer signed an autograph and moved on.

When he returned with Yoko that evening, Chapman was waiting. Witnesses saw the two men arguing and then Chapman shot him in the chest five times.

In the ambulance, Yoko screamed over and over: "Tell me it isn't true". It was true.

Tributes began to pour in. The late Stacey Brewer, pop correspondent for the Evening Press for many years, recalled in that night's paper Lennon's two 1963 visits to the Rialto in Fishergate, York, with the other Beatles.

"Although it was Paul McCartney as the cherubic sex symbol that most of the girl fans went to see, John Lennon was the dominant personality and chief spokesman," he wrote.

"He did most of the song introductions on stage. And off-stage he was still dominant; forthright in his opinions."

The Evening Press leader column considered his partnership with McCartney. "There was something of the bizarre about their music - and there is a bizarre note to Lennon's death. But he leaves a legacy in music which has significance to a whole generation."

In fact, his music has become significant to more than one generation. Virtually every band that has emerged in the past 40 years owes something to The Beatles, such was their ground-breaking influence.

Current rockers Oasis are little more than a brilliantly successful Beatles tribute band, with Liam Gallagher making the homage complete by naming his young son Lennon.

Thousands of people who were not born when The Beatles split up still buy their records. One, the album with every Beatles number one, is this Christmas's runaway bestseller.

Among this army of younger fans is Angela Goldthorpe, assistant promoter at caf-bar and live music venue Fibbers, in Stonebow House, York. She was six years old when Lennon was gunned down.

"You reach a certain stage in life when you must get the essential collection, the Dark Side Of The Moon by Pink Floyd, The Beatles' White Album and so on.

"It's one of those things that's taken for granted."

The undimmed influence of The Beatles on today's music scene is evident in Fibbers' listings, which regularly promotes new bands as being inspired by the Liverpool foursome.

For anyone involved in the Sixties music scene, John Lennon's legacy is even more important. Norman Fowler, headteacher of St George's RC Primary School in York, was better known as the frontman for Steve Cassidy And The Escorts in the Sixties.

"The Beatles brought rock'n'roll back from the Americans. They were a huge influence on every band," he said.

"All the bands starting out then were aping Cliff Richard and the Shadows or the Americans.

"I remember when we were working at the Rialto. The bands backing American singers all talked with a cockney accent.

"If you wanted to be a proper rock'n'roller you pretended to be cockney.

"After The Beatles everybody in a band suddenly seemed to be from Liverpool." He saw John, Paul, George and Ringo perform at the Rialto when they were the support act for Helen Shapiro.

"They were so exciting, and ended up finishing the show instead of Helen Shapiro.

"They had such an exciting, rock'n'roll sound. It was obvious right then that they were going to be something terrific, something new in the world."

As for John Lennon, "it seemed at the time that he was the brains of the outfit in a certain regard," Mr Fowler said.

"If you like, he was the intellectual of the band. John Lennon always had that different quality, that 'otherness' about him."

The musician's death was "just unbelievable", Mr Fowler said. His son is in New York, and he has visited him there and seen Strawberry Fields, the Lennon memorial in Central Park, and the Dakota building. "It's atmospheric. It's the only way to describe it."

Peter Hope, of Cassadys second hand record shop in Gillygate, York, is another big John Lennon fan. "His contribution to our culture is immeasurable, especially his work in The Beatles.

"They created the atmosphere that we lived in at that time. I think he was less influential when he left The Beatles but his work for the peace movement was astonishing.

"That a character as famous as him should be prepared to be foolish for peace was magnificent. And Imagine must be one of the most popular pop songs ever."

He was in the US at the time of Lennon's murder and couldn't take in the news.

"We were the same ages. It seemed he was always going to be here. In some ways we grew up together. It was not to be."

Peter doesn't believe Lennon would still be making a great impact on the music scene if he were alive today. "I think he had said it all. I don't think he had any need to say anything."

Mr Fowler is not so sure. "He constantly reinvented himself. He constantly evolved. He would always create new ideas."