---
title: "The John Lennon song inspired by his UFO sighting"
url: "https://usubjects.com/article/the-john-lennon-song-inspired-by-his-ufo-sighting-3172"
updated: "2026-07-30T16:09:08.040Z"
description: "Gold Radio reports that one of John Lennon’s songs was inspired by a reported UFO sighting he experienced. The piece links the sighting to the song’s creation and highlights Lennon’s fascination with unexplained phenomena."
sources: ["https://www.goldradio.com/artists/john-lennon/ufo-sighting-inspired-song/"]
licence: "All rights reserved"
---

# The John Lennon song inspired by his UFO sighting

Published: 2026-07-29  
Source: [Google News](https://www.goldradio.com/artists/john-lennon/ufo-sighting-inspired-song/)

### Overview

John Lennon’s fascination with the unexplained has long been part of the mythology around the former Beatle, but a report from **Gold Radio** suggests that one particular **UFO sighting in New York City** left a deeper mark than most. According to the piece, Lennon did not just tell the story afterward; he is said to have **carried the experience into his songwriting and album liner notes**, turning a strange night in the summer of 1974 into part of his creative record.

The article arrives at a moment when public interest in unidentified aerial phenomena remains high, with the U.S. government recently releasing footage of alleged UFO encounters and former intelligence officials describing unusual sightings of their own. Against that backdrop, Lennon’s reported encounter feels less like a quirky footnote and more like an early example of a mainstream figure speaking openly about something many people were once reluctant to discuss.

### The 1974 sighting in New York

Gold Radio places the incident during one of the most eventful periods of Lennon’s post-Beatles life. In 1974, he was working on **_Walls and Bridges_**, his fourth solo album, and was in the middle of what became known as his **“Lost Weekend”** era, following his separation from Yoko Ono and his relationship with assistant and production coordinator **May Pang**. It was during that period, the report says, that Lennon and Pang looked out over New York City and saw a **UFO**.

The sighting appears to have been unusually vivid. Lennon later recalled the object as being close enough that, in his words, **“It was like I could have hit it with a brick if I’d thrown a stone at it.”** That kind of detail helps explain why the event stuck with him. For Lennon, the experience was not presented as a distant or abstract mystery, but as something immediate and hard to dismiss.

### From unexplained event to creative influence

What makes the story especially notable is the way Lennon seems to have folded the experience into his artistic work. Gold Radio reports that the sighting was significant enough that he **referenced it in a song and in the accompanying album liner notes**. That is a telling detail: rather than treating the event as a private anecdote, Lennon appears to have used it as a creative prompt, filtering an unexplained moment into the language of popular music.

That approach fits Lennon’s broader reputation as a writer who drew freely from personal experience, whether he was writing about love, politics, isolation or spiritual searching. In this case, the UFO story adds another dimension to the Lennon catalogue — one that reflects not only his curiosity, but also his willingness to be seen as someone open to ideas outside the ordinary. The article suggests that the encounter impacted him enough to become part of the album’s identity, not merely a colorful aside from the recording sessions.

### Lennon’s place in the UFO conversation

Lennon’s reported sighting also underscores how long UFO interest has extended beyond tabloid speculation and into mainstream culture. Decades before today’s renewed debate over UAPs, Lennon was already publicly linked to the subject, and not in a mocking or cynical way. For fans, the story adds another layer to an artist who was often willing to challenge conventional thinking.

Whether viewed as an unexplained event, a personal curiosity or simply a striking anecdote from a turbulent period in his life, the sighting remains part of Lennon’s legacy. It is a reminder that even one of the most famous musicians in the world could look up at the New York sky, see something he could not explain, and later leave that moment embedded in his music.

## Provenance

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