Imagine (song)

Lore & Background

Lennon and Ono co-produced the song with Phil Spector. Recording began at Lennon's home studio at Tittenhurst Park, England, in May 1971, with final overdubs taking place at the Record Plant, in New York City, during July. In October, Lennon released "Imagine" as a single in the United States, where it peaked at number one on the Record World Top 100, number two on the Cashbox Top 100 and number three on the Billboard Hot 100. The song was first issued as a single in Britain in 1975, to promote the compilation Shaved Fish, and reached number six on the UK Singles Chart that year. It later topped the chart following Lennon's murder in 1980.

Several poems from Yoko Ono's 1964 book Grapefruit inspired Lennon to write the lyrics for "Imagine"—in particular, one which Capitol Records reproduced on the back cover of the original Imagine LP titled "Cloud Piece", reads: "Imagine the clouds dripping, dig a hole in your garden to put them in." Lennon later said the composition "should be credited as a Lennon/Ono song. A lot of it—the lyric and the concept—came from Yoko, but in those days I was a bit more selfish, a bit more macho, and I sort of omitted her contribution, but it was right out of Grapefruit." When asked about the song's meaning during a December 1980 interview with David Sheff for Playboy magazine, Lennon told Sheff that Dick Gregory had given Ono and him a Christian prayer book, which inspired the concept behind "Imagine".

Reader's Guide

"Imagine" has consistently been widely praised since its release, while also garnering controversy due to its lyrics. BMI named "Imagine" one of the 100 most performed songs of the 20th century. In 1999, it was ranked number 30 on the RIAA's list of the 365 "Songs of the Century", earned a Grammy Hall of Fame Award, and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's "500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll". Rolling Stone ranked it number 3 in its 2004 list of the "500 Greatest Songs of All Time", repositioned to number 19 in the 2021 revision. Meanwhile, a UK survey conducted by the Guinness World Records British Hit Singles Book in 2002 named it the second-best single of all time. Since 2005, the song has been either played or performed in the final minutes leading up to the New Year's Times Square Ball Drop event in New York City. In 2023, the song was selected for preservation in the United States National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". "Imagine" is the best-selling single of his solo career, selling more than 1.7 million copies in the UK. More than 200 artists have performed or covered the song, including Madonna, Stevie Wonder, Joan Baez, Lady Gaga, David Bowie, Elton John and Diana Ross. After "Imagine" was featured at the 2012 Summer Olympics, the song re-entered the UK Top 40, reaching number 18, and was presented as a theme song in the opening ceremony of the 2022 Winter Olympics. The song has remained a source of controversy since its initial release over its lyrics.

Did You Know?

• Yoko Ono received co-writer credit for "Imagine" in 2017, decades after Lennon acknowledged her contribution.
• The song's lyrics were partly inspired by a poem from Ono's 1964 book Grapefruit titled "Cloud Piece".
• Lennon described "Imagine" as "virtually The Communist Manifesto", though he said he was not a Communist.
• The song was selected for preservation in the U.S. National Recording Registry in 2023.