John Lennon would have been 84 years old today, had he lived. He was taken from us by a mad zealot with a handgun in 1980, but his music still echoes through the decades. You can hear traces of John in almost every bit of modern music. What would the world have been like if he had lived? It’s hard not to think about how much more we could have heard from him, how much he might have continued to change the landscape of music and culture.
On this anniversary, Lennon’s estate continues to keep his work alive in unexpected ways. Today, Sean Ono Lennon released Mind Games – The Meditation Mixes, a radical reinterpretation of John’s 1973 album. The original songs have been stretched and altered, transformed into extended meditative experiences that range from 5 to over 30 minutes. Some of the tracks are enhanced with binaural beats designed to activate different brain waves—described as Mind, Space, Spirit, and Love.
Mind Games – The Meditation Mixes
Mind Games – The Meditation Mixes are available to download and stream today. They will be released on vinyl as a limited edition 3LP set this Friday, October 11 via Capitol/UMe. The LPs are pressed on 180-gram crystal clear vinyl and packaged in a triple gatefold mirror board sleeve. Side B on LP3 features nine unique 1.8 second mantras that play continually in the vinyl’s run out grooves to create infinite loops. Listen to Mind Games – The Meditation Mixes and purchase the vinyl here: https://johnlennon.lnk.to/MindGamesMeditationMixesPR
To create Mind Games – The Meditation Mixes various sound design techniques and processes have been applied to the original 1973 two-inch multitrack recordings, and in some cases have been enhanced with additional instrumentation from Sean Ono Lennon, son of John Lennon and Yoko Ono Lennon. They were mixed and engineered by Sam Gannon with additional recording engineered by Scott Holingsworth.
Mind Games – The Meditation Mixes forge their own space while maintaining firm, authentic roots in John Lennon’s original recording of the original song. Each of the nine mixes has been radically altered, slowed down and extended, ranging from 5 to 10 to upwards of 33 minutes, allowing for the musical soundtrack to wash over the listener and provide a relaxing, immersive, deep listening and meditative experience.
Four of the tracks are presented as Binaural versions that each focus on different types of brain waves: Beta, Delta, Gamma, and Theta. Dubbed “Mind,” “Space,” “Spirit,” and “Love,” these tracks feature a Binaural Beat, an auditory illusion created within the brain when the left and right ears hear two slightly different frequencies whose difference is perceived as a new frequency which can activate different brain patterns for scientifically proven therapeutic effects.
Mind Games – The Meditation Mixes debuted exclusively on the Lumenate app in May in conjunction with Mental Health Awareness Month. Each of the nine Meditation Mixes has been paired with a unique, deeply immersive light sequence, using carefully selected flicker frequencies to accompany the mind-and-mood-altering sound. These singular, mind-altering sequences elevate the musical journey, deepen the sense of relaxation, and allow users to see, hear and feel the music like never before. The Lumenate app uses the flashlight on the back of one’s smartphone strobed at research-driven frequencies onto a person’s closed eyes to neurologically guide them into a state of consciousness between that of deep meditation and psychedelics.
These mixes aren’t just meant to be listened to passively. They’re designed for deep relaxation and meditation, and they debuted earlier this year on the Lumenate app alongside immersive light sequences to heighten the experience. Sean has also contributed some of his own instrumentation to these mixes, blending his work with his father’s in a new, introspective way. For hardcore fans, a limited edition 3LP set is being released on crystal-clear vinyl later this week.
The Imagine Peace Tower
The IMAGINE PEACE TOWER by Yoko Ono Lennon on Viðey, in Reykjavik, Iceland, will be lit for the 18th time on Wednesday, October 9th at 8 pm GMT/4 pm EDT/1 pm PDT. A peaceful ceremony will be held on the island to celebrate the event. Valdimar Guðmundsson and Örn Eldjárn will perform music beside the IMAGINE PEACE TOWER, and the Mayor of Reykjavik, Einar Þorsteinsson, will give a speech. It is customary that as soon as the tower is lit, the song “Imagine” will be played, and people will have the opportunity to take photos. Fans around the world will be able to watch the lighting live at ImaginePeaceTower.com
The IMAGINE PEACE TOWER is an outdoor artwork by Yoko Ono, built on Viðey in 2007 and dedicated to John Lennon. The tower is lit annually on Lennon’s birthday, October 9th, and shines until December 8th, the day of his passing. The artwork is a symbol of Ono and Lennon’s continuing work for world peace. The tower is in the form of a wishing well, with the words “IMAGINE PEACE” inscribed on it in 24 languages. More information is available here: https://www.imaginepeacetower.com/
The Imagine Peace Tower in Reykjavik, Iceland, is being relit today as well, as it is every year on his birthday, shining until December 8th—the day of his death. Yoko Ono created it in 2007 as a lasting tribute to John’s message of peace. It’s a physical reminder of Lennon’s enduring hope for a better world, even as the real world struggles to live up to it.
