So much for “All You Need Is Love!” John Lennon revealed he felt guilty for having money but overcame those emotions. He said it didn’t matter if being wealthy disqualified him from being a socialist. The “Imagine” singer also criticized some of his fans for the way they reacted to his wealth.
During a 1980 interview in the book All We Are Saying: The Last Major Interview with John Lennon and Yoko Ono, John revealed he once felt “guilty” about his wealth and either gave it away or allowed his management to steal it from him. “I thought money was equated with sin,” he said. “I think I got over it, because I either have to put up or shut up, you know.
“If I’m going to be a monk with nothing, do it,” he added. “Otherwise, if I am going to try and make money, make it. Money itself isn’t the root of all evil. Money is just a concept; also it’s just energy.” John was paraphrasing Saint Paul’s words in 1 Timothy 6:10, which says “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils.”
John discussed how he changed his views of money. “So now you could say I’ve come to terms with money and making money,” he revealed. “I always ignored it. So now Yoko looks after the business, parlaying money into things like cows and real estate. Between us we had to face the reality that the money was there, and I always avoided that.
“I am too artistic to deal with money in any way, basically. I am a socialist who just happens to be getting this money,” he added. “Ignoring it always caused me problems.” John said that if wanting to be rich disqualified him from being a socialist, then he simply wasn’t a socialist.
During a 1980 interview with Rolling Stone, John again discussed his wealth. He was upset that Esquire had criticized him for growing into a middle-aged businessman who watched television all the time and purchased cows. John rhetorically asked if Esquire would have preferred that he use his money to solicit prostitutes instead. The singer said he did not live up to the false image of him that existed in an Esquire writer’s head.
John rejected the idea he should be a martyr who forgoes his wealth. He also said that there is no connection between financial success and happiness, and he’d been happy when he was poor and miserable when he was wealthy at different stages in his life. John said his solo track “Working Class Hero” contained that message but it was widely misinterpreted as being about socialism. He revealed Yoko Ono taught him that true success is found in interpersonal relationships.
Whatever fans think of John’s comments, he definitely wasn’t living the lifestyle he proscribed in “Imagine.”