The song Imagine is one that focuses on how we are different and on the issue of how that brings us apart. It address different religion, and location such as countries. This song also focuses on something deeper which is our wants, and how that causes our world trouble socially. It sends a meaningful message saying that if we didn't have all these lines, both literally and not, that keep us apart we really could stand together as one.
This song, says how we could live peacefully and fully if we didn't have religion and borders. The opening line is "imagine there's no heaven" and it continues to say how people could "live for today" if heaven and hell didn't exist in our heads. I think while saying this Lennon is implying that if we truly believed we didn't have any sort of next life people would live in the now. That they would actually live each second like it was their last. Also in the line, "imagine there's no countries", he is telling us our lives would be more full of peace. Without borders we wouldn't have wars because we would all be one land. The song shows how without these differences we could really unite.
Lennon also focuses on how a majority of our problems would be solved if we didn't live to ourselves, but together. The lines "nothing to kill or die for" shows that if we didn't feel responsible, or strongly for someone alone, such a family member, we wouldn't need to go against things just to help that someone. The line "imagine no possessions" also shows this, because if we didn't own things to ourself, just like with the people, we wouldn't feel the need to protect it from others in a way. Something interesting about this line, is that the one that follows is "i wonder if you can", where Lennon is saying how our world is so broken up the way he describes, that it is hard for us to even imagine what he is telling us to.
Imagine by John Lennon
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 may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday 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 may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one
Lyrics Brought to you By: http://www.oldielyrics.com/lyrics/john_lennon/imagine.html
Stephanie,
ReplyDeleteI think you make a wonderful point about the meaning behind the title of the song, "Imagine." I think it is difficult for many people to "imagine" the world in any other way than the way it is because people have become so comfortable with their surroundings that feeling empathy for others is not something anyone wants to bother wasting their time with. But some of us feel a certain calling within us to impact the world in meaningful ways, to "imagine" a world that is safer and more peaceful; isn't that all we want? Yet it has to start with us, especially with the brightly insightful students like you who will make up our next generation to implement the actions needed to have an affect on our world. Nice work!
-Ms. Hoque