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‘Imagine’: Why John Lennon’s Most Enduring Song Is Actually His Worst
WBUR ^ | 12/6/12 | Jim Borghesani

Posted on 12/06/2012 10:18:56 AM PST by raccoonradio

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To: Tublecane
"“Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite” and “Good Morning” suck, by the way."

Those two songs are not normal 4/4 beat rock and roll but they DO demonstrate the incredible musical songwriting abilities Lennon/McCartney had.

Together they had a synergy that exceeded either of their abilities on their own.

41 posted on 12/06/2012 11:13:02 AM PST by Mr. K (some days even my lucky rocketship underpants don't help...)
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To: crosshairs

He’s probably thinkin’ “Happiness would be a lot cooler place than this...”


42 posted on 12/06/2012 11:14:28 AM PST by editor-surveyor (Freepers: Not as smart as I'd hoped they'd be)
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To: Dr. Sivana

Zep rocks. 8 minute songs just means 6 more minutes of rock.


43 posted on 12/06/2012 11:16:51 AM PST by Tublecane
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To: Monterrosa-24

I do like, though, when the photographer gives him what-for in the bathroom between the maudlin Puccini bombing sequence and the saccharine Imagine reunion ending.


44 posted on 12/06/2012 11:19:05 AM PST by Tublecane
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To: raccoonradio
To me Imagine means a song with this lyric line:

Imagine there's no possessions

from a guy who left an estate of around $200 million, which has since grown to around $1 billion. Haven't heard of anyone involved taking imagination to reality and giving up their 'possessions'.

Shameless hypocrisy fed to the ignorant masses. And the rest of the song is equally ridiculous.

45 posted on 12/06/2012 11:20:41 AM PST by Will88
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To: All

Most overrated band ever.

I would want to poke my eardrums out with Icepicks when “Hey Jude” came on the radio.


46 posted on 12/06/2012 11:27:24 AM PST by Rodney Dangerfield ("Hate standing in line at the Post Office? - wait until ObamaCare is implemented.")
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To: Mr. K

I think they probably stuck by their official song sharing for this very purpose: to get double credit. McCartney and Lennon are weaker than Lennon/McCartney. Do we even know how much they collaborated after a certain point? By Sgt. Pepper at least they might’ve had less to do with the other guy’s final product than did George Martin.


47 posted on 12/06/2012 11:34:00 AM PST by Tublecane
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To: raccoonradio

Imagine no heaven, no hell below us, no religion, no possessions....

That’s been tried. Things didn’t work out too well for the Khmer Rouge or the country it nearly destroyed.


48 posted on 12/06/2012 11:57:29 AM PST by ScottinVA (I've never been more disgusted with American voters.)
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To: Rodney Dangerfield
I would want to poke my eardrums out with Icepicks when “Hey Jude” came on the radio.

Yeah, me too... 17 times... once for each repeat of that mindless, meaningless refrain.

49 posted on 12/06/2012 11:59:14 AM PST by ScottinVA (I've never been more disgusted with American voters.)
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To: raccoonradio

I liked the Beatles’ early stuff, but hated the products of their drug/zen/free love era. People rail on about how “great” the “white album” was; IMO, it didn’t hold a candle to the music they put out in the early 1960s.


50 posted on 12/06/2012 12:02:26 PM PST by ScottinVA (I've never been more disgusted with American voters.)
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To: Monterrosa-24
After all, the lyrics described much of what the Khymer Rouge professed to believe,

I've thought that for a long time as well... I doubt Lennon intended it that way, but some of the lyrics of that awful song sounded like a Khmer Rouge handbook.

51 posted on 12/06/2012 12:07:19 PM PST by ScottinVA (I've never been more disgusted with American voters.)
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To: raccoonradio
Was "Imagine" Lennon's best song? No. The lyrics are as sophomoric as "Which Way You Going, Billy?" and "I'd Like To Teach the World to Sing".

I understand that different people have different opinions, but I can't get over all of the hatred for The Beatles.

If I get tired of Guy Clark, Ray Wylie Hubbard, and Robert Earle Keen, I can listen to The Beatles for six hours straight and enjoy it. I will, however, skip parts of "The Beatles" (a/k/a "The White Album").

