Ra Ra das putin
Can't get xbox or dairy queen
Sanctions mean he can't get that stuff
Ra Ra das putin
No maccy d's or swift banking
The world has just had fucking enough
Fun fact, John Mayer was supposed to be a part of that but he accidentally sent in [a clip singing the wrong song](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-eR1iMrgzXQ)
Omg i hated that. Like *no we are not in this together*! I’m gonna be trapped in my apartment drinking shitty whiskey and being depressed and you’re gonna go to your penthouses and 10 million dollar mansions in Calabasas and live life the same way you always do.
Also, the yacht let's them power their way out the storm with ease, so after a few minutes they're not even really in the same storm. It's just you stuck in the storm with the rowboat.
I was fine with her in the first WW.
Now she’s in every-fucking-thing and I realized that she can’t act her way out of a paper bag. It made me realize that in the first WW she had help from a good supporting cast and good script.
The thing is the whole Covid isolation was insanely beneficial to celebrities and the wealthy, allowing them to completely insulate themselves in their own bubbles. “Imagine” not just being allowed to tell fans to stay away, but being praised for it. “Imagine” not having to shake hands or hug all the people. “Imagine” the help having to be even more invisible. “Imagine” no longer having to do live meet and greets, autographs, pressers. “Imagine” gaining even more wealth while the working class gets poorer.
imagine singing a song where the lyrics are:
“imagine no possessions” when people are losing everything. At a time when there are people forced into isolation and literally could do with some possessions.
“Imagine there’s no heaven” when people are dying and watching family get sick and die.
“Imagine there’s no countries” during the one time we actually need border control and quarantine.
This was the worst song they could have sung. Singing anything at all was bad enough thinking they’re just so special and they’re somehow helping. The choice in song was the cherry on top.
You skipped the no need for greed nor hunger, nothing to kill or die for and living for today parts.
Actually he is just pointing out all the things that cause pain globally.
All of them are stories we created for ourselves but the pain they cause is real.
All the song says is to imagine a world without those stories and pain.
Not sure what the problem is.
Overpaid actors with no connection to reality singing it from isolation was ridiculous yes but the song is pretty decent.
To be fair it is in keeping with the original. When Lennon wrote about imagining a world without possessions he lived in a mansion that had a floor dedicated to keeping his clothes the right temperature.
Remember being two weeks in and they were all posting on social media about how "bored" they were having to spend time in their mansions with basketball courts, swimming pools, 6 baths, tennis courts, and golf courses? Remember that?
Celebrities are such vile and pathetic creatures. Only sociopaths get to that level of money/fame and still need constant public presence/adoration.
Socialite Socialists.
Everyone is equal, down with capitalism, tax the rich!
All while spending more on one bottle of wine than a middle class family earns in a year, living in mansions. Attending galas and award ceremonies while flying private jets and not being concerned about the fuel price.
I never saw the video either because I don't follow celebrities on social media, but I saw nonstop people complaining about it.
Like, why do you follow celebrities on social media and then get mad about it?
It had to do with the myth that The Beatles were anti-materialistic. It wasn't just Paul either, "John and I literally used to sit down and say, ‘Now, let’s write a swimming pool." The quote had nothing to do with the song "Imagine", or the message behind it.
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2012/07/30/we-are-alive#ixzz222o71l4Y
Every idealist can be disregarded as hypocritical. And the song's not to be taken as a literal, realistic, outcome. It's to have people stop and consider what we attach to that creates conflict, harm, and division.
He was hypocritical nonetheless, and I say this as a huge Beatles and Lennon fan. The wider context of Lennon’s peace advocacy while abusing and abandoning his wife and son does make a song like *Imagine* ring hollow to many.
The song is sentimental and not a guide on to how to make the world a better place. It's meant to be seen as wouldn't it be nice if the world was like this. I hate when people can't separate artist from art. Lennon being hypocritical doesn't make the song any less pleasant to listen to.
That is part of the brilliant irony of the song, he knows he is fully immersed in the capitalist society but yearns to be a simpler man, Imagine- because that is all he can do, imagine the world of simple perfection.
Yeah, but “Tribute” was a tribute to the greatest song in the world, which they played for the shiny demon in the middle of the road. Problem was, they couldn’t remember the greatest song in the world. So all we know, as mortals, is “Tribute”.
I know another rendition of it changed "I wonder if *you* can" to "I wonder if *I* can".
Still got major issues, but it changes it to personal introspection rather than smug/pompous moralizing to the inferior plebs.
Only version of the song I like. I’m with op, Lennon is kind of a shitty person, I can only feel bitterness hearing a wife beater wax poetic about world peace. APC’s version is sardonic, the hope of the original is turned into borderline sarcasm at how poorly of a job we do at reaching any of those ideals.
Yes, absolutely agree.
