Imagine (song)

"Imagine"
Song
B-side	"It's So Hard [US] Working Class Hero [UK]"

"Imagine" is a utopian-themed song by John Lennon, which appears on his 1971 album, Imagine.

The song was produced by Phil Spector.

"Imagine" is widely considered as one of the greatest songs of all time. In 2004, Rolling Stone magazine voted "Imagine" the third greatest song of all time. Former U.S. president Jimmy Carter said, "In many countries around the world — my wife and I have visited about 125 countries — you hear John Lennon's song 'Imagine' used almost equally with national anthems."

In the book Lennon in America, written by Geoffrey Giuliano, Lennon commented that the song was "an anti-religious, anti-nationalistic, anti-conventional, anti-capitalistic song, but because it's sugar-coated, it's accepted." Lennon also described it as "virtually the Communist Manifesto".

The lyrics were thought to be inspired by Lennon's hopes for a more peaceful world, though their origins are not known for certain. In 1963 Lennon penned the lyrics to "I'll Get You" with an opening verse of, "Imagine I'm in love with you, it's easy cause I know." The first verse of "Imagine" would seem to be a reworking of this. But the song's refrain may have been partly inspired by Yoko Ono's poetry, in reaction to her childhood in Japan during World War II. According to The Guardian, primordial versions of the song's refrain can be found in her 1965 book Grapefruit, where she penned lines such as, "imagine a raindrop" and "imagine the clouds dripping."

Composition and lyrical intent

The following is a quote by John Lennon on the message of "Imagine", interviewed by David Sheff for Playboy magazine in 1980:

Sheff: On a new album, you close with "Hard Times Are Over (For a While)". Why?
Lennon: It's not a new message: "Give Peace a Chance" — we're not being unreasonable, just saying, "Give it a chance." With "Imagine," we're saying, "Can you imagine a world without countries or religions?" It's the same message over and over. And it's positive.

Yoko Ono said that the lyrical content of "Imagine" was "just what John believed — that we are all one country, one world, one people. He wanted to get that idea out." After the release of "Imagine", Lennon received many death threats. Many conspiracists believe that some of the lyrics in the song, which do not agree with many religious beliefs, may have caused someone to put a "hit" out on Lennon, and that Mark David Chapman was just a patsy.

Nutopia

Nutopia is a conceptual country created by John Lennon and Yoko Ono on April Fool's Day 1973. This nation was supposed to live up to the standards set by the song "Imagine".

In the official declaration of Nutopia, it is stated that it

"has no land, no boundaries, no passports, only people. Nutopia has no laws other than cosmic. All people of Nutopia are ambassadors of the country. Citizenship of the country can be obtained by declaration of your awareness of Nutopia."

The flag of Nutopia has only one colour: white. Some criticized this association with surrender, but Lennon & Ono defended that association, saying that only through surrender and compromise can peace be achieved. U2 later adopted the Nutopian flag as a part of their live performance of the political songs from their third album, War.

The seal of Nutopia is a picture of the marine animal of the same name. The "Nutopian International Anthem" was included on John Lennon's album Mind Games, and consisted of a few seconds of silence.

A plaque engraved with the words "NUTOPIAN EMBASSY" was duly installed at their home at the Dakota. It is believed that the whole affair was a jibe at Lennon's ongoing immigration troubles, as he and Ono tried to move to the United States. (Ono already had a Resident Alien "green card" through her previous husband, Tony Cox. Lennon had been denied permanent residence status.)

In 2006 a Nutopia website was created by Lions Gate Entertainment, the producers of the documentary "The U.S. Versus John Lennon."

Criticism

Despite its popularity, "Imagine" has received critiques over the years, some of which have perceived the lyrics in a negative light.

Journalist and broadcaster Robert Elms said "Imagine" was written by a "multi-millionaire with one temperature-controlled room in his Manhattan mansion just to store his fur coats." Elvis Costello also commented satirically on the song in "The Other Side of Summer", wherein he asks the question, "Was it a millionaire who said 'Imagine no possessions'?"

Lennon, during an interview with Playboy magazine was criticized on a similar note for his wealth, and defended himself by pointing out how difficult it is to leave a materialist world behind once you are caught up in it, comparing this to leaving the Beatles:

PLAYBOY: "Why does anyone need $150,000,000? Couldn't you be perfectly content with $100,000,000? Or $1,000,000?"

LENNON: "What would you suggest I do? Give everything away and walk the streets? The Buddhist says, 'Get rid of the possessions of the mind.' Walking away from all the money would not accomplish that. It's like the Beatles. I couldn't walk away from the Beatles. That's one possession that's still tagging along, right? If I walk away from one house or 400 houses, I'm not gonna escape it."

