Discuss Anything About This Video or Song

Ruthanne

Ruthanne

Caregiver
Location
Midwest
This is a video of David Bowie giving a tribute to John Lennon with the song Imagine. Please listen to the song and then discuss anything about the video you have heard; or how you can relate to the video or words to the song in some way.


Here are the words:


Imagine


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 be as one
 

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Well, okay, I'll start. I don't know how many of you know but John Lennon and David Bowie were friends. I have imagined that there is no heaven and no hell after life but have thought of those terms as being states of being on this earth. So I have known heaven and hell on Earth and so it is hard for me to Imagine there is no heaven or hell in terms of states of being but in terms of an afterlife I don't have a problem.

heav·en
ˈhevən/
noun
noun: Heaven; noun: heaven; plural noun: heavens; plural noun: the heavens

  • 1.
    a place regarded in various religions as the abode of God (or the gods) and the angels, and of the good after death, often traditionally depicted as being above the sky.
    synonyms:paradise, nirvana, Zion; More

    antonyms:hell, purgatory
    • God (or the gods).
      "Constantine was persuaded that disunity in the Church was displeasing to heaven"
    • THEOLOGY
      a state of being eternally in the presence of God after death.
    • informal
      a place, state, or experience of supreme bliss.
      "lying by the pool with a good book is my idea of heaven"
      synonyms:bliss, ecstasy, rapture, contentment, happiness, delight, joy, seventh heaven; More

      antonyms:misery
    • used in various exclamations as a substitute for “God”.
      exclamation: heaven; exclamation: heavens
      "Heaven knows!"
  • 2.
    literary
    the sky, especially perceived as a vault in which the sun, moon, stars, and planets are situated.
    "Galileo used a telescope to observe the heavens"
    synonyms:the sky, the skies, the upper atmosphere, the stratosphere, space; More

 
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"Imagine all the people living for today" Wow, that seems impossible in our lives doesn't it? I don't know what to make of that. I worry about yesterday, today and tomorrow.
 

As far as I know, John Lennon was the sole writer of Imagine, I never heard anything about a co-writer at all. I never thought much about the song, to me he just meant that the world would be a more peaceful if we weren't separated by religious beliefs, separate nations/countries, and if we weren't obsessed with worldly possessions. That we'd all be better off just living for today and not what may or may not come in the afterlife.
 
I have always loved that song,and I wish the world would be that ,such a better world that what we live in today. I have always thought that there wasn't any hell other than what we experience in our lives.like the death of loved ones. Since it hasn't happened in our lives I hope that there is a Heaven after we die.
 
SeaBreeze said:
As far as I know, John Lennon was the sole writer of Imagine, I never heard anything about a co-writer at all. I never thought much about the song, to me he just meant that the world would be a more peaceful if we weren't separated by religious beliefs, separate nations/countries, and if we weren't obsessed with worldly possessions. That we'd all be better off just living for today and not what may or may not come in the afterlife.
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Well, I do believe David Bowie's words about being a co-writer. He may have been a "silent" co-writer. They were friends after all. I see what you mean about your interpretation and thank you.

Sassycakes said:
I have always loved that song,and I wish the world would be that ,such a better world that what we live in today. I have always thought that there wasn't any hell other than what we experience in our lives.like the death of loved ones. Since it hasn't happened in our lives I hope that there is a Heaven after we die.
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Yes, I know the hell you speak of. It is more of an ideal world in the song. Thanks for your feedback.
 
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Ruthanne said:
Well, I do believe David Bowie's words about being a co-writer. He may have been a "silent" co-writer. They were best friends after all.
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Plenty of sources saying that Lennon was the sole writer of Imagine, do you have something showing where Bowie claimed this? I'd like to read or hear it. :) http://www.bowiewonderworld.com/press/00/040117lennon.htm

David Bowie and John Lennon hung out a lot in the '70s, but share only one songwriting credit: Fame, Bowie's first number-one hit. How did that one-off come about, and why did it stop?

"John was hanging out. It was one of those hanging-out sessions so much a part of the '70s," Bowie told the News. "He said 'Hey, why don't we do something?' I said 'OK, you're on.' Then I (thought) 'Oh (damn), what do we do? How do you write something with a Beatle?'"

Bowie guitarist Carlos Alomar had come up with a riff they'd been doing in a cover of the old '50s Flares tune, Foot Stomping.

"We immediately started doing that. John was just playing along with it, and every now and again he'd go 'AYYMM!!' And I said 'I got it, I got it!' And I just put an F in front of it Fame! We were off and running from there."

Lennon wrote the chords, Alomar the roaring guitar line and Bowie filled in the lyrics and the lower guitar parts.

"I really wish, obviously, in hindsight that we'd done more work together. It was such a joy being in the studio with him. I wonder what we would have done," he said. "But we were having too much of a laugh. Most of the time we spent together was pure stupidity. There wasn't much work going on at all, as you can imagine."
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I was writing about this earlier:

Imagine all the people living for today
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That is something that is kind of hard for a lot of us to do. It is something to aspire to, though, and better conditions in the world would surely help that.
 
Ruthanne said:
Yes, the video that I posted in the OP is where Bowie says he is a co-writer. So, maybe he is and maybe he isn't..doesn't really matter anymore does it...they are both dead. Thanks for your interest and link. I did try to look for more information on it and didn't look a real lot but didn't find anything that verifies what he said. Don't know why he said that; maybe he was high on cocaine! lol. He did have a problem with it. :)
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Oh, I see what happened. In that show of your video, he had just finished singing Fame, so that was the song he was referring to....not the tribute song he was about to sing. Here they are for that show in order, songs #16 and 17. http://www.setlist.fm/setlist/david-bowie/1983/hong-kong-coliseum-hong-kong-hong-kong-43d0ebc3.html
 
SeaBreeze said:
Oh, I see what happened. In that show of your video, he had just finished singing Fame, so that was the song he was referring to....not the tribute song he was about to sing. Here they are for that show in order, songs #16 and 17. http://www.setlist.fm/setlist/david-bowie/1983/hong-kong-coliseum-hong-kong-hong-kong-43d0ebc3.html
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I started to think the same thing a bit later after I posted. That is a confusing video, for me, at least...lol Thanks for catching that. I have modified my earlier posts...lol
 
All the song is saying is that because theism is the root of all evil, and it is, how much better life would be for everyone if the whole nonsense was consigned to the dustbin. And it's so very true.
 
aeron said:
All the song is saying is that because theism is the root of all evil, and it is, how much better life would be for everyone if the whole nonsense was consigned to the dustbin. And it's so very true.
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Thanks for your interpretation.
 
aeron said:
I fail to see any other interpretation that could be put on it. John was also a Hard Atheist like me.
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There is an entire song to interpret not just the part about no heaven or no hell. I started taking it apart bit by bit and will do a bit more later.
 
Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
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Wow, no countries; what can that mean, I guess a number of things. Perhaps a world view of things for everyone. A world that would be full of peace and love and sharing of the Earth's riches. We all would not have to kill anyone to get the things we want, like oil or other natural things, people would thrive! Sounds good to me!
 
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
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So many of us dreamers out there who have been let down, haven't we? The world will be as one seems to mean to me that we all will be one as the human race instead separate peoples often being enemies. Of course our ethnicities would be important. We could/would all be as one in being the human race full of promise when we join together. We would all work together as a world population as "one" meaning one human race! We are all the same but have some differences that makes us all distinct in this world.

Can anyone add to this?
 

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