I wrote an analysis paper on John Lennon’s song, Imagine. It’s a good song to ponder on and it does bring some sort of sense into you if you delve deep and search for meaning.
The Ideal
A haunting melody, giving a nostalgia-filled pause, and a resonance of a far-off memory just from the first few notes. Listening to the melody, you start to notice that it’s just repeats of the same notes over and over with the addition of beats and a rhythm that gives the song a personality. It could be metaphorical in a sense that in normal people’s lives, there are routines and surprises here and there. These routines could be these repetitive notes, and then comes the upbeats where it makes the music come alive. These are the surprises in life that gives it color and a break from the daily routine. The rhythm is a welcome element in the music, metaphorically speaking, it’s a reassurance that there will be surprises in life, or as they say, expecting the unexpected.
The song speaks of an ideal place, where John Lennon encourages the people to think otherwise, to think differently from what they’re used to. From the first verse, imagining there’s no heaven or hell would be easy because those places are the places after death (for people who believe). He speaks of living in the moment, not thinking about anything else but today. The second verse tackles the borders that divide us, humanity. John Lennon sings about an ideal peace between humans if we do not let trivial things like countries and religions get in the way of peace. The last verse is about the earthly things of man, and how greed is the evil that most people cannot let go. And if we let go of that greed, it would be a world full of sharing, and a possibility of socialism. With the chorus, it states that he is often called a dreamer, because these kinds of views are indeed idealistic, but he is not alone in this way of thinking. There are people who do see this as a way of life and one day hope that everyone would live for today, would live in peace and would live in a sharing world.
Imagine by John Lennon would surely make you wonder of the what ifs in life of the ideal. Why can’t we live like this anyway? Surely, it is achievable as he says but it would be a long way from where most of us stand now. Perhaps, there is hope in tomorrow, as long as there is a longing for better in today whilst enjoying what life can offer.
I know my essay didn’t really give the song justice but I wanted to put what I wrote when I first heard the song. Perhaps I’ll go edit it some other time when my insights perhaps change through time. :)
