In a quiet corner of eternity, we sat down for an impossible conversation with John Lennon, not the myth but the man, to talk about music, peace, and the world he left behind.
Riffs and Beats
Looking back from where you are now, how do you view the end of The Beatles?
John Lennon
It was like watching a great ship finally reach its port, weathered, legendary, but in need of rest. People romanticize the break-up, but it was messy. Emotionally, spiritually. We were brothers, but also rivals. We had given each other everything and taken a lot, too. Ending it hurt, but not ending it would’ve destroyed what made it magic in the first place. We were changing, each of us, and we couldn’t pretend to be the same four lads from Liverpool forever. If we hadn’t split, we might’ve ended up resenting the very thing we built.
Riffs and Beats
“Imagine” has become something like a global prayer. Did you know what you were unleashing when you wrote it?
John Lennon
Not in the slightest. I wrote it in a quiet moment, with Yoko nearby, feeling this strange mix of hope and defiance. It felt personal, almost naive. But the simplicity of it : no religion, no borders, no greed; that simplicity hit a nerve. The world keeps proving how hard those ideas are to live by, but the fact that people still sing it, still gather around it in times of crisis… that tells me it touched something true. It’s a dream people want to believe in, even if they can’t quite reach it.
Riffs and Beats
How do you see the world today : politically, socially, spiritually?
John Lennon
It feels like a mirror house. Everyone’s reflecting back something, but no one knows what’s real. Politically, there’s a lot of fear disguised as strength. Socially, everyone’s connected but lonelier than ever. Spiritually… I think people are starving. Not for religion, but for meaning. For silence. For something that isn’t trying to sell them something. I see beauty, still ; in protests, in art, in how people love. But it’s buried under layers of distraction and noise. The fight for peace is harder now because the enemies are less visible.
Riffs and Beats
What about today’s music? What reaches you, even from beyond?
John Lennon
There’s a pulse in today’s music that I love. This undercurrent of rebellion, of emotional honesty. Kendrick Lamar cuts deep. He’s got rage and grace all tangled up. Phoebe Bridgers, she whispers and it still shatters you. And there are these unknown kids recording heartbreak in their bedrooms with a laptop and no label, and it’s pure. What I miss sometimes is melody ,real melody. But I also know music evolves, and it should. The worst thing music can be is safe.
Riffs and Beats
You were never shy about politics. Would you still be vocal today?
John Lennon
More than ever. But I’d probably be banned off half the platforms. I always believed artists have a responsibility to agitate, not entertain. I’d be at the front lines of whatever fight called for justice and climate, race, peace, you name it. But I’d also listen more. I was quick to shout in my time, sometimes before I understood. Now, I’d balance the megaphone with the ear. You can’t change anything if you’re not willing to hear the people you disagree with.
Riffs and Beats
You were criticized in your time for contradictions, for ego. How do you reflect on that now?
John Lennon
Fair criticisms, honestly. I was a contradiction. I sang about peace and sometimes treated people like shit. I wanted to dismantle systems and still lived in a mansion. I think people expected purity from me but I was never interested in that. I was interested in truth, and truth is messy. I hurt people. I tried to make amends. I failed. But I never stopped trying to be better. That’s all I ever wanted : to grow, even if I stumbled doing it.
Riffs and Beats
How do you feel about the way fame has evolved with social media?
John Lennon
It’s fascinating and terrifying. Fame used to be this distant, glowing thing. Now it’s a currency. Everyone’s got a brand. Everyone’s performing. It’s not just artists anymore. It’s kids, mothers, teachers, everyone competing for attention. And attention has become addictive, but hollow. If I had social media back then… God help us. I might’ve lost the plot entirely. Or maybe I’d have used it to call for revolution from my bathroom. Who knows? But I do know this: constant visibility robs you of mystery, and art needs mystery.
Riffs and Beats
If you could write one more song for today’s world, what would it be about?
John Lennon
Forgiveness. Real, hard, unglamorous forgiveness. The kind that forces you to sit with what you’ve done, and what’s been done to you, and still choose not to pass that pain on. Everyone’s angry. Everyone’s wounded. But shouting across the void doesn’t build bridges. I’d want to write something that makes people put the phone down, take a breath, and remember they’re human. A song about grace. Something raw. Something trembling and true.
Riffs and Beats
Is there anything about your legacy you wish people understood better?
John Lennon
That I was always more question than answer. People turn you into statues when you’re gone. They forget you were just a bloke trying to sort himself out with a guitar and some words. I wasn’t a prophet. I wasn’t even always right. I just asked the questions I needed to ask to stay alive, creatively, spiritually. If my songs helped someone feel less alone, then I did my job. That’s enough for me.
Riffs and Beats
Last one. What do you miss most about being alive?
John Lennon
The mess of it all. The sweat and sound and absurdity. Laughing until your ribs hurt. Arguing in the kitchen over nothing. That perfect chord you hit by accident. Yoko humming across the room. Julian’s awkward teenage jokes. The way life never sits still. Here, it’s peaceful ,beautifully so, but sometimes I miss the chaos that made it all mean something.
As our time together faded like the tail end of a favorite vinyl track, John stood, smiled with something between nostalgia and amusement, and simply said, “Keep playing.” We nodded, knowing that, in some way, the music never really ends. Then he turned, barefoot as ever, and walked into the clouds…
