By Jake Coyle
Publication Date: 2026-05-17 03:30:00
On the day John Lennon was shot, December 8, 1980, he and Yoko Ono gave an interview to a San Francisco radio crew from their home in New York’s Dakota Apartments.
They were promoting their new album, “Double Fantasy,” but the two-hour conversation was wide-ranging.
Although interviewers had been warned not to ask “Beatles questions,” Lennon and Ono were excitingly candid. That day, Annie Leibovitz also shot the famous portrait of a naked Lennon with his arms around Ono.

The interview is similarly naked. The two, especially Lennon, talk about love, their relationship, creativity, life after the Beatles, raising their young son, writing songs in bed and much more.
At 40, Lennon sounds like someone who has found real clarity.
“I feel like nothing has happened to date,” Lennon said.
In “John Lennon: The Final Interview”…