John Lennon’s ‘Imagine’ is the song Lady Gaga would listen to for the rest of her life

Tuesday, December 2, 2025 at 4:00 PM

The Imagine mosaic in Strawberry Fields in Central Park, a tribute to John Lennon who was gunned down in that spot on December 8, 1980. New York, United States, on October 22, 2022. (Photo by Beata Zawrzel/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

There are a lot of music fans who love John Lennon’s classic tune “Imagine,” and apparently Lady Gaga is one of them.

The “Bad Romance” singer recently sat down with The Late Show host Stephen Colbert to answer his Colbert Questionnaire. When asked what tune she’d pick if she could only listen to one song for the rest of her life, she chose Lennon's song.

Gaga, who was raised on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, notes, “I grew up very close to the John Lennon memorial, so that has, like, a significance to me.” She was likely referring to Strawberry Fields in New York's Central Park, which features a mosaic memorial with the word “Imagine” in the center.

“Imagine” was the title track to Lennon’s 1971 album. It peaked at #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and became the bestselling solo song of his career. It has been covered by more than 200 artists, including Gaga, David Bowie and Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder. In 2023 “Imagine” was chosen by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Recording Registry.