On the beautiful early morning of June 21, 1971, John Lennon sat down at the piano in the bedroom of the Tittenhurst Park estate to give the world Imagine, one of the greatest songs in the history of modern music.
He wrote the words and the melody literally in one sitting, and in the autumn of the same year the composition was presented to the public.
The history of creation and the meaning of the song Imagine Lennon
Subsequently, Lennon said that he wrote Imagine under the impression of Yoko Ono’s book Grapefruit, which can be called a collection of surrealist instructions for artists.
Many passages in it begin with the word “imagine”, and one of them, called “Cloud Piece”, is printed on the back of the Imagine album:
Imagine the clouds dripping.
Dig a hole in your garden to
put them in.Imagine clouds falling to the ground.
Dig a hole in the garden
Put them there.
Yoko Ono said that in Imagine, Lennon sang about “what he believed in: that we all represent one country, one world, one people.”
In Lennon in America, Geoffrey Giliano John called Imagine “an anti-religious, anti-nationalist, anti-conservative, anti-capitalist (song) embraced by its sweet shell.”
However, not everyone in the USA was delighted with Imagine, because even Lennon himself called the song a “communist manifesto”. To this day, there are zealous “fighters for democracy” who accuse the musician of trying to undermine the foundations of society.
But don’t idealize John Lennon. His lifestyle was very different from what he preached in Imagine. So different that it became the occasion for numerous jokes. Even his friend Elton John once sang:
Imagine six apartments
It isn’t hard to do.
One is full of fur coats
The other’s full of shoes…Imagine six apartments
This is not difficult.
One full of fur coats
In different shoes
It is also said that a certain Lennon buddy sang a line from the song in response to John’s complaints about the losses on one of his farms. The legendary musician interrupted him with the phrase: “It’s just a song, her mother.” In the end, he was so fed up with allusions to this discrepancy that in recent performances he replaced the line “I wonder if we can” with “I wonder if you can.”
Many are sure that in Imagine, John Lennon called for abandoning not only material wealth, but everything that burdens the mind, prejudices and stereotypes. Well, such a point of view has the right to life.
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Be that as it may, Imagine has become the anthem of more than one generation. Let there be no new ideas in it, let it be naive, let the thoughts expressed in it contradict the views of the absolute majority of the world’s population – Imagine is above any criticism.
Imagine has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Grammy Hall of Fame, and ranked third on Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
Clip Imagine
In the music video, John, dressed as a cowboy, plays the iconic white piano, while Yoko, dressed as an Indian woman, opens the windows one by one to let in more and more sunlight. It is generally accepted that this represents hope for the best.
And now we are watching the clip Imagine – John Lennon.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJ72bYyEtBg
Interesting Facts
- Jim Carter once said: “In many countries around the world – my wife and I visited about one hundred and twenty-five – you will hear the Lennon song Imagine almost as often as the national anthems.”
- In the famous film Forrest Gump, the protagonist meets Lennon on a talk show and allegedly gives him the idea for the Imagine song, talking about life in China.
- The line “above us only sky” (only the sky above us) became the slogan of the Liverpool John Lennon Airport.
Imagine – John Lennon Lyrics
Imagine there’s no heaven
It’s easy if you try
no hell below us
above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today…
Imagine there’s no countries
It isn’t hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace…
You may say I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
I hope someday you’ll join us
And the world will be as one
Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world…
You may say I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
I hope someday you’ll join us
And the world will live as one
Imagine Lyrics John Lennon
Imagine that there is no heaven
It’s easy if you try
There is no hell below us
And above us only the sky
Imagine that all people
Live one day…
Imagine there are no countries
It’s not hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
Religion is also not
Imagine that all people
Live in the world
You can say that I’m a dreamer
But I’m not alone
I hope someday you will join us
And the world will become one
Imagine that there is no property
I wonder if you can
No need to be greedy and no need to starve
Imagine that all people
Living together in the world
You can say that I’m a dreamer
But I’m not alone
I hope someday you will join us
And the world will become one