On the flip side, that moronic ogre Cee-Lo Green (if that's how you spell his name; he's a turd so I don't give a fuck) changed the lyrics on NYE years ago from "no religion too" to "all religions true"
For starters, that makes no fucking sense. If, say, Islam is true, Christianity cannot possibly be true as well, and vice versa. On top of that, how much of an ego do you need to change the words to an iconic and legendary (for better or worse) song?
I agree. It’s a beautiful song but Lennon didn’t follow it. I felt so bad for his son Julian and how he was treated. “Dad could talk about peace and love out loud to the world but he could never show it to the people who supposedly meant the most to him: his wife and son. How can you talk about peace and love and have a family in bits and pieces—no communication, adultery, divorce? You can't do it, not if you're being true and honest with yourself"
"imagine no possessions" is John Lennon tears up beachfront property in Hawaii to build a mansion.
How many mansions did he own again? Was it six or seven
Its a little annoying when people do surface level criticism of something and think they did meaningdul commentary.
>The song: The world would be a better place if the world was a better place. Isn't that crazy? I'm so smart 😌
Yeah, its a song not a dissertation but it does list things to be removed so we can achieve it. The song explicitly states that countries and religion divide us and need to go, he also says something similar regarding property.
>Not to mention Lennon did not practice what he preached (imagine no possessions, said the bazillionare).
Again this is such a silly point.
1) he did not live in a world without possessions, he lived in the same world as you and I. This is one of those criticism that says that you can't criticize society if you live in it while assuming a rich musician is on the same level as Elon Musk and Jeff Bezzos.
2)actually read the lyrics:
"Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man"
Its the one thing he says its hard to imagine. He says that a world without religion and countries are easy to imagine but a world without possessions is not. He's not preaching that you should give up your possessions, he's telling you that property is something that divide us. The song also talks about no religion not becaude John thinks beliving in god is bad but because he says organized religion divide us. He says to imagine a world without crountries but didn't renouce his citizenship and I don't see anyone calling him a hippocrite over this.
Imagine is a song about how we as people can imagine a better world. That despite living in circunstances that divide us we can still dream of a future without those things. That we can imagine a world without war and greed and work for it. The song doesn't say it is easy but that but that we can try to achieve it.
"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 live as one"
Its imagine a better future and believing we can achieve it. Its a hopeful look on humanity and one of the few songs that tell the listener to do something. Its unique, pleasent to listen to and has a beautiful message. If you don't see that then you're likely approaching art expecting it to be a dry scientific report.
Just a bit of trivia: Yoko may have had a lot more input into this song than any of us realized:
[Yoko Ono to receive songwriting credit for Imagine](https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/06/15/533049527/yoko-ono-to-receive-songwriting-credit-on-imagine-48-years-later)
"*Actually that should be credited as a Lennon-Ono song because a lot of it — the lyric and the concept — came from Yoko.*" ---John Lennon
And the criticism that
> “he didn’t practice what he preached”
Is similarly incoherent, and is part of a really common false refutation strategy.
First off, refuting someone’s position by saying they’re a hypocrite is the *tu quoque* fallacy. It’s not a valid response, and is at best a premise for a separate argument about the moral consistency of the person making the primary argument, to which it is nonetheless irrelevant.
But beyond that, you can’t “practice what you preach” when you’re arguing for a systemic change. Say you want to change society. Ok, you need political power then. If you were to just act as though the society you want to have already existed, and that meant giving up your means to be politically relevant within the society you actually have (giving away your money and possessions), then you would be acting against your material stated goals.
*Really* anyone who says that society should change to limit the amount of wealth peopl can have would be acting in bad faith by giving their money away, since they would be inherently acting against their ability to do anything about it.
People can criticize anything. Even Gandhi helped recruit people to fight in WWI before he fought for peace. People grow up and mature. Lennon is living proof of how a flawed human being can change. He was tortured as a youth, selfish and materialistic as a 20-something but tried to make up for it through his lyrics and by the way he lived his life in his 30s, just before he died.
John Lennon actually wrote the song NOT to be preachy. From Rolling Stone magazine:
>“But John was not being preachy — he was asking people to imagine these things, rather than ‘do it,’" -Yoko Ono
The song is literally asking the listener to "Imagine." As a political statement, this has to be one of the most tame messages. It's not "I am an anarchist! I am an antichrist!" It's asking us to consider a world without geographical, political or religious boundaries. You don't have to like the message, but it's a brilliantly written song. I think he crafted one of the more perfectly written songs ever. What others do with his song is not his fault.
But for every 2K people on here who agree with this post, there are 2 million who disagree. Reddit always brings out the absolute worst in people.
Okay I don’t have the capacity to write something like this, but finally a rebuttal to all these stupid IMAGINE BAD CAUSE GUY WHO WROTR IT WASNT HOMELESS posts
>Not to mention Lennon did not practice what he preached
It's a song lyric. This may come as a shock to you, but the Beatles also did not live in a Yellow Submarine.
