John Lennon 1940 -
1980
Two
Spirits Dancing
On this website, I
give a very brief outline of the importance of parallels and coincidences and
synchronicities in this murder...
I explain why Mark
Chapman murdered John Lennon...
why Chapman signed
off from his job as "John Lennon"....
how Chapman felt a
part of himself was threatened by John Lennon....
how Chapman was
acutely aware of strange coincidences all around him....
how Chapman
believed John Lennon was a phoney....
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The psychological
background...
Chapman suffered
delusions from his childhood. In his early teens, he heard voices that he attributed to
"Little People" who lived in the walls of his bedroom. Later in life, his
disturbed mental state led him to attempt suicide on at least 2 occasions, and by early
1980, he was receiving psychiatric counselling for severe depression and was battling
against paranoid schizophrenia.
As is typical with
paranoid schizophrenics, Chapman became convinced that he was able to perceive special
messages that are hidden from the rest of us.
Every thing around
him could take on a special significance; every word of every song was speaking to him;
images on television were aimed at him; the text of a book had been written especially for
him. That was his state of mind in 1980.
And to the paranoid
schizophrenic, these signals must be responded to - they cannot be ignored, even though
the rest of the world chooses to do so.
Such individuals
sometimes see themselves as a champion, even as a Saviour, someone who has been given a
special signal and a special mission.
Mark Chapman saw
signs and signals and synchronicities at every turn - he heard the signs in the lyrics he
listened to, saw signals in the album covers, and on television, and in the books he read.
But why was John
Lennon his victim?
Why at that
particular time?
What triggered off
the chain of events that ended with Lennon's murder?
To answer these questions, we must look at the books, the words, the lyrics, the music and
the pictures that inspired and guided Mark Chapman. These provide the real clues to the
murder, because Chapman regarded them as special signs or signals beamed directly to him. |
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Significant
albums:
Chapman was a keen rock fan,
especially of Todd Rundgren, and he would listen to the albums non-stop and learn all the
lyrics off by heart. He would also study the album covers for clues. The 1963 "With
The Beatles" cover, one of the first albums Chapman bought, was mirrored by Todd's
"Deface The Music" released just a few days before the murder. To Chapman, the
signal was clear - de-face the music of the Beatles, or de-face one of the Beatles. |
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Chapman
recognised that Lennon was sending him signals: the chiming bell of "Just Like
Starting Over" on the 1980 "Double Fantasy" album, was a backward echo of
the sombre funeral bell on the "Mother" track on the 1970 "Plastic Ono
Band" album. For Lennon, the use of these two bells completed a ten year cycle; for
Chapman it was a signal, a call to action.
Chapman was also fully aware of the ironic title
"Double Fantasy" - he was Lennon's double and the two of them were caught in a
nightmare fantasy. |
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Significant
lyrics:
There are a number of
significant lyrics in this case: Chapman interpreted lyrics as if they had been written
especially for him. Central to my ideas is Lennon's #9Dream from his "Wall &
Bridges" album. From its inception, it was a special song for Lennon - I believe the strange and haunting lyrics of #9Dream are in fact John's
premonition of his own death...
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#9 Dream
-
- So long ago
Was it in a dream, was it just a dream?
I know, yes I know
Seemed so very real, it seemed so real to me Took a walk down the street
Thru the heat whispered trees
I thought I could hear (hear, hear, hear)
Somebody call out my name, as it started to rain
Two spirits dancing so strange
Ah! böwakawa poussé, poussé
Ah! böwakawa poussé, poussé
Ah! böwakawa poussé, poussé
Dream, dream away
Magic in the air, was magic in the air?
I believe, yes I believe
More I cannot say, what more can I say?
On a river of sound
Thru the mirror go round, round
I thought I could feel (feel, feel, feel)
Music touching my soul, something warm, sudden cold
The spirit dance was unfolding
Ah! böwakawa poussé, poussé
Ah! böwakawa poussé, poussé
Ah! böwakawa poussé, poussé
Ah! böwakawa poussé, poussé
Ah! böwakawa poussé, poussé
Ah! böwakawa poussé, poussé
Ah! böwakawa poussé, poussé
Ah! böwakawa poussé, poussé
Ah! böwakawa poussé, poussé
Ah! böwakawa poussé, poussé
Ah! böwakawa poussé, poussé
Lennon sings,
"Was it in a dream? Was it just a dream?" because "It seemed so very real,
it seemed so real to me.." too real to be simply a dream.
