The final words said by John Lennon have been revealed by the concierge working at the front desk of the building where the Beatles guitarist was shot at.
READ MORE: The Beatles: every song ranked in order of greatness
The new Apple TV+ documentary series, John Lennon: Murder Without a Trial – which investigates Lennon’s shooting by an obsessed fan named Mark David Chapman on December 8 1980 – shared the moment in which the ‘Beautiful Boy’ singer was shot and what he said shortly after.
Jay Hastings was working as a concierge on the front desk at the Dakota building on the Upper West Side in Manhattan, New York, where Lennon and his family lived and where he was shot outside of. He recalled in the documentary: “He runs past me. He goes, ‘I’m shot’. He had blood coming out of his mouth. He just collapsed on the floor.”
He continued: “I half rolled him to his back and took his glasses off, put them on the desk. And Yoko was screaming, ‘Get an ambulance, get an ambulance, get an ambulance.’”
Another witness featured in the documentary was Richard Peterson, a taxi driver who was sitting in his car in front of the building and watched Lennon get fatally shot.
“Lennon was walking in and this kid says, ‘John Lennon.’ He was a chunky guy. I’m looking at him through the front window of my cab. I’m looking at him shoot him. This guy just shot John Lennon,” Peterson said.
He added: “I thought they were making a movie, but I didn’t see no lights or cameras or anything so I realised, ‘hey, this ain’t no movie.’”
John Lennon: Murder Without a Trial is set to premiere on December 6 on Apple TV+. Not only will it investigate the famous murder, it will also explore many of the conspiracy theories that have emerged since the Beatles’ guitarist’s death.
According to a press release, the three-part documentary will reveal “shocking details of Lennon’s tragic murder” as well as interviews with some of his closest friends, along with Chapman’s defence lawyers, psychiatrists, detectives and prosecutors.
Elsewhere in the documentary, Chapman reportedly apologised after shooting him dead.
In other news, The Beatles’ track, ‘Now and Then’ landed the Number 10 spot on the NME 50 best songs of 2023 list.
Speaking of the track, NME said: “What a thrill to be writing about a new Beatles song in 2023. The band’s ‘final’ single, worked up from a demo John Lennon recorded in the late ‘70s, was originally planned for release in the ‘90s.”
They continued: “Unfortunately, the heart-wrenching ballad seemed unworkable due to its murky sound – until AI wizard Peter Jackson galloped in with the tech to clean it up. With a little help from producer Giles Martin (son of the Beatles’ production guru George), this meant Paul and Ringo could blend in George Harrison’s guitar and finish the track. A gorgeous swansong for the Fab Four’s world-shaping friendship and creative genius.”
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