Detail of a reproduction made in the 1980s of the gravestone for Roderick Olcott. It is an exceptional example of the baroque motif of an urn and willow.

Imagine…a chance to buy John Lennon’s piano. A telephone bid from the pop singer George Michael will allow him to own the very piano the Beatles legend used to compose Imagine, the 1971 hit song which was Lennon’s own plea for peace and harmony.

Michael purchased the piano during an online auction at the Hard Rock Café on October 17 for $2.1 million. The piano, a Steinway Model Z upright, was built in Germany and was purchased by Lennon in 1970. It can be seen in 1971 film footage that features Lennon performing Imagine at his home in England.

Michael made a promise to the public that as soon as he records a song on the famous piano he will return the instrument to the Beatle’s museum in Liverpool.

“It’s not the type of thing that should be in storage somewhere or being protected. It should be seen by the people,” Michael told the Associated Press.

The piano was formerly owned by a British collector and had been on loan to the Beatles Story Museum in Liverpool since February. It was the centerpiece of a sale of Beatles memorabilia organized by Mick Fleetwood of Fleetwood Mac and auctioneer Ted Owen.