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Imagine there's no heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people living for today
Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people living life in peace
You, you may say
I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one
I hope some day you'll join us
And the world will be as one
Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people sharing all the world
You, you may say
I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one
I hope some day you'll join us
And the world will live as one
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people living for today
Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people living life in peace
You, you may say
I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one
I hope some day you'll join us
And the world will be as one
Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people sharing all the world
You, you may say
I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one
I hope some day you'll join us
And the world will live as one
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However I do like the MUSIC or TUNE "imagine" it has a great melody. Some of the words standing alone are fine, like peace, and brotherhood...and words like that ...but the words "put when together as they are" would 'require" us to HAVE TO "imagine" the end scenario, that's for sure.
For instance countries will never live together in peace, even without religion and possessions...heck families who love each other cannot even get along in the same house....religion or not.....how in the world could countries do it?
Everyone would like to blame wars on people's FAITH......that's too easy. People need to own up to their own personalities and the wrong that's embedded in this world as it is.
Yes I am a Christian and I don't see how this world is gonna CHANGE without HELP. The Bible offers that help and I don;t know what the answer is without help from a higher source than us.
It does'nt require religion for people to fight and disagree. we can do that if there never was a single religion or possessions or money....we would find OTHER reasons to fight.
We really can't get along...that's a fact even if you don't believe the Bible ,we have to admit that even just 2 people who may be BEST OF FRIENDS have a hard time living in the same house without arguing. They may for a time but sooner or later our true natures are gonna come out and the fight is on , even among the best of friends who really would die for each other. They still cannot get along ALL the time.
Some say John Lennon did not mean this to be an atheist song...well it sure came out that way. In the very first line Lennon takes GOD out of the song. Then turns it into a "humanist" song from that point on.
The American atheists adopted this song as their theme song for summer camp for atheist kids. I'm sure this is fine with many people, but it saddens me for the children's sake.
Many say that John Lennon was not an atheist, but I really have to doubt that. For one thing his house was filled with objects of the "occult" I don't know if they were specifically devil worship items or idols...because I never really felt the need to get into researching the subject of Lennon's life. Some of these facts were included in news reels the week of his death.
I suspect if one did do some research on Lennon's life he would find that Lennon was an atheist or at the very least agnostic.
The song is beautiful in it's "music"..... however the lyrics I'm afraid are very "unrealistic" in this world..... as it currently stands.
The concept of peace and togetherness and brotherhood of man, is fine...but the song offers no viable solutions toward that end.
Something must change the "people" not the "conditions". The conditions will take care of themselves with "change in mankind."
However I realize that he was just saying "imagine" and I doubt he would interpret it the same way as I did above. In fact, I'm sure a lot of people truly believe that it's the only way to peace. But while I can imagine this pleasant dream, I would not want to make it a reality, because I don't think it would be so pleasant as the song makes it sound.
I would rather imagine a world where everyone can tolerate, accept, and get along with other people and their beliefs and opinions. A world where we see each other as equal worth, but different people nevertheless. A world where we can help each other live fulfilling lives, while preserving and nourishing our environment. A world where no individual or group "takes over".
While I'm sure Lennon meant well (and honestly I don't know much about his life, so I cannot know his true meaning behind it), I just have real difficulty listening to this beautiful song... because some words give me the creeps!
In my opinion, there are many artists who do it. It's easy to remove religions to try and feel better. It's easy to blame religions to cover our own shadow! It's so very sad that beautiful artists lead others astray.
There are the people who accuse Lennon of being a Communist, atheist and anarchist and then those like his killer who accused him of simply being a phony and none of those things. And then there are those who take him word for word who think this is his way of telling everybody how to live in peace.
Key word: imagine.
The lyrics say to imagine a world where our differences - religion, nationality, social class - do not divide the human race into warring factions. There may or may not be a heaven or hell, and I doubt John expected everyone to trash their religion, country and possessions, but just imagine for one moment that those things didn't come between people. That instead of presidents and dictators deciding policy, diplomacy was achieved by a fruit vender on the streets of Tehran (Iran) and a window washer in Manhattan (US).
No one would be building bombs, flinging around rhetoric in the news and announcing to the world that war is only six months away.
In the second verse it starts off with: “Imagine there’s no countries/ It isn’t hard to do” explains a lot about the predicament our world has been through ever since countries were established and taken over with governments. At first glance at these sentences I thought to myself, “Well, it is hard to think about having no countries.” But yet, honestly now I think the world would be so much more peaceful and together without countries. Lennon was in a way, sassy with this line because he wanted all of us to realize how much turmoil comes out of greedy countries against other greedy countries. A lot of people would think that countries are necessary to preserve peace and for the human race to exist in. But in reality, when Adam and Eve existed were they controlled by government? No. they were controlled by God and his ruling. “Nothing to kill or die for/And no religion too” are a way of saying, “What if there was nothing to put our faith in? Would we have to put our faith solely in each other?” Lennon knew that war and violence come out of many religious differences. All religions have atleast one thing in common, people worshipping. What if no body had to be in the war? or wanted to be in the war? Imagine(see what I did there) all the lives that would be back on earth. And the last line of the second verse “Imagine all the people living life in peace.” which is pretty self-explanatory. If the humans of today would just accept each other’s differences, we might actually have a stable world for once.
Starting the verse with “You, you may say I’m a dreamer/ but I’m not the only one” means that Lennon was not the only person who thought up all these things. I believe he wants people to know that there are people out there that think of the same things he does. He does not want to take all the credit for the incredible thoughts that he thought. In the lines “I hope some day you’ll join us/ And the world will live as one” doesn’t mean “joining a group” but is a metaphor for he hopes you want the same things he does. Then, the world will be on a good track.
In the third verse “Imagine no possessions/ I wonder if you can” obviously means that if no body owned anything, there would not be greed and hunger. People could share the earth and everyone would have an even amount of everything. It is often hard to imagine(see what I did again) no life without computers, books, electronics, clothes, etc. Objects do not complete a person. A person completes an object. The next lines go together: “No need for greed or hunger/ A brotherhood of man” goes along with the line above meaning there would not be world hunger. Each person would treat the other like they were family or a best friend. And the last line of the verse goes “Imagine all the people sharing all the world” which basically means as before. The world is ours to have. Notice ours. That doesn’t mean I should claim land and not let anybody but myself, onto it.
A heroin addict/pervert and his wife knew how to make money. Good for them.
Anyway, it's good to idolize a pop culture hero.
Sincerely
Joe Paterno
I believe that John Lennon, in this song, is saying that if everyone becomes a dreamer of a better world, where we aren't separated by nations, we aren’t owning or taking what we see, and keeping it from others, killing and dying over what we have, and are deeply attached to and desire greatly, but, instead, share the world, and dream what John Lennon is dreaming of, or Imagining – an enlightened world order of peace - then we can all make the dream come true. When we all come together, and remain united, and imagine a world of love, peace, and harmony, looking past our ego, then we - the world - will be as one. John Lennon is saying "I hope someday you'll join us," with “us” being Lennon and all those who dream of an enlightened world order, instead of a world where we are sad and depressed, not letting go of pain, and making such pain worse to where we explode on others, or self-destruct, and to where we are cynical, or we lay in despair, believing things in the world will never get better, even though they can get better and there is no reason why they shouldn’t get better.
This song, simply, is telling how things are, currently, but how they don't have to be this way if we all come together as one, hoping for the same thing - a better world then the hell we are in - so as one (United) "the world will be as one."