On this day in 1980, singer and songwriter John Lennon (1940–1980) was shot and killed outside his apartment building across from New York City’s Central Park by Mark Chapman.

The loss was sudden and heartbreaking. Lennon’s death touched people around the world and stirred musicians to respond in the language he knew best. In 1982, Queen’s Freddie Mercury offered a tribute in Life Is Real, singing, “Lennon is a genius, living in every pore.”

Elton John turned his grief toward remembrance in Empty Garden (1982), reflecting on the violence of that night with the line, “It’s funny how an insect can damage so much grain.”

Bruce Springsteen recalled Lennon as a source of courage and joy, saying, “He had a lot of courage and humor. He was wonderful to have in the world. I’m still angry he’s not here.”

The loss also inspired Lennon’s closest musical friends. Mourning his friend, fellow Beatle George Harrison wrote All Those Years Ago, offering the prayerful line, “Deep in the darkest night I send out a prayer to you.”

Paul McCartney, looking back on his writing partner in 2005 as “one of the great men” of the past century, wrote Here Today as a conversation he wished he could still have. In it he sings, “I still remember how it was before, and I am holding back the tears no more. I love you.”

Decades later, Lennon lives on through his music and words. His best-known solo hit, Imagine (1971), has become an anthem for change and peace, inviting listeners to picture a kinder world:

You may say I’m a dreamer,
but I’m not the only one.
I hope someday you’ll join us,
and the world will live as one.