Last Recorded Audio of John Lennon, 12/8/80

YouTube in its infinite wisdom served this up to me today, and I spent a melancholy five minutes listening. Where do people get this stuff? How do they get it? I wonder when Yoko passes, will there be a lot of new things to listen to? And will I still be young enough to care? 🙂

As much as we’ve (rightly) discussed the enervation of John’s Dakota years — the weight loss, the torpor — and been generally skeptical of the “househusband”-focused PR John was doing in late 1980, it’s fun/sad to remember just how young and charming Lennon still was, and how much promise there seemed to be for the future. Beatles reunion or not, whether his tunes were goldies or moldies, it was always great having John Lennon in the world. That’s what I try to convey to the young people I know, people who never knew him alive. A remarkable, lively, essential fellow.