2

imagine
crippled inside
jealous guy
it’s so hard
i don’t wanna be a soldier
mama i don’t wanna die
gimme some truth
oh my love
how do you sleep?
how?
oh yoko!

imagine the clouds dripping. dig a hole in your garden to put them in. yoko ’63

Just a year on from the
implosion of The Beatles,
John Lennon’s life had yet to
settle. In 1971, while lawyers
picked over the remains of
his old band, he travelled
with Yoko to meet her family
in Japan, and to America
pursuing custody of Kyoko,
her daughter by ex-husband
Tony Cox. Within John’s own,
ever-enquiring mind, a war
of ideas was raging.
In London and New York he had been drawn
to the radical underground, where hippy ideals
of the 1960s met the hard-edged politics of a
new decade. But this being John, nothing was
cut and dried. In parallel he was cultivating an
almost mystic line of thought, much of it
inspired by the art and poetry of Yoko Ono.
John’s first post-Beatles album, John Lennon/
Plastic Ono Band, had emerged in late 1970
3
to critical praise but only muted approval in
the marketplace. The conclusions were,
to him, pretty obvious. He might be a
trail-blazer in all kinds of ways, but he was
at heart a populist – an artist but also an
entertainer. The task was to frame his ideas
in music that listeners loved and took inside
their hearts. Plastic Ono Band had been
admired, but often from a distance. The role
of the next album – the record that became
Imagine – was an attempt for maximum
communication offering hopes to the
bleeding, battered world.
On the musical level he certainly succeeded.
Imagine is the best-loved album of his solo
career, while its title track is perhaps his
most revered. By contrast to its austere
predecessor the new music had melodies
in abundance, and colour and variety. It had
flashes of broad humour and moments of
absolute joy.
In his home outside London, at Tittenhurst
Park in Ascot, John had built a studio where
he could record the raw tracks, without
recourse to his traditional base at Abbey
Road. The producer Phil Spector returned to
help John oversee an informal family of
musicians. Among them were George
Harrison, and friends like Klaus Voormann
 4

and the drummer Alan White, who had all

played on John’s tremendous debut
collaboration with Spector, ‘Instant Karma!’.
The Rolling Stones’ favourite pianist Nicky
Hopkins was there, and members of
the Apple label’s Badfinger.

As Yoko says: “It was so good to have

breakfast in our own home and walk right into
the new studio next to it. We could smell the
grass and the trees from the garden and heard
the birds chirping. We felt like they were
helping us.”

Imagine took shape in the early summer,

after which the tapes were taken to New York
for final overdubs (not least the magisterial
saxophone of King Curtis) at Record Plant
East. It seems that everyone involved, and
certainly John himself, had a sense of its
being exceptional. Here were songs that threw
revealing light on his whole personality at that
point – from the devout but imperfect lover to
the embattled former Beatle; a man
preoccupied by his inner doubts yet ready for
anyone when his righteous fury was aroused.

The keynote song itself was drawn from

Yoko’s work. It was so influential upon John
that he later said she deserved a co-credit.
As far back as 1964, in her collection of

poems called Grapefruit, Yoko began each
piece with an invocation to “imagine”:
one example, from 1963’s Cloud Piece,
is quoted on the album cover. Whether in
spiritual or earthly matters, the idea runs,
we must visualise our goals before we can
achieve them. It’s a theme to which Lennon
returned frequently, and the hymn-like
simplicity of its setting reflects his basic faith
– namely, that our collective imaginations are
a force for good.
The cover-art, from a photograph by Yoko,
further shows John in a dreamer’s role,
literally with “head in the clouds”. But typically
of Lennon there was an earthier touch, as well,
in a giveaway postcard of him wrestling a pig
– satirising, as most fans at the time would
have spotted – Paul McCartney’s pastoral
image on his own solo LP of that year, Ram.
For all that ‘Imagine’ has a generosity of spirit,
the infamous ‘How Do You Sleep?’ is narrow
and hard, despite its lush and spacious
arrangement. John would later say that the
attack on his former musical partner was,
in fact, as much an assault upon himself.
‘Gimme Some Truth’ looks out with an
idealist’s impatience to the political world,
while ‘Crippled Inside’ has that quality (more
obviously than ‘How Do You Sleep?’) of a
5
tirade that is leavened with self-reproach.
Its knockabout honky-tonk contrasts with
Lennon’s previous album, Plastic Ono Band,
though the lyric shares a “primal scream”
acuteness. Likewise ‘Jealous Guy’, another
unflinching look into the writer’s own sense
of failure, is spun into a different realm by its
ethereal melody. If John felt that his last
album – forbiddingly stark to some ears –
had not found the mass audience its songs
deserved, he was not about to make the
same mistake with Imagine.
Emotional range is central to this record’s
enduring appeal, with light and shade at
every turn. From tough, grinding rockers like
‘It’s So Hard’ and ‘I Don’t Wanna Be A Soldier
Mama’ we are sent to the solace of ‘Oh My
Love’ or the confessional vulnerability of
‘How?’. And the album skips away in a song
of sheer delight, ‘Oh Yoko!’, possibly the
happiest thing that John Lennon ever
committed to record.
On its release in September 1971, the
Imagine album was recognised as a rounded
self-portrait of this complex, candid,
passionate man. It re-established his
eminence in the commercial firmament,
among a rising generation of rock’n’roll stars
such as Led Zeppelin and David Bowie.
 6