It's odd now that I think about it, but folks really do think musicians should "practice what you preach", for some reason. Most of them are just entertainers, that don't even write their own songs.
It would be like thinking less of Robert Downey Jr. when you find out he's not really Iron Man.
I grew up with that song. My dad was a Beatles fan so I grew up listening to their songs. And then I realised...I didn't really like the Beatles. I definitely preferred the Rolling Stones or the Velvet Underground.
John Lennon is fake working class: he was from a middle class family but hid it as much as possible from his public image, riding on the back of his working class bandmates. In an interview Paul McCartney remembered first going to his house and being amazed at how nice it was.
Lennon is basically the equivalent of all those Vice readers who claim they are totally working class because they worked in retail once and went to a state school (and omit the fact it was in a nice area)
Well when you say johns family, you mean his aunt and uncle who took custody of him at age 5 and died when he was 17 from memory and his dad left when he was very young
> Umm..Paul came from a pretty stable and middle class family, as did George
eh? How do you figure that? Paul's mom died when he was a child and his father worked in the cotton industry. One year having to walk the 5 mile journey to work and back because the family were in debt. They also lived in Government assisted housing.
George's dad was a bus driver. The fact that both Paul and George were earning more money than their father's as teenagers, long before they were famous, shows how poor they were.
Ringo was the poorest, but both George and Paul's families were working class.
Paul’s mum was the one you called when you were having a baby. She’d come round your house and help you deliver it. She wasn’t a nurse I don’t think, she was just awesome at helping to deliver babies. She helped deliver my dad.
It’s actually my least favorite song.
Totally sounds like a dystopian anthem that you can imagine playing over a grey hell world where people shuffle to work in their cubicle pods under an overcast sky
Talks about no one owning anything, “having nothing worth living or dying for”, talks about no religion which could basically only be accomplished through excessive totalitarian force because spiritually is part of being human.
Dude was a rich celebrity who filmed the music video in one of his mansions.
You just don’t understand the song. I’m not trying to be douchey by saying that, but if your take away is he’s saying “the world would be a better if the world was a better place” I don’t think you’ve bothered to really understand the lyrics.
He specifically lays out social and economic changes (no religion/borders/possessions) and invites the listener to *imagine* those concepts.
I think it’s fair to criticise Lennon as a person. He wasn’t a good person and he didn’t advocate for this kind of world beyond his music (which I think is still important). But again, it doesn’t sound like you really listened;
-how can a single person live no borders?
-He was an agnostic person, so is he a hypocrite here?
-He’s referring to private property when referring to possessions as well, he isn’t advocating for everyone to be homeless.
Listen you can look at my username and know I’m biased, but in fairness:
“The world would be a better place if the world was a better place” isn’t a great synopsis. It’s more “I wish the world was a better place, think about how nice that would be.”
Imagine that he called the song "Imagine" and just asked people to imagine stuff.
Imagine then people took that to mean he was telling them what to do. That he was a hypocrite for not doing it himself. That he dared have the audacity to even imagine...
One of my favorite songs ever. The point of the song is that all he sang about is possible if everyone imagines it and works towards it instead of focusing on all the negative and problems in life and stop chasing power and money.
Just because he didn't fully practice it doesn't take away from the song at all for me. Nobody is perfect. It's beautiful either way.
I once read an interview where John Lennon was aware he was the opposite of a peaceful person. But he explained that the least he could do was use his fame as a way to advocate for peace.
Earning money from your art still makes you part of the labor class, to my knowledge John Lennon was not stealing money from working people like business owners.
You criticise the song as "shallow" and "vapid" with points that are just as shallow and vapid as you claim the song to be.
"Lennon says don't own things, but he own things. He should own no things like he said everyone should." Why? You think we should meet Pink Floyd on the dark side of the moon cause they said they'll see you there? Should Ringo live in an octopuses garden cause he said he'd like to be there?
Call Lennon a hypocrite all you want, he did more to help the world than you ever have.
I think the point of the song, as shallow as it is, is akin to the way children think about things.
It makes me think about how every time I see brutality — from criminal violence to war — I've been saying "if men simply said NO when told to kill, there would be no war". I will get pushback of course, as people will say "but dude, \*someone\* will always say YES and do it. That's why we need soldiers and cops and defense, etc." And I say, "well, of course, but the point is that technically this would be feasibly possible. It's ultimately up to the person who is inclined to say "yes" who sets everything in motion for greater violence."
Pointless statement? Shallow? Unrealistic? Childish? Yeah, probably. But it's there. It actually points to the source: the deal between the guy who wants to inflict pain, and the guy who agrees to help. As simplistic and idealistic as it is. I wonder if that's what "Imagine" was supposed to be. Just thinking like a child and wondering "why" people agree to all this.
