I feel like Lennon was just trolling. “Imagine” is an incredibly stupid song. There’s no way such an intelligent man wrote that except in jest. I don’t think for a moment he was a conservative, but I think he felt liberal hippies were rabble. He had a drug problem but a lot of his angst was an act.
You say you want a revolution
Well, you know
We all want to change the world
You tell me that it's evolution
Well, you know
We all want to change the world
But when you talk about destruction
Don't you know that you can count me out
Don't you know it's gonna be alright
Alright, alright
You say you got a real solution
Well, you know
We'd all love to see the plan
You ask me for a contribution
Well, you know
We're all doing what we can
But if you want money for people with minds that hate
All I can tell you is brother you have to wait
Don't you know it's gonna be alright
Alright, alright, alright
You say you'll change the constitution
Well, you know
We all want to change your head
You tell me it's the institution
Well, you know
You'd better free your mind instead
But if you go carrying pictures of Chairman Mao
You ain't going to make it with anyone anyhow
Don't you know know it's gonna be alright
Alright, alright
He wrote that when he was a young idealistic hippie, iirc he said not long before he died that he really regretted writing that song and bashed how insane the ideas in it were. Feel free to fact check me not 100% on it.
[Doesn't really matter what you feel. What we need to do is try to find out how Mr. Lennon came to write such a song. And I've done just that, using a simple internet search. Apparently much of the song originated in Yoko Ono's 1964 book entitled "Grapefruit", where she wrote lyrics that seemingly had a strong influence on Imagine. For instance:
"Imagine the clouds dripping
Dig a hole in your garden to put them in
Imagine myself crying and using my tears to make myself stronger"
And so on. Lennon himself expressed later on that he should have given her joint writing credit on Imagine, confessing that he was overly selfish at the time he published it and that she had originated the concept. Ono was given co-writer credit on Imagine in 2017 by the National Music Publishers' Association. I suppose that is a consolation prize since most of the revenue brought in by the song preceded 2017. ](https://www.songfacts.com/facts/john-lennon/imagine)
I feel like Lennon was just trolling. “Imagine” is an incredibly stupid song. There’s no way such an intelligent man wrote that except in jest. I don’t think for a moment he was a conservative, but I think he felt liberal hippies were rabble. He had a drug problem but a lot of his angst was an act.
Listen to 'Revolution' and you'll see just what he thought of leftist hippies.
You say you want a revolution Well, you know We all want to change the world You tell me that it's evolution Well, you know We all want to change the world
But when you talk about destruction Don't you know that you can count me out
Don't you know it's gonna be alright Alright, alright
You say you got a real solution Well, you know We'd all love to see the plan You ask me for a contribution Well, you know We're all doing what we can
But if you want money for people with minds that hate All I can tell you is brother you have to wait
Don't you know it's gonna be alright Alright, alright, alright
You say you'll change the constitution Well, you know We all want to change your head You tell me it's the institution Well, you know You'd better free your mind instead
But if you go carrying pictures of Chairman Mao You ain't going to make it with anyone anyhow
Don't you know know it's gonna be alright Alright, alright
Alright, alright Alright, alright Alright, alright Alright, alright
Play this at the fucking Republican convention.
Yep.
Well shit
He was VERY cynical and "Imagine" is naive... he probably wrote it knowing that assholes would take it seriously forever.
He wrote that when he was a young idealistic hippie, iirc he said not long before he died that he really regretted writing that song and bashed how insane the ideas in it were. Feel free to fact check me not 100% on it.
[Doesn't really matter what you feel. What we need to do is try to find out how Mr. Lennon came to write such a song. And I've done just that, using a simple internet search. Apparently much of the song originated in Yoko Ono's 1964 book entitled "Grapefruit", where she wrote lyrics that seemingly had a strong influence on Imagine. For instance:
"Imagine the clouds dripping Dig a hole in your garden to put them in
Imagine myself crying and using my tears to make myself stronger"
And so on. Lennon himself expressed later on that he should have given her joint writing credit on Imagine, confessing that he was overly selfish at the time he published it and that she had originated the concept. Ono was given co-writer credit on Imagine in 2017 by the National Music Publishers' Association. I suppose that is a consolation prize since most of the revenue brought in by the song preceded 2017. ](https://www.songfacts.com/facts/john-lennon/imagine)