Imagine, by John Lennon: lyrics, translation, analysis and interpretation
Imagine is a song from the self-titled album, written by John Lennon and Yoko Ono. It was released in 1971, and is the best-selling single of Lennon's solo career. Over the years, the song has become a hymn of peace and has been recorded by many artists, including Madonna, Elton John, and Stevie Wonder.
Letter of Imagine
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
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, 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
Translation of Imagine
Imagine there is no paradise
it's simple if you try
There is no hell under us
And above we only have the sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today
Imagine there are no countries
It's not that hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion either
Imagine all the people
Living in peace
You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope one day you will join us
And the world will be better then
Imagine there is no property
I wonder if you can
Needing no profit or being hungry
A brotherhood of human beings
Imagine all the people
Sharing everyone
Analysis and interpretation
Context
The end of the 1960s and the beginning of the 1970s were marked by various international conflicts involving two major nuclear powers: the United States. and the Soviet Union (USSR). The long period of tension experienced between these countries was called the Cold War.
That time was very fertile for music and culture in general. The movements of the 1960s, like the counterculture, influenced pop music and revolutionized the culture industry. John Lennon himself played an important role in that transformation along with The Beatles.
Yoko Ono was also a renowned artist who participated in various avant-gardes in the 1960s. She then highlighted the Fluxus movement, which had libertarian and politicized proposals for art, and to which Yoko had belonged since 1964. In that year, Yoko Ono released the book Grapefruit, which served as inspiration for the theme Imagine.
Interpretation
All the lyrics of the song build a utopian image of a world where there is more equality between people, a world in which there are no major factors that cause conflict. In this song, John Lennon proposes to imagine a world without religion, without countries and without private property. He believes that these three factors are the main cause of conflicts and that, to live in peace, it is necessary to end them.
Imagine there is no paradise
it's simple if you try
There is no hell under us
And above we only have the sky
In the first stanza, John Lennon talks about religions, implying that religions use the promise of paradise and the threat of hell to manipulate people's actions.
Imagine all the people
Living for today
The second stanza is a continuation of the first idea. If there is no heaven or hell, people do not need to live thinking about the consequences after death and can live fully in the present.
Imagine there are no countries
It's not that hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion either
Nations have always been the biggest source of armed conflict in the world. In this stanza, the composer proposes a world without countries, where there are no nations that justify war, kill or die. Then he goes back to talking about religion, but this time in a more explicit way.
Imagine all the people
Living in peace
The next stanza continues the theme. A world without nations and borders is a world where people can live in peace.
You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope one day you will join us
And the world will be better then
This is the most iconic and recognized verse of the song. In it, the composer refutes the idea of being just a dreamer even though what he says seems like a utopia. Lennon believes that a world of peace is possible, as he describes it. It is enough that more and more people manage to imagine such a world and unite accordingly. The collective strength of people is the essential factor for transformation.
Imagine there is no property
I wonder if you can
Needing no profit or being hungry
A brotherhood of human beings
In this stanza John Lennon proposes an almost communist vision of the world, where there is no private property. Without possessions, there is no gain but also no hunger, and men can finally live as brothers.
Although the lyrics make strong criticisms of religions, nations and capitalism, it has a sweet melody. John Lennon himself believed that this melody made this subversive text accepted by a large public.
But beyond the vision of the world that the composer proposes, the lyrics have immense power in suggesting that the imagination is capable of improving the world. As unattainable as his proposals may seem, they can be achieved, and the first step is to be able to imagine that it is possible.
* Article translated by Andrea Imaginario*
University professor, singer, Bachelor of Arts (Cultural Promotion mention), Master of Literature Compared by the Central University of Venezuela, and PhD candidate in History at the Autonomous University of Lisbon.
