Imagine by John Lennon

Joel F. Doan
Martin Davis
ENG-242
Tuesday, March 27, 2012

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Imagine by John Lennon
It was difficult for me to write about John Lennon's song, Imagine, and not about John himself, the Beatles, Liverpool, Yoko Ono, New York, his assassination, or anything else. This song, as conceived and as first recorded, is deceptively simple. It consists of a short intro on piano, two verses, a chorus, a third verse, and a repeat of the chorus, followed by a brief 'play out' which is more or less a recap of the intro, turned to close on the tonic chord. But the song has inner strength. The simplicity is indeed deceptive. There are subtleties in the structure and execution. Also, the lyric, though superficially platitudinous, never oversteps itself, and is in fact genuinely challenging to the open mind.
Imagine is in the key of C Major, the simplest key in western music. The four bar intro is alternate bars of C (the tonic) and F (the subdominant). Guitar transcriptions put C major 7th on beat four of bars 1 & 3, but that is only to recognize the passing note B in the piano right hand melody. The verse harmony is simple in that it changes only on beat one of each bar.
Each of the three verses begins "Imagine" and answers with an empathetic comment. And each verse is more challenging than the one before. There can be nothing greater than Heaven, but John saw that it is easy if you try to imagine it away. And so it is. Countries - much lesser than Heaven, yet much harder to get rid of, though, to an open mind, not so hard to do. Finally possessions - as petty as we can get, but John realized that most of us could not imagine a world with no possession - I wonder if you can - excellent writing, John!
This crescendo of challenges that forms the opening of each verse is answered by a similar set of three imaginings to close each verse. In context, living for today is not an apology for Hedonism. It is not 'living for the moment' in a selfish way. It is in fact very much an echo of the Sermon on the Mount - 'Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin'. Then, living life in peace - here is the realization that most people merely want to live out their lives peacefully. John had previously written Give Peace a Chance, a protest song for peace. But in Imagine there is no protest, no blame, only hope. Finally, sharing all the world is not about dividing out the spoils. It follows naturally from an opening of borders, a geographical sharing, the consequence of living at peace, without countries. This song stands up on every level.
Now the chorus - You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one - Look how he doesn't instruct. He merely acknowledges that you, the listener, might not yet have considered these things, but others have. I hope someday you'll join us, and the world will live as one - only 'I hope', no unrealistic expectation, no instruction.
And throughout the whole lyric, there is no anger, no frustration. There is nothing but patience, hope and concern for humanity at large. This is one of my favorite songs, and listening to it in certain settings can sometimes evoke tears.

References
(1996). An Introduction to music and art in the Western world. Madison, Wis: Brown & Benchmark Publishers.
Robertson, J. (1993). The art & music of John Lennon. Secaucus, N.J: Carol Pub. Group.