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The "Imagine" circle mosaic at Strawberry Fields in New York City's Central Park. Photo by Spencer Platt/Newsmakers/Getty Images.

Thursday, Dec. 8, is the 25th anniversary of John Lennon's death. CBC Arts Online wants your Lennon memories. Where were you the night he died? What did his music mean to you? What is your favourite Lennon song?

Visit our Feedback form to weigh in.

Your Lennon memories:

I remember having coffee in Ladner, B.C., early in the morning of December 9, 1980, listening to CBC when I heard of John Lennon's assassination. Disbelief gave way to tears in the knowledge my hero had been murdered. A few days later I was on a plane out of Seattle on the way to the UK via New York and met a young doctor who was working in the emergency department of the hospital where John was taken. It was strangely comforting for me to hear her account of his arrival at the hospital and helped me say goodbye. I saw (but did not hear) the Beatles in Hull, U.K., on November 12 1964 at aged 12 and became an instant John fan. I also went to Liverpool University in the mid 1970s. His music, his spirituality, his politics and activitism are woven into the fabric of my life.

When the good die young, they live longer in our hearts and minds. John's message will always live in my heart and his music in my mind. He was a man who used his fame for goodness and peace in the world. I am grateful for John Lennon's existence and having shared an era, a city, a country and a planet with him because he has made a difference.

Barbara Golder
Victoria, British Columbia

Merry X-mas Yoko and to your immediate family. I know that Peace will be given a chance for us.

Charlie Kowcharlie
Inukjuak, Quebec

As a teenager, my relationship with my father was typical. My father saw the world thru his eyes and believed I should live mine that way too. A contentious topic for the two of us was music. I liked Rock n Roll. He didn't. Many dinner table conversations revolved around his lack of respect for something I loved. My father's favourite target was John and Yoko. Being a teenager, without the maturity of life's lessons learned, nor the confidence given thru life's experience - I was never able to convince him that his opinion was wrong. Naturally, John and Yoko's activities didn't always make it easy for me.

I was up late, finishing a major essay due the next a.m. Well past midnight, a soft knock on my bedroom door broke the monotony of my work. I opened it, and there stood my father. Wearing pajamas. By the look in his eyes I knew he was going to tell me something I didn't want to hear. I never will forget those words: "Son, one of those guys you like so much is dead." In the days before CNN, before 24 hr. news channels, the only way to get breaking news was the radio. My father stood there, feeling for me, and agonizing over the misery I plunged into when I discovered who the "one of those guys you like so much" was, and how this agent for peace was violently taken away from us.

Later that week, my father drove me to Parliament Hill to join in the 10 minutes of peace. At the drop off, when I said "thanks" for the ride, I could see in his eyes - he was grieving too. It was like an affirmation to me, that the world had lost a great person.

"Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans"

John Woodard
Ottawa, Ontario

I am grieving as are all Lennon fans today. But not as much as Yoko, Sean and Julian, they have lost much, much more. My heart goes out to them.

Monica
Sudbury, Ontario

I was working as a waitress in L.A. the night I heard that Lennon was murdered...I worked on like a zombie, dry-eyed but grieving. When I got off at 4 a.m., I just drove, mindlessly, seeking escape from the city of Angels. I drove up into the State Park and then roamed off onto dirt roads, climbing through rolling hills as the sky began to lighten. The radio stations were all playing his songs--I tuned from one to the next, listening and crying. As the sun came up the station played "Imagine" and I had such a sense of peace, finally. I knew his words would live on, in our hearts and minds of people all around the earth.

Jennifer Redmond
San Diego, California

I was 12 in 1963 when the Beatles came into our world. My teen years focused on everything Beatles: records, magazines, movies, Ed Sullivan. I am thankful to be part of the generation that was changed so radically by the Beatles. When John died, I was pregnant with my first son, and it was a very emotional time. I remember that some mothers named their babies for John. I bought every magazine and newspaper that week and keep all the mementos with me to this day.

Carol Pascoe
Ottawa, Ontario

I was 28 years old and teaching high school in Fort St. John, B.C., at the time. I had been playing records that evening and the last track before bedtime was Get Back, followed by the "hope we've passed the audition" remark. A typical Lennonism. I had just got into bed when the phone rang. One of my oldest friends was on the line from Vancouver. We had grown up together on Vancouver Island with the Beatles providing the soundtrack to our teenage years. He broke the news of John's death to me. I spent the rest of the night watching television and listening to the radio, trying to come to terms with what I was seeing and hearing. I was in a state of shock for the next couple of days but still got through my daily routine. The tears finally came on the Wednesday night when my mother called to express her condolences and acknowledge the influence John and his fellow Beatles had had on me ever since I bought She Loves You, my first ever single, in 1963. A few years ago I started attending the annual Beatle Week festival in Liverpool and was inspired by a trip to the Strawberry Field orphanage to write a Beatlesque tribute song, which one of the tribute bands recorded earlier this year. Instant Karma is my favourite Lennon solo song. We all shine on.