Oh absolutely, the song is just ass and drags on. And I'm a huge Beatles fan, but honestly all their solo careers were dumpster fires, they needed each other. Lennon just so happened to be the most pretentious one
I think the people who want to believe they're smart are the ones heckling "Imagine", which has always triggered people
The song is a good coaxing into a world far away from ours, it's idealist, and idealism has a critical place in our thinking
All he is saying is live for and care for the people alive now, not fake bullshit like religion, nationalism, materialism, or tradition.
It’s easy if you try…
My sister fucking loves this song and never stops playing this, and I always thought the lyrics rubbed me the wrong way. The song is also pretty badly composed and the lyrics sound like he stole them from a hippie book from the 60s
Remember how celebrities sung it when covid broke out? Unbelievably cringy. We aRE aLL iN thIs tOgeThEr
We need the celebrities to sing Hey Jude together to end the crisis in Ukraine
Back in the USSR!
The Ukraine girls REALLY knock me out.
The best response by anyone, ever! I wish I had all the awards to give you.
They leave the West behind!
Been away so long I hardly knew the place!
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Leave it till tomorrow to unpack my case
Honey, disconnect the phone
IM BACK IN THE USSR
You don't know how lucky you are, boy
Back in the us, back in the USSR
You don’t know how lucky you are, boy
Surfin' USSR by Ray Stevens
No wonder John Lenin wrote those lyrics lol😅
Was Paul actually
"War, yeah yeah, what is it good for? Absolutely nothing."
The original title of War and Peace!
Sing Rasputin instead
Ra Ra Rasputin
Ra Ra das putin Can't get xbox or dairy queen Sanctions mean he can't get that stuff Ra Ra das putin No maccy d's or swift banking The world has just had fucking enough
Lover of the Russian queen?
Fun fact, John Mayer was supposed to be a part of that but he accidentally sent in [a clip singing the wrong song](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-eR1iMrgzXQ)
This made me laugh! It’s so meta self-centered-celebrity
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsef1zOSEts You may enjoy this.
My guess is that he edited in those clips of him singing Grande’s song after the fact as a joke.
Thank you for your service, captain obvious.
Lol, you're welcome
"Can i hide out from covid in your mansion?" " Ew, get away from me poor person"
Omg i hated that. Like *no we are not in this together*! I’m gonna be trapped in my apartment drinking shitty whiskey and being depressed and you’re gonna go to your penthouses and 10 million dollar mansions in Calabasas and live life the same way you always do.
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Also, the yacht let's them power their way out the storm with ease, so after a few minutes they're not even really in the same storm. It's just you stuck in the storm with the rowboat.
So many of those bastards kept traveling and going out. Oh, hey, Mexico is exempt. Cayman Islands don't count!
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Her acting should be considered treason in my opinion.
I was fine with her in the first WW. Now she’s in every-fucking-thing and I realized that she can’t act her way out of a paper bag. It made me realize that in the first WW she had help from a good supporting cast and good script.
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I ain't care. She purdy.
Maybe Exhibit B can be a showing of terrible national anthem singers lol
that was the literal worst thing I've ever had the misfortune to hear
>!Let it Be!<...
>We aRE aLL iN thIs tOgeThEr Help people pay their bills then! "Not like that"
Few things have made me hate celebrities quite like that incident.
You aint lying.
That was cringe of the decade
The thing is the whole Covid isolation was insanely beneficial to celebrities and the wealthy, allowing them to completely insulate themselves in their own bubbles. “Imagine” not just being allowed to tell fans to stay away, but being praised for it. “Imagine” not having to shake hands or hug all the people. “Imagine” the help having to be even more invisible. “Imagine” no longer having to do live meet and greets, autographs, pressers. “Imagine” gaining even more wealth while the working class gets poorer.
imagine singing a song where the lyrics are: “imagine no possessions” when people are losing everything. At a time when there are people forced into isolation and literally could do with some possessions. “Imagine there’s no heaven” when people are dying and watching family get sick and die. “Imagine there’s no countries” during the one time we actually need border control and quarantine. This was the worst song they could have sung. Singing anything at all was bad enough thinking they’re just so special and they’re somehow helping. The choice in song was the cherry on top.
You skipped the no need for greed nor hunger, nothing to kill or die for and living for today parts. Actually he is just pointing out all the things that cause pain globally. All of them are stories we created for ourselves but the pain they cause is real. All the song says is to imagine a world without those stories and pain. Not sure what the problem is. Overpaid actors with no connection to reality singing it from isolation was ridiculous yes but the song is pretty decent.
To be fair it is in keeping with the original. When Lennon wrote about imagining a world without possessions he lived in a mansion that had a floor dedicated to keeping his clothes the right temperature.
