Scott Radley: Mind blowing addition for Hamilton autograph collector — a letter arrives from John Lennon’s killer

The handwritten lyrics could be from almost any musician. Or aspiring musician.

Dear Child,

It's been a long time

Since we've spoken

And I'd like this distance broken

So I can touch your heart again.

There's a chorus after that. Then another verse. Then a signature and a date.

Mark Chapman

November 8, 2021

When Mike Tabone opened the envelope the other day, he just stared at it.

Back in the summer when his vast collection of notes and signatures from the famous and the accidentally famous - everyone from the secret service agent who'd jumped on the back of John F. Kennedy's limo when he was assassinated to the last living person who witnessed the Hindenburg disaster to the puppeteer who'd played Big Bird for decades, and hundreds more - was featured in The Spectator, he'd expressed his disappointment that he'd never been able to get a signature from Chapman.

You might know the guy he's talking about better as Mark David Chapman. As in, the man who shot and killed John Lennon.

The Stoney Creek native wasn't a fan. That would be twisted. But as a huge Beatles lover, this assassin languishing behind the walls of a prison in upstate New York is indisputably a massive part of music history.

Tabone had previously received an email from Chapman. One in which the now-66-year-old shockingly apologized for his actions back in December 1980. It was vastly better than nothing as far as his collection goes, but an autograph is made of ink that came from a pen that was held by a hand that belongs to a person. It's way more personal than a note on a computer screen.

Funny thing, though. They'd kept up. They'd written back and forth a few times. Tabone had discovered they have mutual interests in music - it's hard to imagine anything more devastatingly ironic - and Second World War aircraft (Tabone volunteers at the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum), so they continued. Not to the point he'd consider Chapman a friend, he insists. That's a step too far. More like a pen pal.

Either way, an email arrived a little while ago from Chapman asking for his home address. Which he provided.

Um, just out of curiosity, how many murderers have his home address?

Just him, I think," Tabone laughs.

He's just launching back into the story when he stops himself. No, wait, he says. He also gave his address to Manson Family killer Tex Watson. So, two. Two murderers know where he lives.

If you're going to give it to a murderer," he quips, you might as well pick two of the biggest ones the world knows, right?"

Anyway, months after his first contact with Chapman, he stood there with an envelope in his hands. It said New York State Department of Corrections and Community Service Offender Correspondence Program on the back. Alongside the signature of Mark Chapman.

And when he carefully opened it, he held this would-be song in his hands.

He admits he was buzzing with excitement. Jacked, was his exact word. He hadn't wanted to directly ask for an autograph since that would bestow some kind of hero status on the killer. But he hoped one would arrive for his collection.

Now that it had, a thought went through his head. How many people in the world could possibly have something like this? He immediately went on Google to find out.

The answer? Probably nobody. He found one other item from Chapman. A simple autograph. That's it.

I think it's a rarity to have a piece from him, handwritten," he says.

It's not the only addition to his collection since the article ran in June. After watching the Tom Hanks film Captain Phillips," he reached out to the real Captain Phillips and got a note back. He received a letter from Mick Avory, the original drummer of the Rolling Stones (and later, the Kinks). He even got one from Ginger Alden who was Elvis Presley's fiancee and who found him dead.

That's not all. A few weeks ago he came across an interview in which he learned John Lennon's favourite Beatles' song was Dear Prudence." He'd never really thought about it before but suddenly realized Prudence might be a real person. So he started digging.

The subject of the tune was indeed real. In fact, it was Mia Farrow's younger sister, Prudence. The story goes that she was in India the same time the group was there. She'd become so entirely immersed in transcendental meditation that the guys in the band began to be concerned for her mental health and tried to lure her outside of her hut to have some fun. The lyrics tell the rest of the tale.

As he tends to do, Tabone found an address and sent a note.

Yesterday in the mail, I got a handwritten response from Prudence," he says.

Amazing.

But back to Chapman.

He's currently serving 20 years to life in the Wende Correctional Facility outside Buffalo. He's been denied parole 11 times. Tabone says once COVID relents, he intends to make a visit. Assuming they're still communicating at that point. He would've gone already but for the virus and the issues with the border.

As for the page of lyrics, it'll go in a binder with the other notes he's received. Or maybe find a place on the wall in a frame, like some of the really special ones have.

Then, as he was standing there holding it, he looked at the calendar and got a bit of a chill.

Holy crap," Tabone says. It almost landed (in my mailbox) on the anniversary of when he shot John Lennon."

Scott Radley is a Hamilton-based columnist at The Spectator. Reach him via email: sradley@thespec.com