Alan Millen
Zurich, Switzerland

His music was my youth - my youth is gone, but the music still shapes me.

Pauline
Ottawa, Ontario

I share John Lennon's birthday and was always proud of that fact. When I was 18 I met a person who was to become my best friend - she shared Paul McCartney's birthday. I always joked that were the female incarnation of Lennon & McCartney song writing genius, though our songs never achieved even a fraction of their success or brilliance. 3 years after that John Lennon died. I was in Fergus Falls, Minnesota at the time, travelling. at the moment I heard the news. I was in the office of an old Methodist church, surrounded by dark wood and old books. I was with people who were quite a bit younger than me who just didn't understand why I would be crying at this news. But cry I did. My favourite Lennon song is 'Imagine' - it is so timeless and especiallly relevant today. The smell of old books still makes me think of the day he died.

Leah Hearne
Rosebud, Alberta

I was fifteen years old and my English tutor, who was also the grade eight English teacher and my basketball coach- Mr Salmon, had just given me and I still have it, his extra copy of the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. I loved it. And I played it over and over and over. I became a John Lennon fan, snapping up Double Fantasy as soon as it came out. And fully understanding the emotion in every one of his songs, talking about each one with my girlfriend and class mates whenever I could. My job in high school was to shovel the high school stairs. I lived in a very small town in the gaspe coast called Murdochville and we got lots of snow. I would get up most winter mornings, and winter started in November. At 5:30 to make sure we had not been dumped on, I remember getting up on Dec 8th, and turning on the CBC, I went to bed to Brave New Waves most nights, and heard that John Lennon had been shot. I looked out the window and saw that we had also been dumped on. I got dressed up in my many layers, grabbed my shovel and made my way to the school- a few blocks away. I shoveled and I cried. I beat the snow banks, yelled and wondered why. That day I wore a white shirt and a black armband to school.

C. Mackenzie
Halifax, Nova Scotia

I can't get through December 8 of any year without remembering the sick feeling of senseless loss when I found out John had been murdered. For me, it felt like the final fall from the innocence of childhood -- the fall referred to in Catcher in the Rye -- the book John's murderer was holding right after the murder. I was in my last year of high school and the excitement of what would happen in post secondary life was then tinged with the thought that nothing was going to be as good any more. The dream was gone. The hope that the Beatles might one day write together and sing together again was wiped out. I remember exactly how I found out, what I was doing and what I was doing in the days surrounding his murder. I remember the music on the radio, the rest of that sad Christmas season. Each year I wonder what John Lennon would be doing if he was alive. Would he be working with the latest and greatest of the next generation of performers? Would he be leading Geldof and Bono in activism or criticizing them? How would he respond to Paul McCartney's constant appearances in the news? Anyway I reflect on it, John Lennon's sorely missed.

J. Langdon
Toronto, Ontario

My sympathies to John Lennon and his family of his murder. No doubt it will be a difficult time for them.

The hyperbole surrounding his death makes me question the proportionality of the media coverage given who he was. Lennon was a musician, albeit a well known and popular one. Perhaps the media and the fans ought to, using the phase put most eloquently by William Shatner, "Get a life!" Let us focus on real issues such as Chad, income disparity and put the anniversary of Lennon's death as what it should be an acknowledgement of history as opposed to the feast day of a "god".

John G Watters
Ottawa, Ontario

I will never forget the night that he died. I had just moved to Montreal in order to pursue a BFA in visual art. I was still in the process of learning French. My studio mates and I would frequent the Université de Montréal nightclub in order to dance the night away. Although the music was in English, any announcements were in French. At that time of year the pressure was on because of Christmas and final projects due. The music and the whole dancing scene helped us overcome homesickness, money worries, and the effects of too much to do in too short a time. We were in the throes of dancing, when the music stopped. There was silence. Then, the DJ announced, "Nous avons appris que John Lennon est mort." I couldn't believe what I had heard. I thought that I had misinterpreted the announcement. Then, the DJ played "Imagine". The whole club was abuzz talking about Lennon's death. I soon learned that my ears had not deceived me. We spent the rest of the evening dancing to a requiem consisting of John Lennon's music. When I got home that night, my mother called me from Saskatchewan. She had heard the news as well. She expressed her condolences. She said that his death marked the ending of an era in my life and that I would likely never forget it as a result. She was right.

Brenda Sherring
Yorkton, Saskatchewan

I was at home with one of my 2 roommates. My roommate, Marlene, came home and told us. We were 20 years old and it was unbelievable that he had been killed. Favorite songs: Imagine, Give Peace a Chance, So this is Christmas at Christmastime.

