John Lennon’s hit track Imagine will be at the centre of global celebrations to mark its 50th anniversary.

The iconic song was originally released on September 9, 1971, by The Beatles star John and wife Yoko, who co-produced the record. 

It was accompanied by an album and a film by the same name and, marking five decades since its debut, Yoko and her son Sean Ono Lennon – as well as the estate of John Lennon and Universal Music Group – are hosting a global party.

“John and I were both artists and we were living together, so we inspired each other. The song Imagine embodied what we believed together at the time,” she said.

“John and I met – he comes from the West and I come from the East – and still we are together. We have this oneness and ‘the whole world would eventually become one’ is the sense that we will all be very happy together. 

“All these instructions are for people for how to spend eternity, because we have lots of time.”

Among the events taking place is a watch party for the 1971 film ‘Imagine’, which contains all the songs from John’s ‘Imagine’ album as well as four cuts from Yoko’s ‘FLY’ record.

The gathering will begin at 7.30 pm BST on September 9 at participating venues, where it will be screened for free, and online.

Meanwhile, Capitol and Universal Music Group will release a limited collector’s edition pressing of ‘Imagine’ as a double LP on white vinyl on September 10. 

The ‘Imagine – The Ultimate Mixes & Out-takes’ expanded edition includes the original demo for Imagine plus various outtakes from the original sessions. It’s available to pre-order now. 

That’s not all – on October 9, three-dimensional Dolby Atmos mixes and full-length Stereo versions of ‘Imagine – The Ultimate Collection’ will be issued digitally to celebrate what would have been John Lennon’s 81st birthday.