On this date in 1971, John Lennon began recording Imagine.
It didn’t take him long to write. The song was mostly completed in one sitting at Lennon’s home at Tittenhurst Park, one morning in early 1971.
The song was inspired by two books. One was a book of poetry called Grapefruit, written in 1964 by his wife, Yoko Ono. One of the poems, Cloud Piece, contained the line "Imagine the clouds dripping, dig a hole in your garden to put them in." The other book was a Christian prayer book he’d been given as a gift.
Lennon admitted he’d largely got the idea from Yoko, but didn’t acknowledge that at the time because he was “was a bit more selfish, a bit more macho” and took all the credit himself. On June 14, 2017, the National Music Publishers' Association announced that Yoko Ono would be added as a songwriter for Imagine.
Two Pianos were used for the composition. Both were Steinways: a brown Model Z upright in Lennon's studio and a white baby grand in one of the rooms of his estate. Film footage shows Lennon first writing the song on the upright, then working it out on the grand. The upright piano was sold to George Michael in 2000. Michael donated it to The Beatles Museum in Liverpool. It has since been "on tour" around the world to promoting peace. Lennon had the grand shipped to New York, where it is presumably still in the possession of Yoko Ono.
When he first wrote the song, Lennon didn’t see it as a huge hit. Rather, he saw it as the B side of another song called Gimme Some Truth. In fact, he made a rough demo recording in just that arrangement. When he started playing the songs to other people, however, they had to convince Lennon that Imagine was the hit.
It has been suggested that there are backwards messages in the song. If the line "imagine all the people" is played backwards, some claimed, it came out as "people war beside me".
Ben & Jerry's produced an Ice cream flavour based on Imagine between 2007 and 2013. It was called "Imagine Whirled Peace" and was a Caramel ice cream mixed with Toffee cookie pieces and Chocolate peace signs.
It has been covered many times by artists such as Elton John, Queen, David Bowie, Stevie Wonder, Neil Young, Peter Gabriel, Joan Baez, Diana Ross, Madonna and Lady Gaga. During the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Lennon's son Julian covered it, calling on world leaders and everyone who believes in the song's sentiment of hope and peace to stand up for refugees. Oasis used the piano intro on their 1996 song Don't Look Back In Anger. Imagine is often played at Olympic opening ceremonies, including the 1996 Atlanta Games, London in 2012, Tokyo in 2021, and Paris in 2024.
In the film Forrest Gump, Forrest appears on a talk show with Lennon, talking about a place where there are "no possessions" and "no religion." It's implied that Gump gave Lennon the idea for the song.
In New York’s Central Park, there is a sidewalk mosaic which spells out the word "Imagine". It’s in a section of the park which is dedicated to John Lennon. The area is called Strawberry Fields, across from Lennon's apartment where he was shot.
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