We're taking you back to 1980, to the evening when John Lennon was shot in New York City. This sound file lets you listen in on what New Yorkers heard that evening — December 8 — as they switched from one radio station to another. The event was covered across the radio dial, and you hear the news media starting to piece together exactly what happened at the Dakota. This recording was put online by Beware of the Blog, which we indexed in our list of MP3 Music Blogs.

As an aside, Beware of the Blog has also posted some mp3 files that feature jazz singer Keely Smith singing covers of various Beatles' songs. Here is her version of "Do You Want to Know a Secret." Lastly, if you haven't already, you should check out the 3-hour Rolling Stone interview with John Lennon that we mentioned in our recent piece, The Beatles: Podcasts From Yesterday. It gives you a lot of insight into the man, his good traits and bad.