Legacy

File:Strawberry fields.jpg

The Strawberry Fields memorial in Central Park, New York

Accolades

• In 1999, BMI named "Imagine" as one of the top 100 most performed songs of the 20th century.
• Lennon's original recording of "Imagine" appears 23rd in the list of best-selling singles in the UK issued in 2002.
• In November 2004, ranked 3rd on Rolling Stone's list of the RS 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
• On 1 January 2005, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation named "Imagine" the greatest song in the past 100 years, as voted by listeners, on the show 50 Tracks.
• The song ranked #30 on the Recording Industry Association of America's list of the 365 Songs of the Century bearing the most historical significance.
• Virgin Radio conducted a UK favourite song survey in December 2005, and Imagine was voted into top spot, beating Beatles songs "Hey Jude" and "Let It Be".
• The song was voted the greatest song of all time by the Nine Network's 20 to 1 countdown show in Australia on September 12, 2006.
• Less than a week after John Lennon's catalogue was released on iTunes, the song went up to #63 on the top 100 list.

Cultural legacy

• The song is referenced in George Harrison's song "All Those Years Ago". One of the lines is "You were the one who imagined it all, all those years ago."
• The song was used in the last sequence of the 1984 film The Killing Fields.
• The song was performed during a show commemorating the 30th anniversary of Star Trek.
• In 1990, the song was featured in the Quantum Leap episode "The Leap Home" and is also on the soundtrack of the series. This version, however is performed by the show's star, Scott Bakula .
• The lyrics to the song were featured in an episode of WKRP dealing with censorship.
• When the Liverpool airport was named after Lennon, a phrase from the song, "above us only sky", was painted on the ceiling of the terminal. When commenting on this, the panel of Have I Got News for You joked that the baggage handlers' motto was taken from the same song: "Imagine no possessions".
• A mosaic was constructed as a part of the Strawberry Fields memorial in Central Park, New York City, near Lennon's final home, in memory of the singer. In the centre of the mosaic is the word "Imagine".
• "Imagine" is the official song of the human rights organization Amnesty International.
• A humorous telling of this song's origin appears in Forrest Gump. The main character, Forrest, is a guest on The Dick Cavett Show alongside John Lennon. Forrest recounts his experiences playing ping pong in China; he claims that the Chinese do not have much stuff ("no possessions") and, unlike him, do not go to church every Sunday (which Lennon interprets as "no religion too"), to which Dick Cavett responds, "It's hard to imagine", and Lennon says, "Well it's easy if you try".
• "Imagine" and other songs by John Lennon were used in the movie Mr. Holland's Opus. (1995)
• On January 30, 2003, the song was played to wake up the astronauts on the Space Shuttle Columbia during its ill-fated mission.
• In 2005, post-hardcore band Thrice released a b-side from their album Vheissu called "Lullaby". The song is a response to "Imagine". Though Thrice lyricist Dustin Kensrue is an admitted fan of Lennon, he has stated that he disagrees with the message of the song because it doesn't offer any realistic solutions to world problems.
• The song was WABC-AM 's final song before switching to its current NewsTalkRadio format.
• The song was included in the list of songs deemed inappropriate by Clear Channel following the September 11, 2001 attacks.
• In 2003, Bill Clinton joined Liel and 40 Jewish and 40 Arab children at the 80th birthday of Shimon Peres in Tel Aviv to sing "Imagine".
• In the Iranian left movement, the song usually relates to Mansoor Hekmat and his party, the Worker-Communist Party of Iran. The WPI plays the song in all of its meetings and demonstrations, and in its TV channel. Within Iran, the song is sometimes sung in protests and symbolizes the left movement, especially the WPI.
• George Galloway quoted the line I'm Not the Only One for the title of his autobiography.
• On November 18, 2006, UFC fighter and known anarchist Jeff Monson used "Imagine" as his walk in/entrance song for his heavyweight title fight against Tim Sylvia at UFC 65: Bad Intentions in Sacramento, California.
• On New Years Eve at the start of 2006, 2007 and 2008, "Imagine" was played in Times Square, New York City in the minutes before the clock struck midnight.
• The song is a popular choice for students learning the piano.
• Some artists, disagreeing with the song's anti-religion stance, have changed the line "and no religion too" into "and one religion too" in their cover versions.
• Ozzy Osbourne's song "Dreamer" may reference this and other songs by Lennon, most notably the title, which seems to echo the line, "You may say I'm a dreamer".
• Aviv Geffen's song "Shir Tikva" ("Hope Song"), also known as "Bo'u Nitz'ad LaHalom" ("Let's Walk Towards the Dream") is considered "The Israeli Imagine".
• In some shows Bill Hicks used to say at the end of his beatles or Zeppelin skits, Im a dreamer man a fuckin' dreamer, but im not the only one.

