The Best of the John Lennon Tributes

The 30th anniversary of John Lennon’s death has inspired remembrances from musicians, family members and other celebrities around the world.

All of Rolling Stone‘s John Lennon Coverage

Yoko Ono wrote a eulogy to Lennon on her website that opens with an anecdote about how Lennon taught her to make tea, and concludes: “The most important gift we received from him was not words, but deeds.”

Yoko Ono Picks John Lennon’s Best Songs

Ono and Lennon’s son Sean spoke with the NME about his father. “Dad was completely happy to run the risk of not being understood,” he said. “He just made the statements that he wanted to make.”

Kinks frontman Ray Davies wrote a touching essay in The New York Times about seeing John and Yoko frequently when they all lived in New York during the 1970s, and how Lennon’s death brought back Davies’ teenage memories of the singer.

“I thought back to when I was a 17-year-old student in the recreation room at art college and heard John sing ‘Twist and Shout’ on the record player, and how I was blown away by his directness,” Davies wrote. “How his voice cut through all the nonsense and sent a message to me that said, ‘If I can do it then so can you, so get up off your backside and play some rock ‘n’ roll,’ as if to throw down a musical gauntlet.”

Photos: John Lennon’s Final Years

U2 performs in Melbourne, Australia, December 1, 2010.

Mark Metcalfe/Getty

Performing in Australia, U2’s Bono dedicated “Pride (In the Name of Love)” to Lennon, and the band inserted segments of “Dear Prudence” and “All You Need Is Love” into “Where the Streets Have No Name.”

Hear Clips of John Lennon’s Last Interview

A BBC reporter recalled the scene outside Lennon and Ono’s home 30 years ago (the network also reposted its original Lennon obituary). Spin unearthed a 1975 interview with the singer, and New Jersey’s WFMU-FM reposted a scan of the radio dial in New York on the night of December 8, 1980.

Rolling Stone commemorated the singer’s death with the publication of an interview with Lennon that was conducted just three days before his death, including audio clips from the interview.