They're still the most popular and influential popular music band in the world and deservedly so.

52 posted on 12/06/2012 2:48:31 PM PST by Scoutmaster (You knew the job was dangerous when you took it)
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To: raccoonradio

I think if he wanted to record it with The Beatles, Paul would have told him that ‘that song is the worst piece of crap I have ever heard.’


53 posted on 12/06/2012 2:55:22 PM PST by dfwgator
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To: Tublecane
Do we even know how much they collaborated after a certain point?

You would be surprised how much we know about their collaboration on a song-by-song basis.

54 posted on 12/06/2012 2:58:54 PM PST by Scoutmaster (You knew the job was dangerous when you took it)
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To: Tublecane
Zep rocks. 8 minute songs just means 6 more minutes of rock.

Well, yeah, but the same CD that has 8 zep tunes can hold 12 badfinger songs, 23 Gary lewis 45s, or 28 Chuck berry greats.

Conversely, Kraftwerk, rick Wakeman, Pink Floyd, ajd Roberr Fripp can all pop out 20+ minutes at a time.
55 posted on 12/06/2012 5:17:09 PM PST by Dr. Sivana (There is no salvation in politics.)
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To: ScottinVA

Everything is for the Uncle. I grew up with a kid who was the only person in his family to survive the Khmer Rouge. He was only 4 years old when he came here but I remember he was covered with scars and burn marks. If I ever run into him again I want to ask him if he remembers seeing John Rambo Kerry in Cambodia around Xmas.


56 posted on 12/06/2012 5:32:44 PM PST by peeps36 (America is being destroyed by filthy traitors in the political establishment)
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To: raccoonradio
Overkill. It's hard to believe the Plastic Ono Band didn't have worse "songs" than "Imagine."

Be sure to slide over to Borghesani's "Why The Democrats Need Rush Limbaugh" if you want to really raise your blood pressure. First paragraph:

The post-mortems in the wake of the Republican humiliation on Nov. 6 should have Democrats a tad nervous. Up until Election Day, the anti-science, anti-intellectual, anti-compromise tenets of the GOP were unassailable. Now some cracks are emerging in the Koch brothers-Fox News-Karl Rove edifice.

Not somebody I'd trust, even with reasons why "Imagine" is a lousy song ...

57 posted on 12/06/2012 5:42:46 PM PST by x
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To: raccoonradio

The author obviously knows nothing about the genesis of the song. He might do a little background research:

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 helped inspire in Lennon what he described as:

“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 ... the World Church called me once and asked, “Can we use the lyrics to ‘Imagine’ and just change it to ‘Imagine one religion’? That showed [me] they didn’t understand it at all. It would defeat the whole purpose of the song, the whole idea.”


58 posted on 12/06/2012 6:48:27 PM PST by martiangohome
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To: Dr. Sivana

“but the same CD that has 8 zep tunes can hold 12 badfinger songs, 23 Gary Lewis 45s, or 28 Chuck Berry greats...Conversely (so and so) can all pop out 20+ minutes at a time.”

My point was more that it doesn’t lose it rockingness for being longer. Of course a simlar effect could be achieved using longer or shorter songs. Assuming the band is at ease to shift from length to length. Some specialize; Zep was flexible.

What length you prefer depends on mood, purpose, and taste. I prefer 4 equal minute songs, all things being equal.


59 posted on 12/06/2012 9:10:31 PM PST by Tublecane
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To: Dr. Sivana

“but the same CD that has 8 zep tunes can hold 12 badfinger songs, 23 Gary Lewis 45s, or 28 Chuck Berry greats...Conversely (so and so) can all pop out 20+ minutes at a time.”

My point was more that it doesn’t lose it rockingness for being longer. Of course a simlar effect could be achieved using longer or shorter songs. Assuming the band is at ease to shift from length to length. Some specialize; Zep was flexible.

What length you prefer depends on mood, purpose, and taste. I prefer 4 or 5 minute songs, all things being equal.


60 posted on 12/06/2012 9:11:04 PM PST by Tublecane
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