Drag, isn't it?

Most of the world learned about John's death on December 9, 1980, including Paul McCartney.  Paul says about learning of John's murder, "I was at home, and I got a phone call. It was early in the morning.... I think it was like that for everyone. It was just so horrific that you couldn't take it in – I couldn't take it in. Just for days, you just couldn't think that he was gone. So, yeah, it was just a huge shock and then I had to tell Linda and the kids. It was very difficult. It was really difficult for everyone. That was like a really big shock, I think, in most people's lives. A bit like Kennedy, there were certain moments like that."  He goes on to say, "For me it was just so sad that I wasn't going to see him again, and we weren't going to hang out."

As most of us know, Paul went ahead and went into the recording studio that day and says that he listened to  recently recorded material because he simply didn't feel like sitting at home.   He says in his 1984 Playboy interview that when he returned home that evening he sat and watched the news with his children and cried all night.   But before he made it home that evening, reporters shoved a microphone at him and asked him what he thought to which Paul said those famous words, "Drag, isn't it?"    But really what more could McCartney say?   It WAS a drag. 

These photos were taken on December 9, 1980 by Linda McCartney.    They really stand out to me because they aren't the typical clear photos Linda takes.    It is almost as if the photos themselves were mourning as well.