Imagine

Lennon, John

album cover

Music to Change the World By

By the time he got to Imagine, John Lennon (1940–1980) had pretty much exhausted the narrative devices of the rock and roll song. As a member of the Beatles, he'd explored rock as pure hedonistic escape, a means of grappling with cosmic mysteries, and many points in between. On his own, with Plastic Ono Band, rock became an outlet for the jarring subconscious secrets revealed by primal scream therapy, a window into the harrowing and the surreal. (Mind Games itself came later.)

Imagine, Lennon's most consistent solo work, can be seen as an attempt to get back to basics and to reengage with the world that Lennon had kept at some distance since his band's demise. Throughout songs that howl about war, seek open communication, and dare to dream of utopia, Lennon maintains two seemingly contradictory perspectives: He's the somewhat jaundiced, cynical citizen who, despite knowing better, isn't willing to completely abandon his idealism.

The result is music defined by confrontation and conflict—yet at its core it retains a hint of touching schoolkid earnestness. Lennon makes sweeping demands ("Gimme Some Truth") that voice deep impatience and bitterness, and he derides war in unequivocal terms ("I Don't Wanna Be a Soldier"). But he's also a frail human, not some diatribe machine: Another highlight of this album is the aching confessional "Jealous Guy." Then, of course, there's the title track. A lilting private moment at the piano, "Imagine" exists in a place entirely apart from everyday concerns—it's an idyllic afternoon daydream that makes time stand still. In a calm and centered voice, Lennon implies that any seemingly unattainable goal (whether global unity, or peace) begins within each of us—with attitude change, with belief change. The caustic Beatle expects to get slammed ("You may say I'm a dreamer," he muses, taking comfort in the fact that he's "not the only one"). He knows that simply by sending out such a message, he's beginning to move the energy around. And by reclaiming the right to dream big, Lennon makes an idealistic notion seem somehow possible—not simply within our reach but worth reaching for. Put this on the next time you need to be reminded that a song really can change the world.

Genre: Rock
Released: 1971, Apple/EMI
Key Tracks: "Imagine," "Jealous Guy," "I Don't Wanna Be a Soldier," "Gimme Some Truth."
Catalog Choice: Plastic Ono Band; Mind Games; Rock 'N' Roll
Next Stop: Harry Nilsson: Nilsson Schmilsson
After That: The Apples in Stereo: Fun Trick Noisemaker
Book Page: 446

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About 1,000 Recordings

Celebrate the joy, the revelation, the mystery, the fun, the sheer shivers-up-the-spine pleasure of great music.

Essential operas. Milestone rock albums. An education in the blues. The world of world. Classical from Bach to Bartók to Beethoven to Brahms. And dozens of unexpected gems, surprising discoveries, and long-lost masterpieces.

This is an online version of the list (published alphabetically in the book). The entries in the book break down genre bias and broaden every listener’s horizons—think Miles Davis to Claude Debussy to the melodic story-songs of The Decemberists. And the writing is passionate, informed, opinionated.

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