Artist: John Lennon
Album: Imagine
Releasing Date: 1971
Genres: Rock, Pop
IMAGINE, is a famous song by English Musician John Lennon, it was also co-written and performed by him. Imagine is the best-selling album of his solo career, the song is about living freely and without any boundaries of colour, race, or nationality and considering humanity without any materialistic possession. Her wife Yoko Ono helped him with the writing of this song and she received the co-writing in 2017.
Recording took place at Lennon's home studio at Tittenhurst Park, England in 1971. After releasing the album and the song it took third place on the Billboard hot 100, later it became most commercially and critically acclaimed song of Lennon’s career. BMI has named ''imagine'' as one the most performed songs of the 20th century. It was also ranked 30th number on the Recording Industry Association of America.
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 (ah ah ah)
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 that 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 that 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
_______________________________________________
The story of The Song ‘Imagine’
Several poetry from Lennon's wife Yoko Ono's 1964
collection Grapefruit served as inspiration.
One poem says, "Imagine the clouds pouring, dig a
hole in your garden to put them in," which Capitol Records eventually
reprinted on the back cover of the original Imagine album named "Cloud
Piece."
Later, Lennon clarified that the song "be
acknowledged as a Lennon/Ono tune The song and the concept were largely Yoko's
ideas, but back then I was a little more egotistical and macho, so I sort of
ignored her input even though it was straight out of Grapefruit."
The fundamental idea of the song was also influenced
by a Christian prayer book that Dick Gregory had given to him.
The idea of constructive prayer. It might be real if
you can picture a peaceful society free from religious division and the notion
that one God is greater than another.
I once received a call from the World Church asking if
they could simply change the words to "Imagine one religion" in the
song "Imagine." That made it clear to me that they had no idea what
it meant. The entire notion and intent of the song would be defeated.
Early in 1971, Lennon wrote the song in the morning.
At his Tittenhurst Park residence in Ascot, it was
written on a Steinway piano in a bedroom.
He wrote the majority of the lyrics, the chord
progression, and the melody in one quick writing session while Yoko Ono looked
on.
Together with Phil Spector, Lennon and Ono co-produced
the song. Spector later remarked, "We knew what we were going to do. John
was going to make a political statement that was also highly commercial.
"Imagine" has always seemed to me to be similar to the national
anthem.
Ono and Spector would simply sit in the other room and
shout things such, "Why don't you try this sound" or "You're not
playing the piano that well," according to how Lennon subsequently
recounted working with them. I'll have the basic thought, and then we'll just
start looking for sounds.
At Lennon's new home studio in Tittenhurst Park, Ascot
Sound Studios, the recording took place on May 27, 1971.
On July 4, 1971, at the Record Plant in New York City,
strings were afterwards added.
Lennon played piano and sang on the final album, which
also featured Klaus Voormann on bass guitar, Alan White on percussion, and the
Flux Fiddlers on strings.
The well-known music video for the song was a part of
an 81-minute movie that accompanied the Imagine.
It included images taken in New York City as well as
the couple's home and music studio at Tittenhurst Park in the Berkshires.
In the film's famous "Imagine" sequence,
John Lennon is seen playing his white grand piano in an all-white space.
As the music continues, Ono moves around, opening
curtains that let light inside and brighten the space. At the conclusion, Ono
and Lennon exchange a warm glance and a short kiss while seated next to each
other at the piano.
The movie included a number of historical
personalities, such as Andy Warhol, Fred Astaire, Jack Palance, Dick Cavett,
and George Harrison.
It peaked at number one in Canada and number three in
the United States in 1971. But it wasn't until 1975 that it was made available
in the UK as a single, where it peaked at number 6.
The song reentered the UK charts following Lennon's
death in 1980 and peaked at number one, where it remained for four weeks in
January 1981.
In the UK, it was re-released as a single in 1988 and
peaked at number 45. It was again re-released in 1999 and peaked at number 3.
It is now John Lennon's best-selling single as a solo
artist with over 1,640,000 copies sold in the UK.