In our continuing examination of the four Beatles’ post-Beatles solo careers, today’s classic song of the day is John Lennon’s “Imagine.” This may be the best-known and most popular of all the lads’ solo work, one that has become a bit of an anthem for peace, love, and understanding.
John Lennon first started writing “Imagine” back in January of 1969, when he was still with the Beatles. (That was during the aborted Get Back sessions.) That’s when he came up with the opening piano part, dubbed “John’s Piano Piece.” He worked out the rest of the tune and added lyrics in a single morning in early 1971, then called in Phil Spector to produce the initial recording in his (Lennon’s) home studio.
On the fourth of July in 1971, Spector and Lennon took that initial tape (John on piano and vocals) to the Record Plant in New York City and added band and string backing. The other musicians on the track were Kaus Voorman on bass and Andy White on drums; the strings were provided by the Flux Fiddlers, with an arrangement by Torrie Zito.
“Imagine” is all about imagining a world without conflict—a world free of materialism, national identity, and religion. Everybody knows the idealistic lyrics:
Imagine there’s no heaven
It’s easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us, only sky
Imagine all the people
Livin’ 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
Livin’ life in peace
John says the song was inspired by wife Yoko Ono’s poetry (in particular, a poem titled “Cloud Piece” included in her book, Grapefruit) and a Christian prayer book given to him by comedian/activist Dick Gregory:
“The concept of positive prayer… If you can imagine a world at peace, with no denominations of religion—not without religion but without this my God-is-bigger-than-your-God thing—then it can be true.”
Because of that initial inspiration, Lennon eventually gave Ono co-writing credit on the song.
“Imagine” was released as a single in the U.S. in October of 1971. It wasn’t released in the UK at the time, although it did get a single released there in 1975. Its initial release peaked at #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #2 on the Cash Box Top 100. The 1975 UK release hit #6 on the UK Singles chart.
Many people regard “Imagine” as John Lennon’s best song. It was certainly his most popular. “Imagine” has sold more than 20 million copies worldwide, was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, and was selected by the Library of Congress for inclusion in the National Recording Registry. It’s safe to say that “Imagine” is a song that almost everyone knows, no matter where they come from or how old they are.
While some took issue with its stance on religion, “Imagine” is certainly a hopeful and inspirational tune. I think we can all agree with John’s conclusion in the song:
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
