John Lennon on New York City

America is where it’s at. You know, I should have been born in New York, man. I should have been born in the Village! That’s where I belong! Why wasn’t I born there? Like Paris was in the eighteenth century or whatever it was, London I don’t think has ever been it. It might have been literary-wise when Wilde and Shaw and all them were there. New York was it! I regret profoundly not being American and not being born in Greenwich Village. That’s where I should have been. But it never works that way. Everybody heads towards the centre, that’s why I’m here now. I’m here just to breathe it. It might be dying, or there might be a lot of dirt in the air, but this is where it’s happening.

John Lennon loved New York City where he eventually moved to with Yoko Ono, living in The Dakota in the Upper West Side.

After reading Khalil Gibran’s letter about NYC not being the place for rest, and John Lennon’s above quote from 1970. It’s interesting that after more than a century, NYC still maintains its gravity. In 2024, it still feels like the center, this is where everything’s happening.