More than two decades after John Lennon was murdered, Lennon's former bandmate,
Paul McCartney, read excerpts from a poem directed
at Lennon's killer on national TV. Time didn't dull his pointed words.
If there's one thing fans of a given form of entertainment or sport love to do, it's
debating who's the best of the best; comparing the virtues of one superstar over another,
often controversially deeming a person or group to be the very best of all time.
When it comes to determining the best band of all time, however, there's one particular
name that's practically beyond debate, one that even other heavyweights have to pay
due respect to. In late 2019, Liam Gallagher of the 1990s hitmakers Oasis, told MOJO Magazine,
"We weren't that great anyway ... we weren't pushing the boundaries,
we weren't Pink Floyd or the Beatles."
However you feel about the music of the latter band, it's hard to dispute the cultural impact
of the four lads from Liverpool, whose most famous lineup consisted of Paul McCartney,
John Lennon, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr. The days of Beatlemania,
with exuberant fans chasing The Beatles through the streets and screaming through their concerts,
were unlike anything the music world had ever seen, and perhaps will ever see again.
The band broke up in 1970, and just 10 short years later, Lennon was shot and killed at
the age of 40. On December 8, 1980, Lennon was on his way to his New York City home,
returning from a session in which he was recording new music alongside his wife
Yoko Ono. He was outside his apartment building at just before 11 pm when Mark David Chapman,
with whom Lennon had interacted earlier in the day, approached and fired. Chapman shot Lennon
four times, and the musician was declared dead at Roosevelt Hospital about a half hour later.
Lennon's murder struck a profound emotional blow to millions around the world. McCartney,
in particular, was devastated by the death of his former bandmate.
"Just, for days, you just, you just couldn't think that he was gone, you know."
He wrote a rage-filled poem directed at Chapman — one that perfectly encapsulates the sadness,
confusion, and anger that the world felt when it lost Lennon.
In April 2001, McCartney appeared on "Good Morning
America" to open up about the harrowing and earth-shattering topic of his former
songwriting partner John Lennon's untimely demise. McCartney said,
"We'd been robbed of this beautiful human being."
He added that all he could think about in regards to Chapman was "jerk of all jerks."
This duly became the title of McCartney's particularly pointed poem about the killer,
which he read parts of on the morning show.
The poem in question is included in McCartney's book, "Blackbird Singing: Poems and Lyrics,
1965-1999." McCartney has written lyrics for hundreds of songs, so it's no wonder that he would
also turn to poetry to express himself as well. "Jerk of All Jerks" is a particularly emotional
piece. Much of it generally refers to an unlikable person who undoes charitable work, disposes of
nuclear waste, and wages war, but one line in particular is obviously focused on Chapman:
"I'm the guy with a pistol who kills your best friend."
McCartney said on "Good Morning America,"
"We're all at risk from that kind of person. But that,
to me, had to do with the guy who killed John."
Despite their differences over the years, it's clear McCartney saw Lennon as a positive
force in the world. The poem expresses McCartney's frustration that Chapman
snuffed out Lennon's philanthropy and words of peace in an instant.
The book "The Last Days Of John Lennon," by James Patterson with Casey Sherman and Dave Wedge,
notes that Chapman had been a fan of Lennon's. Wedge told The New York Post that Chapman had
recently turned on Lennon, considering the former Beatle to be a "fraud" who "sold out."
In Chapman's view, Lennon was not honoring his medium, but making music simply for the money.
On June 23, 1981, The New York Times reported that Chapman's sentencing was a complex affair before
a closed court. Chapman had pleaded guilty, but the defense tried to argue for a reduced sentence,
claiming that Chapman wasn't in his right mind when he shot Lennon. By contrast, prosecutors
argued Chapman had, quote, "committed a deliberate, premeditated execution."
Chapman was sentenced to 20 years to life in prison and remains a prisoner at Green
Haven Correctional Facility in New York. He was most recently denied parole in September 2022.