Mark David Chapman Denied Parole A Fifth Time

Mark David Chapman, the man who shot and killed John Lennon in on December 8th, 1980, was denied parole for the fifth time today. Chapman, currently serving a 20 years-to-life sentence in Attica prison for the Lennon slaying, will spend at least another two years behind bars before having another parole hearing. Despite having a record of good behavior since 1994, the parole board once again denied Chapman's parole, citing "concern for the public safety and welfare." Lennon's widow Yoko Ono also lobbied against Chapman's release.

• 
  MUSIC Exclusive Live Chat With Linkin Park and Incubus
• 
  MOVIES & TV Peter Travers: 'The Avengers' Has it All
• 
  POLITICS Matt Taibbi: Jon Corzine Is the Original Zimmerman
• 
  VIDEOS Exclusive Premiere: Tenacious D's 'Tinnitus'

Song Stories

“Piano Man”

Billy Joel | 1973

Billy Joel’s first hit, “Piano Man,” was – ironically – an autobiographical lament about how his first album wasn’t a hit. When Cold Spring Harbor didn’t take off, Joel briefly became a lounge pianist in Los Angeles, and this song, about that experience, expressed his frustrations and fears at the time: “And they sit at the bar and put bread in my jar/And say, ‘Man, what are you doing here?’” “It was all right,” Joel said later, about the gig. “I got free drinks and union scale, which was the first steady money I’d made in a long time.”

More Song Stories entries »

Twitter