The late Beatles star would have turned 78 today

Yoko Ono has revealed a new, minimalist cover of John Lennon’s ‘Imagine’ on what would have been the late stars 78th birthday.

The stripped-back version is taken from Ono’s forthcoming album ‘Warzone’ which is set for release on October 19.

It’s the second track to be taken from the album after the album’s title track was released in July. After 50 years in the music industry, Ono has released twenty-albums. For her latest, Ono revisits 13 songs from her past work from 1970-2009 and reimagines them.

Speaking about the new track, Ono explained: “‘Imagine’ was the only one I was totally nervous about, because everyone in the world knows about it and I could be criticised, but I thought it was very important to do it and my nervousness must be secondary.”

Ono added: “John and I created a lot together and he would be very happy that I did it.”

In 2017, Ono finally received a song-writing credit for ‘Imagine’ more than 45 years after its original release.

Featuring pianist and songwriter Thomas Bartlett as a co-producer, the new, stripped-back version comes one week after the release of a new six-disc box set in celebration of Lennon’s ‘Imagine’.

The collection features a never-before-heard version of Lennon’s ‘Imagine’ as well as scores of previously unheard demos, rare outtakes and a new track-by-track documentary which explores the journey of the songs from demo to master recording.