{"id":924309,"date":"2026-10-11T14:08:11","date_gmt":"2026-10-11T14:08:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/924309\/"},"modified":"2026-10-11T14:08:11","modified_gmt":"2026-10-11T14:08:11","slug":"55-years-ago-today-john-lennon-released-imagine-and-it-became-a-global-anthem-for-peace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/924309\/","title":{"rendered":"55 Years Ago Today, John Lennon Released \u2018Imagine,\u2019 and It Became a Global Anthem for Peace"},"content":{"rendered":"

NEED TO KNOW<\/p>\n

\u201cImagine\u201d was released as a single on Oct. 11, 1971, and became one of John Lennon\u2019s defining songs<\/p>\n

After his 1980 murder, its message of peace took on new meaning<\/p>\n

Today, it remains a lasting symbol of Lennon\u2019s legacy<\/p>\n

Fifty-five years ago today, John Lennon released \u201cImagine,\u201d<\/a> a song that would become one of the most recognizable recordings of his solo career.<\/p>\n

The single was built around Lennon\u2019s gentle piano and restrained vocals, presenting a simple but ambitious vision of a world without division.<\/p>\n

\u201cImagine\u201d paired an accessible melody with lyrics that challenged ideas about religion, nationalism and material possessions. Its message of peace would eventually become inseparable from Lennon\u2019s legacy<\/a>, particularly after his death.<\/p>\n

According to History<\/a>, Lennon began writing \u201cImagine\u201d amid the Vietnam War while still part of the Beatles, drawing heavily on ideas from Yoko Ono<\/a>, whose poetry collection Grapefruit helped shape the song\u2019s concept and eventually led to her being given an official co-writing credit in 2017.<\/p>\n

\"John<\/a><\/p>\n

John Lennon in 1974Credit: New York Times Co.\/Larry C. Morris\/Getty<\/p>\n

Never miss a story \u2014 sign up for PEOPLE\u2019s free daily newsletter<\/a> to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.<\/p>\n

Lennon recorded \u201cImagine\u201d at Tittenhurst Park, his country home with Ono, working with producer Phil Spector nearly a year after the Beatles publicly split in 1970.<\/p>\n

The song stood apart from some of Lennon\u2019s more openly political work at the time. Instead of directly addressing a specific conflict, it offered a broader picture of what life could look like without the barriers that divide people.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow I understand what you have to do: put your political message across with a little honey,\u201d Lennon was quoted as saying of the song in Geoffrey Giuliano\u2019s 2000 biography Lennon in America, per Billboard.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cImagine\u201d went on to become a major success, but its place in Lennon\u2019s story changed dramatically after he was killed on Dec. 8, 1980<\/a>. Lennon, 40, was shot in New York City and taken to Roosevelt Hospital, now Mount Sinai West, where doctors tried to save him.<\/p>\n

The Apple TV+ docuseries John Lennon: Murder Without a Trial<\/a>revisited those final moments through the memories of hospital workers who were there that night.<\/p>\n

\"John<\/a><\/p>\n

John Lennon in 1966.Credit: Jeff Hochberg\/Getty<\/p>\n

In the docuseries, emergency room nurse Deartra Soto recalled what happened after doctors pronounced Lennon dead, including an unexpected detail that made the moment even more painful.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen [doctors] called [the time of death], and it was over, and we walked out of that room, the Muzak was playing \u2018Imagine,\u2019\u201d Soto said in the series, while nurse Barbara Kammerer remembered how the song affected the staff as they came to terms with what had happened.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was everybody\u2019s \u2018Oh s—\u2018 moment,\u201d Kammerer added.<\/p>\n

More than five decades later, \u201cImagine\u201d has come to represent the artist\u2019s hope for peace and its central idea remains the same: imagining a different way of living together.<\/p>\n

Read the original article on People<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEED TO KNOW \u201cImagine\u201d was released as a single on Oct. 11, 1971, and became one of John…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":924310,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[64,63,134,136],"class_list":["post-924309","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-entertainment","tag-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/924309","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=924309"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/924309\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/924310"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=924309"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=924309"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=924309"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}