Elton John Empty Garden. I still get emotional and shaky when I think of the night John Lennon was shot and killed12/8/1980. I was the professional DJ that night in a club and dropped the record I had in my hand when I was informed of this shocking event. It was and still is my “Where were you when J.F.K. was killed?” moment. This song was a tribute to John Lennon from his good friend and Godfather to his second son Sean, Elton John. It made remembering John all that much more difficult and real.
John Lennon was my hero growing up. His words and music about peace, love and personal action are still with me today and have shaped my being. I was crushed when he died. Somehow, Elton being a friend of his and one of my favorite writers at the time made it seem better since he too was grieving the loss of a special man personally. Elton John Empty Garden.
Elton had performed on several Lennon songs and even appeared onstage with him at his final concert in 1974. When he performed this song at a sold-out Madison Square Garden show in August 1982, Elton was joined onstage by Lennon’s wife Yoko Ono and Sean Lennon.
There has been some discussion of which “garden” Elton John Empty Garden was writing about. Perhaps the “empty garden among the flagstones” are the thousands of flowers that were left at the entryway to the Dakota that night and through the following days. People simply did not know what to do with their grief and so they gathered outside the Dakota with their flowers and radios and sang his songs into the morning. Yoko had to send her assistant outside saying she loved the singing but it was keeping her awake so would they gather again that Sunday and remember how “John loved and prayed for the human race. Please pray the same for him.” Others say John’s beauty and creativity itself was ‘the garden’. Still others argue that it is actually Madison Square Garden where they played together especially John’s last performance. Regardless of the truth, all of them have equal and different pull at my heart, they all work for me and feel true.
This remains one of the most touching and emotional songs for me. “Hey Hey Johnny, won’t you come out to play?”Elton John Empty Garden.
I miss you John. Where are you?
Elton John Empty Garden