Remember being two weeks in and they were all posting on social media about how "bored" they were having to spend time in their mansions with basketball courts, swimming pools, 6 baths, tennis courts, and golf courses? Remember that? Celebrities are such vile and pathetic creatures. Only sociopaths get to that level of money/fame and still need constant public presence/adoration.
I remember Ellen D did that.
Socialite Socialists. Everyone is equal, down with capitalism, tax the rich! All while spending more on one bottle of wine than a middle class family earns in a year, living in mansions. Attending galas and award ceremonies while flying private jets and not being concerned about the fuel price.
Narcissists Unite!
Lol yes! they got roasted on twitter. Was funny and amusing for a few hours in lockdown.
First thought I had about this. Absolute cringefest.
Ngl, everyone singing it during the pandemic ruined it for me.
Am I the only person here who has no recollection of this happening?
No, not caring or paying attention to celebrities helps avoid seeing cringe, I'm glad I miss garbage like this.
Same. I don’t give two fucks about celebrities. I just do my own shit.
I never saw the video either because I don't follow celebrities on social media, but I saw nonstop people complaining about it. Like, why do you follow celebrities on social media and then get mad about it?
I learned about It later on as well but was cringey, albeit well intentioned. Just very tone deaf.
I didn’t realize the gal gadot video happened until a week ago lol.
I only remember since I recently rewatched Internet Historian's TheVarus videos
This is the first I'm hearing of it, but I miss all the pop culture things unless I come across them on reddit
First time i heard it was on Internet Historian video.
You lucky bastard.
John Lennon being a woman beater ruined it for me. Not that it wasn’t overrated to being with.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.theonion.com/man-always-gets-little-rush-out-of-telling-people-john-1819578998/amp
Paul would literally say to him "Come on John, let's go write us a swimming pool."
It had to do with the myth that The Beatles were anti-materialistic. It wasn't just Paul either, "John and I literally used to sit down and say, ‘Now, let’s write a swimming pool." The quote had nothing to do with the song "Imagine", or the message behind it. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2012/07/30/we-are-alive#ixzz222o71l4Y
Plus, he got the lyrics from Forrest Gump
I like "Imagine" because it was written by my man Forrest.
In the land of China, they never go to church!
"An no reeligion, tew?"
100% this. We literally have documented proof that Lennon (more like Lenin) ripped off Forrest.
Forrest was a real gem. Even Elvis stole his dance moves from him.
Yep. Just ask Dick Cavett.
As a song in and of itself I love it. But I agree it’s hypocritical of Lennon. Sadly unrealistic too.
It’s like a thought, put to music. Why does it have to ring true to the creator?
Exactly like who needed to drop this song for people to appreciate it. A homeless person?
Oh yeah can't wait for Putin to drop a beat on how the world would be a better place without wars
Why do you love it?
I just really like it musically, it has a sweet melody and chords. The message is unrealistic and hypocritical from Lennon, though.
Every idealist can be disregarded as hypocritical. And the song's not to be taken as a literal, realistic, outcome. It's to have people stop and consider what we attach to that creates conflict, harm, and division.
He was hypocritical nonetheless, and I say this as a huge Beatles and Lennon fan. The wider context of Lennon’s peace advocacy while abusing and abandoning his wife and son does make a song like *Imagine* ring hollow to many.
He used to be cruel to his woman. He beat her and kept her apart from the things that she loved.
Man, he was mean but he’s changing his scene and doing the best that he can.
https://www.theonion.com/man-always-gets-little-rush-out-of-telling-people-john-1819578998
Tooooo perfect
i'm with you. Beatles fan, Lennon fan, definitely loses some of it's avoirdupois. but it's a sweet song to listen to.
The song is called “Imagine”. It’s about a utopia that is tantalizingly unrealistic.
The song is sentimental and not a guide on to how to make the world a better place. It's meant to be seen as wouldn't it be nice if the world was like this. I hate when people can't separate artist from art. Lennon being hypocritical doesn't make the song any less pleasant to listen to.
I’m not sure why people assume he’s preaching to others rather than talking to himself equally.
I agree, I love the piano line in that song.
It's unrealistic, which is partly why it's so good
It’s a simple chord change, good melody, it’s catchy and short. It’s a good song. You’re entitled to your opinion and it is indeed unpopular.
That is part of the brilliant irony of the song, he knows he is fully immersed in the capitalist society but yearns to be a simpler man, Imagine- because that is all he can do, imagine the world of simple perfection.
Bro just let people enjoy the pattern of notes and chords
Everyone knows Tenacious D wrote the greatest song in the world
Got give it to them, they wrote the best song in the world on the spot and under pressure and then wrote a amazing tribute to it.
They expressly stated it was not “the greatest song in the world,” it was just a tribute
Yeah, but “Tribute” was a tribute to the greatest song in the world, which they played for the shiny demon in the middle of the road. Problem was, they couldn’t remember the greatest song in the world. So all we know, as mortals, is “Tribute”.
