John Lennon “Imagine”
John Lennon “Imagine” released on yesterday’s date, October 8th, in the UK, 1971. Today, October 9th, is John Lennon’s birthday (b. 1940, d. 1980). It’s also his son Sean Lennon’s birthday (b. 1975) so today seemed the perfect day to spin Lennon’s second solo album, which went to #1 on the charts in both the US and the UK.
Imagine is sweet and beautiful (“Oh My Love,” “Oh Yoko”) but also biting and bitter. Lennon’s resentment and acrimony towards Paul McCartney is evident in the early editions’ inclusion of a card with Lennon holding a pig to mock McCartney’s Ram as well as the song “How Do You Sleep?” which is pretty brutal – “So Sgt. Pepper took you by surprise, you better see right thru that mothers eyes, those freaks was right when they said you was dead…A pretty face may last a year or two, but pretty soon they’ll see what you can do, the sound you make is muzak to my ears…” Lennon’s political commentary is scathing and still relevant today, particularly “I Don’t Want To Be a Soldier” and “Gimme Some Truth” (“I’m sick and tired of hearing things from uptight-short sighted-narrow minded hypocrites, all I want is the truth, just gimme some truth. I’ve had enough of reading things by neurotic-psychotic-pig headed politicians…”). And the title track “Imagine” is highly political; to quote Lennon it is “an anti-religious, anti-nationalistic, anti-conventional, anti-capitalistic song” and so perfectly composed that it became an enduring anthem for peace and non-violence.
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 todayImagine 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 peaceYou 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 oneImagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the worldYou 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
Daily (maybe) pulls from the vault: 33-1/3, 45, 78, old, older, classic, new, good, bad. Subjective. Autobiographical. Occasionally putting a record up for sale.
