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Album artwork for Imagine by John Lennon

Imagine

by John Lennon

1989 · Rock · 3:04

About this song

  • "Imagine" is a song by John Lennon, which appears on his 1971 album, Imagine. It was released as a single in the same year, and reached number three in the U.S. Billboard charts, and number six in the United Kingdom. In 2004, Rolling Stone magazine voted "Imagine" the third greatest song of all time. Former U.S. president Jimmy Carter said, "In many countries around the world — my wife and I have visited about 125 countries — you hear John Lennon's song 'Imagine' used almost equally with national anthems." In the book Lennon in America, written by Geoffrey Giuliano, Lennon commented that the song was "an anti-religious, anti-nationalistic, anti-conventional, anti-capitalistic song, but because it's sugar-coated, it's accepted." Lennon also commented, it's "virtually the Communist Manifesto, even though I am not particularly a communist and I do not belong to any movement." The lyrics were thought to be inspired by Lennon's hopes for a more peaceful world, though their origins are not known for certain. In 1963 Lennon penned the lyrics to "I'll Get You" with an opening verse of, "Imagine I'm in love with you, it's easy cause I know." The first verse of "Imagine" would seem to be a reworking of this. But the song's refrain may have been partly inspired by Yoko Ono's poetry, in reaction to her childhood in Japan during World War II. According to The Guardian, primordial versions of the song's refrain can be found in her 1965 book Grapefruit, where she penned lines such as, "imagine a raindrop" and "imagine the clouds dripping." . User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply. — lastfm
  • "Imagine" is a song by the English musician John Lennon from his 1971 album of the same name. The lyrics encourage listeners to imagine a world of peace, beginning with living without religion and its concepts, without economic materialism, and without borders separating nations. Shortly before his death, Lennon said that much of the song's lyrics and content came from his wife, Yoko Ono, and in 2017, she received a co-writing credit. — wikipedia

Countdown appearances

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Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy) artwork
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2025

See all songs by John Lennon ›