Imagine

A note from Fireplug Doug: When I began this Lenten blog, my brother, Fuelgrip Skip, asked if he could post something from time to time. Skip is my “evil twin”, as I “affectionately” call “him”. Our family thinks the difference in personalities has to do with that old poem: I was born on a Friday and so am “loving and giving” (or so they say). My twin brother is a “Wednesday’s child” and is “full of woe”. (It was an even longer labor than you might think: I’m the older one). So Skip will write the blog on “Full of Woe Wednesdays” where he’ll take apart some of his least favorite songs. I call him my “hit man of the hit parade”. Don’t say you haven’t been warned!

Imagine
by John Lennon

Let’s get this one out of the way early. If there was an award for “least favorite song of all time”, Imagine would get my vote. Now, I know there might be some drug-induced, nihilism-promoting, buzz-saw accompanied punk idyll; or some violent, misogynist, rap monstrosity; or some twangy, country “we’re cheatin’ and it’s all right” song that is more deserving of the title – but I don’t listen to any of those. However, I have had to endure Imagine for 30 years now – in elevators, during award shows or retrospectives, and (for the life of me I can’t understand this) every time we suffer some national tragedy – makes you long for Kum Ba Yah. What John Lennon manages to do in a mere 3:04 – and in the context of a “mainstream” recording – is nothing short of stunning.

And it’s not just the words. Let’s start with the title. I don’t like people telling me what to do, and “imagine”, for all its airy, touchy-feely aspects, is a command. I wonder if the German version of the song has the exclamation mark required of an imperative in that language: Einbilde! Then, the piano starts. It’s that simplistic, rocking back and forth structure that always reminds me of some kid who’s learned two chords and now monopolizes the piano with them every time someone has forgotten to shut the lid to the keyboard. You can excuse that behavior in an adolescent, but in a 20th Century popular music icon? And then, there’s the whole production value of the piece. Who was Mr Lennon’s producer? It always sounds like he’s being recorded underwater. If the Bee Gees also recorded at the same studio, I have this theory that someday, we’re going to find out that there was actually a short in the mixing board.

As you can see, the song has already ticked me off, and Mr Lennon hasn’t even opened his mouth yet. But then he does:

Imagine there’s no Heaven, it’s easy if you try

Well, speak for yourself, sir. I find that extremely difficult to do and, frankly, not something that is worth the effort. Because the point of all this imagining seems to be to get us to the last line in the first verse:

Imagine all the people living for today

With all due respect, Mr Lennon, I don’t have to imagine that at all. All I have to do is look around me – that’s the world we live in. We’re engulfed in a culture devoid of a sense of history, devoid of a sense of community, devoid of “a future and a hope” promised in Jeremiah 29:11. No, the really brave, creative imagining would be to imagine all the people living for something more than just today, something bigger than themselves.

The song goes on, each verse taxing the limits of our imaginative sensibilities. By the time we get to verse three, we’re confronted with a smugness that is a trademark of Mr Lennon specifically and our generation generally:

Imagine no possessions: I wonder if you can

Hey, thanks for the vote of confidence! It reminds me of the flippant superiority of Give Peace a Chance. I want to say, “Wow. Why didn’t I think of that? Thanks, John!” And while we’re on the subject, let’s ask all the people under the Soviets, the Nazis, the Khmer Rouge, Castro, Ceaucescu and Kim Jong Il: how did those godless, possessionless utopias work out for y’all?

My brother somewhat begged me to not be totally negative in my post but to try to come up with something nice to say about Mr Lennon. I’m going to surprise him, because I actually have two nice things to say. First, I remember watching a tape of an old press conference with Paul McCartney and John Lennon. The press asked them how they managed to sit down and write all the songs they did. Mr Lennon said, “It’s simple. First, we sit down. Then, we write the songs.” Now, I admit that it sounds like something Bill Belichick might say (“Coach Belichick: how do you go out and win all those games?” “Simple. First, we go out. Then, we win the games.”), and if he did, it would grate on me severely, but I found Mr Lennon’s response refreshing. It told me that he appreciated the fact that songwriting is also a job – kind of that “Eighty percent of life is just showing up” attitude.

Second, while I don’t care for most of Mr Lennon’s songs written untethered from Mr McCartney (could you tell?), one of his final works is actually one of my favorite songs. It’s Valentine’s Day tomorrow and I’m sure my brother will pick some silly love song (if not actually Mr McCartney’s Silly Love Songs), but my vote is for Mr Lennon’s Woman:

Woman please let me explain
I never meant to cause you sorrow or pain
So let me tell you again and again and again
I love you, yeah, yeah
Now and forever

Great work, John. Requiem in pacem.

But as for Imagine, my hope is that someday it will fade from memory and we can move on to greater uses of our imaginations; maybe to "try to find out what is pleasing to the Lord (Ephesians 5:10)". Hey –

You may say that I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one . . .