The Beatles singer said that he hoped it would be 'a long, long time' before he died, just hours before he was murdered.
John Lennon gave an interview on the day he died. In ET's exclusive clip from Apple TV+'s upcoming docuseries, John Lennon: Murder Without a Trial, the singer sits down for a radio interview with Laurie Kay, hours before he was murdered.
The interview, Kay explains in the clip, came five years after Lennon "completely vanished" from the public eye and stopped doing interviews. Kay began her interview by asking about Lennon's years-long silence.
"I am saying here I am now. How are you? How is your relationship going? Did you get through it all? Wasn't the '70s a drag?" Lennon replied. "Here we are, well let's try and make the '80s good, ya know?"
The interview then moved to Lennon's "whole political stance," something Kay said "was amazing" to talk to the Beatles singer about.
"People have the power. They have the power to make and create the society they want. I think it is time for a change," Lennon said. "We think we are broken up into these fragmented pieces -- countries, sexes, races -- it's a joke. Imagining no countries, imagining no religion, just imagine it. Would it be so terrible?"
Then came discussion about Lennon's planned return to music, which Kay said he was "so excited" about.
"Any artist or poet's role is to try and express what we all feel. That's the job, not as a preacher, not as a leader, but as a reflection of us all," he said. "I consider that my work won't be finished until I am dead and buried. I hope that's a long, long time."
Mark David Chapman murdered Lennon later that day.
Narrated by Kiefer Sutherland, the three-part docuseries features exclusive eyewitness interviews and previously unseen crime scene photos, shedding new light on Lennon's life and murder, and the investigation and conviction of his confessed killer.
John Lennon: Murder Without a Trial will begin streaming Dec. 6 on Apple TV+.
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