User:Lennon, John

John Lennon’s song “Imagine” was released in 1971 giving different messages to the audience. John Lennon, the songwriter, claims to have written the song for the audience to put their own meaning to it. On the other hand, Anthony DeCurtis believes that the song was written to bring peace. On the contrary, another article insists that John Lennon was inspired by his wife, Yoko Ono. “Imagine” by John Lennon, is about imagining a world with no violence, no beliefs, and just living in peace. The song evokes a “sophisticated, dreamlike world” (DeCurtis) with a beautiful catching melody that follows an aabbccddee rhyme scheme. Every verse addresses to imagine a better world in many ways. For example, in the first verse it sites “Imagine there’s no heaven It’s easy if you try” (1-2). Lennon demonstrates that he believes its better without believing in heaven, which to Lennon is a better world. John emphasizes that with no violence, religion, or countries we’ll live in peace as a better world. For example, “Imagine there’s no countries It isn’t hard to do Nothing to kill or die for And no religion too Living in peace” (7-12). Lennon also believes that to make a better world there shall be no selfishness and there should be pure love between everyone. For example, “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” (17-22). These examples express the way Lennon felt about the world and how it should be a better world. This song can express many meanings giving the audience a thought of why Lennon wrote the song. In the book, “John Lennon the Life” by Philip Norman, although many might disagree, it clearly states why Lennon wrote the song. For example, “I’m just a guy man, that writes songs,’ John protests ‘You take words and stick them together and see if they have any meaning.” (Norman 672-680) This quote clearly states that John Lennon wrote the song because he is a song writer and that’s what he does. John took a pen and paper to start writing which is now known as a song “Imagine”. Unlike Philip Norman, Anthony DeCurtis states that Lennon wrote the song to bring peace. For example, DeCurtis cites “He also yearned for a world in which his ego managed at once to absorb everyone else and dissolve differences among people, leaving a Zen-like tranquility and calm”. This shows that the song was made to bring peace into people and have a world with no disagreements or differences. DeCurtis also believes the song “Imagine” “has become his best-known song and an international anthem of peace.” This also shows DeCurtis views of the song stating it was made for peace. DeCurtis strongly believes “Imagine” was made for peace. In contrast, one article indicates that the song was written by inspiration to Lennon. For example, “Lennon later felt that this song should have been a Lennon/Ono collaboration. He got the idea from Yoko’s book Grapefruit, which includes phrases like “imagine the sky is crying” or “Imagine you’re a cloud”. This quote obviously states that his wife was a big inspiration to Lennon and got his ideas from her book. The article also mentions that “Yoko was a big inspiration of Johns”. John may have written the song for no reason but his ideas came from his wife’s book. Although there are different views of what influenced Lennon and why he wrote the song “Imagine”, in the end its more likely that Lennon wrote the song to bring peace into or hearts and for us to love one another as brothers and there shall be no violence, greed, or anything that controls our action and in conclusion the song “Imagine” by John Lennon, has many meanings. Works Cited Norman, Philip. JOHN LENNON The Life. 1st ed. NY, NY: HarperCollins Publishing, 2008. 672-680. Print. DeCurtis, Anthony. "John Lennon Biography." n. page. Web. 13 Apr 2011. . "John Lennon Chronology Biography." Britain Unlimited (2000): n. pag. Web. 13 Apr 2011. . "Song Facts." (2003): n. page. Web. 13 Apr 2011. .

By Yesenia Barraza