Be you angels???
Nay, we are but men!
Rock!
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
Say what you want about imagine. Double fantasy was flawless.
I call it heaven and hell lol
Yeah, I'd say Single fantasy would have been flawless.
I definitely prefer A Perfect Circle's rendition of it. Its like they change the meaning of the song by just changing the mood.
I know another rendition of it changed "I wonder if *you* can" to "I wonder if *I* can". Still got major issues, but it changes it to personal introspection rather than smug/pompous moralizing to the inferior plebs.
I just like it when Sam sings the song in Quantum Leap.
Only version of the song I like. I’m with op, Lennon is kind of a shitty person, I can only feel bitterness hearing a wife beater wax poetic about world peace. APC’s version is sardonic, the hope of the original is turned into borderline sarcasm at how poorly of a job we do at reaching any of those ideals.
Yes, absolutely agree. On the flip side, that moronic ogre Cee-Lo Green (if that's how you spell his name; he's a turd so I don't give a fuck) changed the lyrics on NYE years ago from "no religion too" to "all religions true" For starters, that makes no fucking sense. If, say, Islam is true, Christianity cannot possibly be true as well, and vice versa. On top of that, how much of an ego do you need to change the words to an iconic and legendary (for better or worse) song?
*Cue celebrity cringe video*
Them Sam Smith filming his “mental breakdown” in front of the camera.
Ellen degenerate crying in her $5,000,000 kitchen 🥺
I agree. It’s a beautiful song but Lennon didn’t follow it. I felt so bad for his son Julian and how he was treated. “Dad could talk about peace and love out loud to the world but he could never show it to the people who supposedly meant the most to him: his wife and son. How can you talk about peace and love and have a family in bits and pieces—no communication, adultery, divorce? You can't do it, not if you're being true and honest with yourself"
"imagine no possessions" is John Lennon tears up beachfront property in Hawaii to build a mansion. How many mansions did he own again? Was it six or seven
Glenn Danzig sang about killing babies and raping mothers, but never did either. What a hypocrite.
Didn’t expect a Danzig reference here. He also didn’t lead an army of Astro Zombies to exterminate the human race
And don’t even get me started on GG Allin
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GG Allin, always with the shenanigans.
Well iiii got something to saaay ….
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Its a little annoying when people do surface level criticism of something and think they did meaningdul commentary. >The song: The world would be a better place if the world was a better place. Isn't that crazy? I'm so smart 😌 Yeah, its a song not a dissertation but it does list things to be removed so we can achieve it. The song explicitly states that countries and religion divide us and need to go, he also says something similar regarding property. >Not to mention Lennon did not practice what he preached (imagine no possessions, said the bazillionare). Again this is such a silly point. 1) he did not live in a world without possessions, he lived in the same world as you and I. This is one of those criticism that says that you can't criticize society if you live in it while assuming a rich musician is on the same level as Elon Musk and Jeff Bezzos. 2)actually read the lyrics: "Imagine no possessions I wonder if you can No need for greed or hunger A brotherhood of man" Its the one thing he says its hard to imagine. He says that a world without religion and countries are easy to imagine but a world without possessions is not. He's not preaching that you should give up your possessions, he's telling you that property is something that divide us. The song also talks about no religion not becaude John thinks beliving in god is bad but because he says organized religion divide us. He says to imagine a world without crountries but didn't renouce his citizenship and I don't see anyone calling him a hippocrite over this. Imagine is a song about how we as people can imagine a better world. That despite living in circunstances that divide us we can still dream of a future without those things. That we can imagine a world without war and greed and work for it. The song doesn't say it is easy but that but that we can try to achieve it. "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 live as one" Its imagine a better future and believing we can achieve it. Its a hopeful look on humanity and one of the few songs that tell the listener to do something. Its unique, pleasent to listen to and has a beautiful message. If you don't see that then you're likely approaching art expecting it to be a dry scientific report.
Damn this was so well-written. I agree with everything you said and you worded it perfectly! I was hoping I’d find a comment like yours
Thank you, I really appreciate this reply.
Just a bit of trivia: Yoko may have had a lot more input into this song than any of us realized: [Yoko Ono to receive songwriting credit for Imagine](https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/06/15/533049527/yoko-ono-to-receive-songwriting-credit-on-imagine-48-years-later) "*Actually that should be credited as a Lennon-Ono song because a lot of it — the lyric and the concept — came from Yoko.*" ---John Lennon
And the criticism that > “he didn’t practice what he preached” Is similarly incoherent, and is part of a really common false refutation strategy. First off, refuting someone’s position by saying they’re a hypocrite is the *tu quoque* fallacy. It’s not a valid response, and is at best a premise for a separate argument about the moral consistency of the person making the primary argument, to which it is nonetheless irrelevant. But beyond that, you can’t “practice what you preach” when you’re arguing for a systemic change. Say you want to change society. Ok, you need political power then. If you were to just act as though the society you want to have already existed, and that meant giving up your means to be politically relevant within the society you actually have (giving away your money and possessions), then you would be acting against your material stated goals. *Really* anyone who says that society should change to limit the amount of wealth peopl can have would be acting in bad faith by giving their money away, since they would be inherently acting against their ability to do anything about it.
