This year marks the 25th anniversary of the death of John Lennon, who was murdered in front of his apartment building in New York City on Dec. 8, 1980. In Japan, owing to the time difference, the anniversary is Dec. 9, a day after the anniversary of that other day that will live in infamy. Recently, Lennon's solo catalog has undergone remastering, yet another greatest hits compilation was released, and a Broadway musical about his life and work opened and quickly closed.
In Japan, the commemoration has been site-specific. The annual Dream Power concert, held in October on the anniversary of Lennon's birth by Japanese musicians covering Lennon's songs to raise money for charity, was augmented this year with a tribute album by most of the same Japanese musicians. None of the above would have been possible without the participation of John's widow, Yoko Ono, whose full-time job is curating the Lennon legacy. For years, showbiz journalists have written about Yoko's iron grip on this legacy, which goes beyond royalties and trademark protection to the elevation of Lennon as the Working Class Hero, a title that Yoko may have copyrighted by now. This is the woman who once threatened to sue a company that planned to market a breakfast cereal called Strawberry Fields.
The late Beatle belongs to the world, or, at least, to that generation who grew up listening to him while he was still alive. But he belongs to Yoko first and whatever image we have of him now is mostly filtered through her public-relations machine. Given Lennon's fame and influence it's a huge undertaking, and one that becomes more difficult as time goes by. Yoko herself is 72 and seems to be working even harder to make sure John's memory is designed to her specifications. In an interview that concludes a seven-page feature about Lennon in the Nov. 28 edition of Aera, the writer describes Yoko as an "avant-garde artist" who "captured" the famous musician, and gives the impression that Lennon is one of Yoko's works of art.