The Spirit of John Lennon Lives On, Thanks in Part to AI
Lennon’s song Imagine, released in 1971, has become a staple of global consciousness. The idealism in that track—a simple plea for peace and understanding—still holds weight today. For a brief moment, it makes you wonder what it would be like if the world really could come together in harmony. The video created by Canny AI in Tel Aviv, using advanced deepfake technology, pushes that very idea. It features world leaders singing Imagine, but the twist is: it isn’t real. It can’t be. It’s a clever use of technology, but also a reminder that we’re still far from the world Lennon envisioned.
That technology—called Video Dialogue Replacement—could be a game changer in entertainment, but it also comes with risks. The ability to so seamlessly manipulate video to show things that never happened is a double-edged sword. While Canny AI intended this project to inspire unity, it also demonstrates how easily deepfakes could be used for misinformation.
Artificial intelligence can be, and has been, used for both good and bad, but it’s hard to see the down side of a celebration of someone’s life. Technology developed by Peter Jackson’s production team during the production of the Beatles documentary series Get Back provided the means to finish the Beatles last song, entitled “Now and Then.”
Now and Then‘s eventful journey to fruition took place over five decades and is the product of conversations and collaborations between the four Beatles that go on to this day. The long mythologised John Lennon demo was first worked on in February 1995 by Paul, George and Ringo as part of The Beatles Anthology project but it remained unfinished, partly because of the impossible technological challenges involved in working with the vocal John had recorded on tape in the 1970s. For years it looked like the song could never be completed.
But in 2022 there was a stroke of serendipity. A software system developed by Peter Jackson and his team, used throughout the production of the documentary series Get Back, finally opened the way for the uncoupling of John’s vocal from his piano part. As a result, the original recording could be brought to life and worked on anew with contributions from all four Beatles. This remarkable story of musical archaeology reflects The Beatles’ endless creative curiosity and shared fascination with technology. It marks the completion of the last recording that John, Paul and George and Ringo will get to make together and celebrates the legacy of the foremost and most influential band in popular music history.
Beyond the Beatles
The legacy of the Beatles has left a lasting impression, and not everyone is ready to let go of what the Beatles were and what they represented. Here is a song by a producer calling themselves the AI Beatles, a tribute to John Winston Ono Lennon. The tune is original, though not written by the Beatles themselves, it is performed by humans and actually mixed at Abbey Road Studios. The voices are synthetic, and the only part of the song that is actually AI. With both John and George gone (George died of cancer in 2001), this resonates, and unless some more old demo tapes from long ago surface and can be given the AI treatment, this is now as close as we’ll ever get to new Beatles music.
Of the production, the AI Beatles said this:
The song ‘As If Nothing Ever Happened’ was inspired by an amazing image of John Lennon as an old man created by Turkish photographer Alper Yesiltas. It is borne out of a lifelong love of The Beatle’s music and is a musical interpretation of the emotions felt when imagining what could have been… We shared a verse and a chorus last year (2023) and had such an amazing response that we knew we had to finish what we’d started. In these challenging times, we believe Lennon’s voice for peace would have been louder than ever.
This song is not about making any money or profit – it is not being monetised in any way on any platform. This song is about music, love and what could have been. We hope you enjoy.
The aiBeatles Written and performed by humans. Vocals Beatled by AI. Mastered at Abbey Road Studios.
John Lennon’s legacy isn’t frozen in the past. Whether through deepfake videos that force us to think about truth in media, or meditation mixes that challenge our perception of music, his work is still very much part of today’s cultural conversation. We can’t help but imagine what else he might have done if he had lived—but what he left behind still matters.
I don’t know how many times I’ve fantasized about going back in time and stopping the shooting of John Lennon.
And to me, Lennon’s best-selling solo career song “Imagine” is tremendously ironic. The religion-free world imagined is one where people get along and work together for mutual benefit. That is the original message of many religions that, today, deal largely in hypocrisy.
Excuse me while I go look at how the early Christians lived in the Biblical book of Acts….