I was living in DC and had just rejoiced in Reagan’s election. I had loved The Beatles all my life, especially John because of his creativity and playfulness with words. Whereas Paul was into show business and more Tin Pan Alley, John was far more poetic. Politically, the left latched onto him and used him and I drank the same liberal Kool-Aid every bit as much as he had up until Carter (I was 24 in 1980) but Carter cured me of liberalism. He left Britain due to its socialism and loved the U.S. Shortly before he was murdered, after watching a news report about NYC police he donated money to them to purchase bullet proof vests. Would that he had worn one.
“He left Britain due to its socialism and loved the U.S”
I don’t blame him for not wanting to live in the UK of the 1970s with massive taxes and unions striking every five minutes. A lot of musicians at that time recorded in France for tax reasons. And Lennon had been trying around his death to become a US citizen.
One of the more interesting stories I read about JL was about an October 1980 interview he did with Playboy, which was one of his last. He said that he didn’t understand the continued fascination with the Beatles and their music, because as far as he was concerned, that was all part of the past and he’d moved on from it.