Cover interpretations

• Khaled and Noa released an Arabic and Hebrew duo cover of "Imagine" and released it in Khaled's album Kenza.
• Bassist Jeff Berlin covered the song on his 1997 album "Taking Notes".
• Joan Baez has recorded and performed the song numerous times throughout her career. She first included it on her 1972 album Come from the Shadows, and often includes it in her concert set lists.
• Dana covered Imagine on her 1980 album Everything is Beautiful.
• Diana Ross covered the song on her 1973 album Touch Me in the Morning.
• Tommy Emmanuel did an instrumental cover version of Imagine on his album Determination.
• American R&B/soul singer, Tracie Spencer, remade the song for her 1988 self-titled debut album. The song did moderately well in the USA, hitting #31 on the R&B/Hip-Hop charts. She was only 11 years old when the album was released.
• In 1995, the band Oasis used a piano section from "Imagine" at the start of "Don't Look Back in Anger", from their second album (What's the Story) Morning Glory?.
• Late singer Eva Cassidy has a version of the song on her 2002 album Imagine. Although not released as a single, it appeared on Now That's What I Call Music! 53 the same year. The album was released in November, the month Cassidy died six years earlier.
• In 2004, alternative rock band A Perfect Circle covered the song on their third album, eMOTIVe. This song is significantly darker and gloomier than the original version and was quite popular upon release.
• Canadian rock musician Allison Crowe, who performs the song in concert, recorded "Imagine" for release on her 2005 double-album, Live at Wood Hall.
• Dolly Parton recently released a cover of the song (2006), in a duet with David Foster. The video for Parton's cover of the song featured vintage footage of Lennon and Yoko Ono.
• Brazilian musician Gilberto Gil covered the song on his 2004 live album, "Eletracústico"
• The Venezuelan band Cachicamo con Caspa has a Latin-feel cover on their A Pulir la Hebilla album.
• A 2005 song by artist RX featured George W. Bush "singing" a mixture of Lennon's "Imagine" and Lou Reed's "Walk on the Wild Side".
• Avril Lavigne, Jack Johnson, Willie Nelson & Me'Shell NdegéOcello each recorded versions of the song for the 2007 John Lennon tribute album, "Instant Karma: The Amnesty International Campaign to Save Darfur."
• Vagrants on Parade, a Port Coquitlam punk rock band, did a cover entitled; Imagine: John Lennonism.
• Blues Traveler did a version for the 1995 Lennon tribute album Working Class Hero.
• Mari Nallos covered the song on her 2006 album "The Crystal Voice of Asia.

Notable live cover interpretations

Over the years a lot of artists performed the song at their live shows, although much of these were not released on albums. Below are listed some of the more notable.

• The band Queen performed this song a few times in 1980 right after Lennon's death. On July 15, 2005, Queen + Paul Rodgers performed the song live in Hyde Park as a tribute to the victims of the London terrorist attacks.
• In 1983, David Bowie covered the song live during a concert in Hong Kong on the Anniversary of Lennon's Death as a tribute to him.
• Randy Crawford covered this song in a live version, available on some of her samplers like "The ultimate collection" or "best of album"
• Stevie Wonder performed "Imagine" on August 4, 1996 at the 1996 Summer Olympics closing ceremony. Almost ten years later on February 10, 2006 Peter Gabriel performed the song at the Opening Ceremonies of the 2006 Winter Olympics.
• Neil Young covered the song at the America: A Tribute to Heroes concert on September 21, 2001. The words he sang were "Imagine no possessions / I wonder if I can".
• On 15 January 2005, Madonna performed a live cover-version of John Lennon's "Imagine" (which was also part of her "The Re-Invention Tour" in 2004) at the NBC Benefit Telethon "Tsunami Aid: A Concert of Hope".
• American hard rock band Guns N' Roses performed a cover live in concert, with guitarist Slash performing the piano arrangement on guitar.
• Eva Cassidy recorded the song before her death at age 33; the album was entitled, "Imagine".
• Blake Lewis, the runner-up on the sixth season of American Idol, performed the song during the show's special Idol Gives Back episode on April 24, 2007. Its studio version was later released on the American Idol official website and in the American Idol Season 6: The Collector's Edition, the compilation of the studio versions of song performed by the finalists of Idol.

Madonna version

"Imagine"
Song

"Imagine" is a digital single release by pop singer Madonna. It was released on digital download only by Sony Music's connect.com on January 15, 2005. It was recorded live during the TV benefit special Tsunami Aid: A Concert of Hope shown on a number of channels in the United States.

Song information

Madonna had originally performed this version of the John Lennon classic during the 2004 Re-Invention Tour as part of her set list. This live performance was released via Sony's connect.com to raise money for the American Red Cross to help in their effort with the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake disaster which struck on December 26, 2004. Another live version of the song appears on the 2006 live album I'm Going to Tell You a Secret, recorded during the 2004 tour.

Tsunami Aid benefit

Eighteen musical acts have performed in NBC Universal's "Tsunami Aid" benefit special, which raised money for the American Red Cross's relief efforts. The show began with Morgan Freeman relating tales of survival and hope from the tsunami, followed by Madonna's performance of John Lennon's "Imagine" live from London. Playing with Madonna were Monte Pittman, Stuart Price and Steve Sidelnyk, the musicians who played guitars, keyboards and drums of her Drowned World and Re-Invention tours.

Track listing

"Imagine" (live) 3:28

External links

• John Lennon and Neil Young: Jammin' with Neil - covered on "Tribute to Heroes" (9/11/2001) by Neil Young
• Video