He sings of the
"two spirits dancing so strange", two personalities who are drawn together.
Then, a figure steps out in front of him and he hears "somebody call out my name
(John, John, John....)"
It is a dream, but so
real, and everything is coming together, and there is "magic in the air",
because this has been foreseen.
And then the shots
are fired and there is "a river of sound," and "music touching my soul,
something warm, sudden cold," as the 5 bullets find their target.
Then, as Lennon slips
"through the mirror go round, round" towards the other side, and death, he is
aware that for him, "the spirit dance was unfolding...."
Lennon himself gave
special significance to this song because it came to him almost complete, in the middle of
the night - it came out of nowhere, like a message.
In the very title he
uses the number 9, his special, mystical and magical number. |
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Significant
works of art:
Chapman started collecting works
of art, and spent borrowed money to acquire them. Of greatest significance was Dali's
"The Metamorphosis of Narcissus" with its mirror imagery of reflections, its
idea of the growth of a parallel identity. Based on the myth of Echo and Narcissus, who
falls in love with his own image, the painting perfectly expressed Chapman's disturbed
state of mind and personality problems.
Chapman's other favourite work of
art was Norman Rockwell's "Triple Self-Portrait", which shows the idea of a
split personality. |
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The
importance of television:
Both Lennon and Chapman watched
television almost non-stop. Chapman regarded it as a kind of receiver or mirror in his
living room. It was beaming signals directly at him 24 hours a day, and he had learned to
wait patiently and decipher the signals.
Todd Rundgren had played with
ideas of "television" in most of his album designs, using the 625 horizontal
lines on "The Hermit of Mink Hollow" and test cards on "Adventures In
Utopia". Chapman had interpreted these signals as a series of messages for him to
fine tune and wait for the key signal, that would come via the tv screen.
When it came, the signal that
scrolled across the screen was "Thou Shalt Not Kill", which led Chapman back to
a close reading of sections of the Bible. |
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Salvador
Dali had also experimented with television, or "Dalivision", by using blocks of
light and shade and colour to show our limited perception. To Chapman, this suggested we
see things dimly at best, unless we sharpen our senses and fine tune our reception of the
signals all around us. |
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Significant
books:
The main influence was of course J
D Salinger's "The Catcher In The Rye" which Chapman read and re-read during 1979
and 1980, until he came to believe the book had been written to express his life: he
identified so strongly with fictional character of the book, he told his wife he wanted to
change his name to Holden Caulfield.
Holden mirrored Chapman and
Chapman mirrored Holden.
After the murder, Chapman sat down
on the pavement, took out his copy of "The Catcher In The Rye" and calmly began
to read. |
Would you like to know more?
"Two
Spirits Dancing" is now available in paperback, for just $15.65
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I
have spent years researching the murder of John Lennon, trying to determine why and how
this tragic and shocking murder came about.
This website gives only a small fraction of
my findings.
If you would like what I
believe is the definitive account of the murder, I have written a full
factual account of the murder entitled "Through The Mirror Go
Round". It is a meticulously researched and fully illustrated ebook
that will be of interest to anyone wishing to know why and how this
shocking murder occurred.
"Through
The Mirror Go Round" is available from the
The John Lennon Store from just $5.00 US.
More
information about "Through The Mirror Go Round" and my
theories about John Lennon's murder can be found on
www.lennon-chapman.com
Alternatively,
you may be interested in my "novelized" version of the murder
entitled "Two Spirits Dancing - The Murder of John Lennon."
This ebook version is totally
true to the facts, but the whole sequence of events leading up to the murder is presented
in a 'novelized' form to make the story easier to follow, and to show how the lives of
John Lennon and Mark Chapman did indeed take parallel tracks. It reads
like a murder fiction, but is deeply rooted in the facts of the case.
The book is a full 90,000
words long, includes a detailed timeline and a concise countdown to the murder. It makes
fascinating reading.
It is
also available from
The
John Lennon Store from just $5.00 US.
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