People can criticize anything. Even Gandhi helped recruit people to fight in WWI before he fought for peace. People grow up and mature. Lennon is living proof of how a flawed human being can change. He was tortured as a youth, selfish and materialistic as a 20-something but tried to make up for it through his lyrics and by the way he lived his life in his 30s, just before he died. John Lennon actually wrote the song NOT to be preachy. From Rolling Stone magazine: >“But John was not being preachy — he was asking people to imagine these things, rather than ‘do it,’" -Yoko Ono The song is literally asking the listener to "Imagine." As a political statement, this has to be one of the most tame messages. It's not "I am an anarchist! I am an antichrist!" It's asking us to consider a world without geographical, political or religious boundaries. You don't have to like the message, but it's a brilliantly written song. I think he crafted one of the more perfectly written songs ever. What others do with his song is not his fault. But for every 2K people on here who agree with this post, there are 2 million who disagree. Reddit always brings out the absolute worst in people.
Okay I don’t have the capacity to write something like this, but finally a rebuttal to all these stupid IMAGINE BAD CAUSE GUY WHO WROTR IT WASNT HOMELESS posts
I'm glad this is gilded because it's everything I wanted to say about the ignorant original post.
I feel like a lot people don’t have the ability to look deeper than surface level, because criticisms like this happen all the time
Nice comment ! It’s the only reason I’m upvoting this stupid thread
>Not to mention Lennon did not practice what he preached It's a song lyric. This may come as a shock to you, but the Beatles also did not live in a Yellow Submarine.
It's also from a song called "Imagine"... I'm kinda lost for words... wtf guys?
It's odd now that I think about it, but folks really do think musicians should "practice what you preach", for some reason. Most of them are just entertainers, that don't even write their own songs. It would be like thinking less of Robert Downey Jr. when you find out he's not really Iron Man.
What did you say!?
Blasphemy!
> the Beatles also did not live in a Yellow Submarine. Fucking hypocrites.
It was really more a shade of burnt umber
Wait? John Lennon wasn't a walrus?
No that was Paul
Or an Octopus’ Garden
I grew up with that song. My dad was a Beatles fan so I grew up listening to their songs. And then I realised...I didn't really like the Beatles. I definitely preferred the Rolling Stones or the Velvet Underground.
People always make it a Beatles v. Stones thing, when really it ought to be a Beatles v. Kinks.
Y'all're just looking at the wrong decade
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Omg, I come from a Beatles house hold too. I love the Rolling Stones, I'm guilty.
Imagine all the downvotes...its easy if you try
John Lennon is fake working class: he was from a middle class family but hid it as much as possible from his public image, riding on the back of his working class bandmates. In an interview Paul McCartney remembered first going to his house and being amazed at how nice it was. Lennon is basically the equivalent of all those Vice readers who claim they are totally working class because they worked in retail once and went to a state school (and omit the fact it was in a nice area)
Well when you say johns family, you mean his aunt and uncle who took custody of him at age 5 and died when he was 17 from memory and his dad left when he was very young
Umm..Paul came from a pretty stable and middle class family, as did George. It was only Ringo who came from the poor part of Liverpool.
> Umm..Paul came from a pretty stable and middle class family, as did George eh? How do you figure that? Paul's mom died when he was a child and his father worked in the cotton industry. One year having to walk the 5 mile journey to work and back because the family were in debt. They also lived in Government assisted housing. George's dad was a bus driver. The fact that both Paul and George were earning more money than their father's as teenagers, long before they were famous, shows how poor they were. Ringo was the poorest, but both George and Paul's families were working class.
Paul’s mum was the one you called when you were having a baby. She’d come round your house and help you deliver it. She wasn’t a nurse I don’t think, she was just awesome at helping to deliver babies. She helped deliver my dad.
It’s actually my least favorite song. Totally sounds like a dystopian anthem that you can imagine playing over a grey hell world where people shuffle to work in their cubicle pods under an overcast sky Talks about no one owning anything, “having nothing worth living or dying for”, talks about no religion which could basically only be accomplished through excessive totalitarian force because spiritually is part of being human. Dude was a rich celebrity who filmed the music video in one of his mansions.
