John Lennon Said 'I'm Not About to Get Myself Shot' 8 Years Before Murder in Chilling Resurfaced Phone Call

Mar. 15, 2025

John Lennon.Photo:Bettmann/Getty

Bettmann/Getty

John Lennonknew that strong political activism in the 1970s was a risky business — and eight years before histragic murder, he spoke with a friend about the risks of gun violence.

The new documentaryOne to One: John & Yokofocuses on Lennon and wifeYoko Ono’s move to New York City amid a tense American political climate in 1971. Much of the beginning covers the ill-fated Free the People Tour, which Lennon had planned with activist Jerry Rubin as a mix of music and politics.

The tour was to climax at the Republican Convention in August 1972, and Lennon’s goal was to raise money that would pay bail for people unable to afford it themselves.

In a documentary scene that’s chilling with hindsight, Lennon talks on the phone with drummer Jim Keltner about the tour, and the “Imagine” singer is asked if he has “any paranoia” about people heading into it.

“What people?.. You mean people trying to kill us or something like that? I’m not about to get myself shot,” he says in the archival footage. “It’ll cause excitement in its own way. But, er, you know, I’m still an artist, but a revolutionary artist, right?”

He later admitted to a journalist that he did feel some sense of paranoia, and had started taping his own phone calls.

The former Beatle was infamouslyshot and killed outside his apartmentat The Dakota in New York City in December 1980, at age 40.

Yoko Ono and John Lennon in December 1968.Susan Wood/Getty

In the end the Free the People Tour was called off, and Lennon and Ono’s relationship with Rubin soured “over the risk of violent confrontation at the Republican Convention,” according to the doc.

The documentary, which will premiere at the Venice Film Festival, combines interviews and phone calls with concert footage and historical videos, like speeches from PresidentRichard Nixonand the assassination attempt on Gov. George Wallace.

The never-before-seen material, which includes home movies of Lennon and Ono with theirson Sean, shows a rare side of the music legend, one with his guard entirely down as he speaks to those that know him best.

The documentary culminates in the 1972 One to One Benefit Concert at Madison Square Garden, the only full-length show Lennon ever did after the Beatles’ split in 1970.

source: people.com