Imagine — if people actually listened
Posted by bradburg on May 2, 2008
It seems weird indeed that John Lennon, so notably crucified (as it were) in the media for saying the Beatles were “more popular than Jesus,” has gotten a permanent free pass in a lyric that attacks the bedrock institutions of the culture: Religion and capitalism. Imagine not only suggests but recommends that we think of the universe as having “no heaven,” and look forward to a world with ”no possessions.” That neatly encapsulates what the 50s famously excoriated as ”godless Communism,” and seems to be 100 percent opposed to what most Americans still believe. Yet the song has cropped up in the most sacrosant of settings — played at the Olympics and to wake up the astronauts, sung publicly by such conventional figures as Bill Clinton and Dolly Parton, and praised by Jimmy Carter (I’m partly relying on Wikipedia here), etc. Is this not beyond odd? To sing and/or apparently admire a lyric while managing to completely ignore its absolutely clear message? And would John be amused — or irritated?