Marty
Winnipeg, Manitoba

I was 15 years old, a HUGE Beatles fan to begin with. We were buying our Christmas tree from the Sears store at Metrotown in Burnaby (it was just a Sears store back then). We climbed into my dad's van after tying down the tree and when my dad started the engine; CKNW was playing a Beatles tune. My dad muttered that it was certainly not the normal content for this all-news station ( I think it was more to the point of “where's the blasted Canucks game?”) and my mom said out loud “I wonder if one of them died?” After the song ended, Jack Cullen, their late-night DJ came on the air and broke the news. It was a silent drive home, as we continued to listen. I can't remember what the tune was, but I like to think it was Imagine. Several years later I had the good fortune to visit New York City and took the time to find the John Lennon memorial in Central Park. When we entered the space, there were people all around, but no-one made a sound. It was so peaceful, so silent, and meditative, like John had imagined our world could be. Someone placed a strawberry over the "I" in the stone word "Imagine." I felt for a moment as though his spirit touched me. I often wonder what could have been had we not lost him.

Janice Froese
Richmond, British Columbia

John Lennon was a truly great artist, writer and human being. His death was so very tragic and unnecessary. I remember being at home and when the news bulletin came on the radio I started to cry. "Give Peace A Chance" was the song that ran through my head and it still does to this day. The stories in the papers the past few days reflect on his achievements and what might have been. One comment was the headline from the Time magazine that said that the music died the night John Lennon was killed. Long live his memory and his music.

Karen Foubert
Ottawa, Ontario

When I heard the news I was lying in bed listening to the Morning Show; my routine was to listen to the national news report before I got up to start the day. The lead story was John Lennon's death and it brought me bolt upright; I turned to my husband whose face bore a look of shock. 25 years later I still cannot understand the insanity that could cause someone to kill a such a gentle & peaceful man. My favourite songs: Starting Over, Woman and of course, Imagine.

Lorraine
St. John’s, Newfoundland

I was living with several roommates and first heard the news on a late evening radio news report. I woke everyone to tell them the news. We cried and hugged each other for hours, well into the wee hours. John's music shaped our generation and is still as important now as it was then. There were so many favorites but if I had to choose one it would have to be 'Imagine'.

Gerry Walton
Royston, British Columbia

I was travelling in Central America when I heard the news. Upon entering a corner store, the clerk began waving madly at my companion and I, "Los bee at lees, los bee at lees, muerto, muerto". We finally figured out what he meant but could get no details, so spent the rest of the day tracking down English newspapers. We did not get to share the experience with our own culture, but frequently received condolences from kind locals along the way.

Kate Hemenway
Vancouver, British Columbia

I lived in Walkerton, Ontario and remember it like yesterday. I would always get up really early and read before starting my day. That morning I turned on the radio by chance only to hear of John's death. I was completely stunned; I immediately woke my wife up and we both listened to the horrible events that happened the evening before. Tragically, it was one of those "flashbulb" moments, those that are forever imprinted in one.

Peter Lehmann
Arlington, Texas

I was twelve. I was building a model of a ‘68 Plymouth Roadrunner in my room, and as usual, I was next to my Woolco stereo. I wasn't a Beatles fan at the time, but I was crushed. I learned about the Beatles looking at the roots of my favorite band - Rush. John was an important figure in who we are as a forward thinking culture. I think he simply wanted everyone to enjoy life and music. "Starting Over" took on new meaning for me soon after. John Lennon is immortal, because he comes out in the good things we do. We owe so much to John. Thanks CBC.

Stewart Mclellan
Victoria, British Columbia

I had my 29th birthday the day before John Lennon was brutally killed. My husband and brother have since died, but they were alive then. My father told me, very gently, that someone I cared about was dead. I remember how surreal it all felt. I thought that John was the most talented, funniest, and sexiest Beatle. We said that in those days: who's your favourite Beatle? He's still my favourite. I used to close my bedroom door, and listen to all the albums, and try to sing like John Lennon. I've had several times since Dec. 8th, 1980 when I cried that hard. But I will always remember how gut-wrenched I felt when my father told me that John Lennon had been murdered. "Imagine" how it could have been.

Sue Roberts
St. John’s, Newfoundland

I'm a singer/songwriter who, like almost every other, considers the Beatles to be like a part of my family. I grew up hearing about them from my parents. I was only six years old when Lennon was gunned down which incidently, happened on my dad's birthday, and for whatever reason, I don't remember hearing about it, or about the Beatles until a couple of years later. All I can say is that of all of my musical heroes that I wish could still be with us today, that sentiment has never been felt by me more strongly for anyone other than John Lennon. I really wish he were still here. A great musician, songwriter and human being.

J.P. Greco
Brampton, Ontario