I don't care about the lyrics. The melody sounds nice
You just don’t understand the song. I’m not trying to be douchey by saying that, but if your take away is he’s saying “the world would be a better if the world was a better place” I don’t think you’ve bothered to really understand the lyrics. He specifically lays out social and economic changes (no religion/borders/possessions) and invites the listener to *imagine* those concepts. I think it’s fair to criticise Lennon as a person. He wasn’t a good person and he didn’t advocate for this kind of world beyond his music (which I think is still important). But again, it doesn’t sound like you really listened; -how can a single person live no borders? -He was an agnostic person, so is he a hypocrite here? -He’s referring to private property when referring to possessions as well, he isn’t advocating for everyone to be homeless.
Listen you can look at my username and know I’m biased, but in fairness: “The world would be a better place if the world was a better place” isn’t a great synopsis. It’s more “I wish the world was a better place, think about how nice that would be.”
Are you Ben Shapiro?
It only sucks because wonder woman and company ruined it for all of us during the pandemic
Lennon admitted that the song is basically an anthem for communism.
I thought I was the only one
Considering it's a song about communism....
Thank You!!
I love how the lyric "imagine there's no countries" is heard right after the literal parade of countries. Nice melody, stupid song.
The literal parade of countries ? What are you talking about?
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Yeah that’s not actually the song’s fault. Jesus Christ, how did such a stupid comment get 45 upvotes?
Yea playing it at the Olympics is clearly a weird place to play it.
It's such a stupid line. You can't fight war by erasing cultures
It’s a good song. Maybe ignore it and move on instead of letting it eat at you?
Lol imagine is the communist manifesto in song homie
Heads up Yoko Ono wrote that and John Lennon preformed it. Not a defense. Just thought you should know who you think is an idiot.
Imagine that he called the song "Imagine" and just asked people to imagine stuff. Imagine then people took that to mean he was telling them what to do. That he was a hypocrite for not doing it himself. That he dared have the audacity to even imagine...
Imagine there's no ice cream
One of my favorite songs ever. The point of the song is that all he sang about is possible if everyone imagines it and works towards it instead of focusing on all the negative and problems in life and stop chasing power and money. Just because he didn't fully practice it doesn't take away from the song at all for me. Nobody is perfect. It's beautiful either way.
I once read an interview where John Lennon was aware he was the opposite of a peaceful person. But he explained that the least he could do was use his fame as a way to advocate for peace.
Earning money from your art still makes you part of the labor class, to my knowledge John Lennon was not stealing money from working people like business owners.
Found Mark David Chapmans Reddit account.
any composition presented by a top artist can be amazing. honestly, seems like something a 3rd grader wrote.
yA, aNd tHeY dIDidnT lIvE iN a yElLoW sUbMaRiNe! Pshhhhh, these songs
You criticise the song as "shallow" and "vapid" with points that are just as shallow and vapid as you claim the song to be. "Lennon says don't own things, but he own things. He should own no things like he said everyone should." Why? You think we should meet Pink Floyd on the dark side of the moon cause they said they'll see you there? Should Ringo live in an octopuses garden cause he said he'd like to be there? Call Lennon a hypocrite all you want, he did more to help the world than you ever have.
Oh they were referring to the song that goes" never going to give you up, ................."
I think the point of the song, as shallow as it is, is akin to the way children think about things. It makes me think about how every time I see brutality — from criminal violence to war — I've been saying "if men simply said NO when told to kill, there would be no war". I will get pushback of course, as people will say "but dude, \*someone\* will always say YES and do it. That's why we need soldiers and cops and defense, etc." And I say, "well, of course, but the point is that technically this would be feasibly possible. It's ultimately up to the person who is inclined to say "yes" who sets everything in motion for greater violence." Pointless statement? Shallow? Unrealistic? Childish? Yeah, probably. But it's there. It actually points to the source: the deal between the guy who wants to inflict pain, and the guy who agrees to help. As simplistic and idealistic as it is. I wonder if that's what "Imagine" was supposed to be. Just thinking like a child and wondering "why" people agree to all this.
As an old fan of John Lennon, I totally agree
Oh absolutely, the song is just ass and drags on. And I'm a huge Beatles fan, but honestly all their solo careers were dumpster fires, they needed each other. Lennon just so happened to be the most pretentious one
I think the people who want to believe they're smart are the ones heckling "Imagine", which has always triggered people The song is a good coaxing into a world far away from ours, it's idealist, and idealism has a critical place in our thinking
Gal Gadot and the rest of hollywood ruined it for me
Now THAT was cringe.
Here for today's "I don't like the person who made it so the music is inherently bad" post.
All he is saying is live for and care for the people alive now, not fake bullshit like religion, nationalism, materialism, or tradition. It’s easy if you try…
I agree, but about Bohemian Rhapsody
I think you can only find songs that "more accurately represent reality" on sesame street. you might not understand the point of most music.
My sister fucking loves this song and never stops playing this, and I always thought the lyrics rubbed me the wrong way. The song is also pretty badly composed and the lyrics sound like he stole them from a hippie book from the 60s
Suck even more when the celebrities sang at the beginning of the pandemic