It was clear the 1970s John Lennon would not

sit in the shadow of his 1960s self.

When he left England for America, on 3

September 1971, it was just another trip in
John’s turbulent existence, probably in search
of some fresh cause to champion, more
battles to fight and unknown songs to sing.
Nobody knew, of course, that he would never
see his homeland again. For now, New York
looked like the city to be – the capital of the
world, as he believed – where new adventures
beckoned with siren allure.
7

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 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
Crippled Inside
You can shine your shoes
and wear a suit
You can comb your hair
and look quite cute
You can hide your face
behind a smile
One thing you can‘t hide
is when you’re crippled inside
You can wear a mask
and paint your face
You can call yourself
the human race
You can wear a collar
And a tie
One thing you can‘t hide
is when you‘re crippled inside
Well now you know that your
cat has nine lives babe
Nine lives to itself
But you only got one
And a dog’s life ain’t fun
Mamma take a look outside
You can go to church
and sing a hymn
Judge me by the colour
of my skin
You can live a lie until you die
One thing you can’t hide
is when you’re crippled inside
Jealous Guy
I was dreaming of the past
And my heart was beating fast
I began to lose control
I began to lose control
I didn’t mean to hurt you
I’m sorry that I made you cry
I didn‘t want to hurt you
I’m just a jealous guy
I was feeling insecure
You might not love me any more
I was shivering inside
I was shivering inside
I didn’t mean to hurt you
I’m sorry that I made you cry
I didn‘t want to hurt you
I’m just a jealous guy
I was trying to catch your eyes
Thought that you were trying to hide
I was swallowing my pain
I was swallowing my pain
I didn’t mean to hurt you
I’m sorry that I made you cry
I didn‘t want to hurt you
I’m just a jealous guy
It’s So Hard
You got to live
You got to love
You got to be somebody
You got to shove
But it’s so hard, it’s really hard
Sometimes I feel like going down
You got to eat
You got to drink
You got to feel something
You got to worry
It’s so hard, it’s really hard
Sometimes I feel like going down
But when it’s good it’s oh so good
And when I hold you in my arms baby
Sometimes I feel like going down
You got to run
You got to hide
You got to keep your woman satisfied
But it’s so hard, it’s really hard
Sometimes I feel like going down
I Don’t Wanna Be A Soldier Mama
I Don’t Wanna Die
Well, I don’t wanna be a soldier mama,
I don’t wanna die
Well, I don’t wanna be a sailor mama,
I don’t wanna fly
Well, I don’t wanna be a failure mama,
I don’t wanna cry
Well, I don’t wanna be a soldier mama,
I don’t wanna die
Oh no oh no oh no oh no
Well, I don’t wanna be a rich man
mama, I don’t wanna cry
Well, I don’t wanna be a poor man
8
mama, I don’t wanna fly
Well, I don’t wanna be a lawyer mama,
I don’t wanna lie
Well, I don’t wanna be a soldier mama,
I don’t wanna die
Oh no oh no oh no oh no oh no
Well, I don’t wanna be a beggar mama,
I don’t wanna die
Well, I don’t wanna be a thief now
mama, I don’t wanna fly
Well, I don’t wanna be a churchman
mama, I don’t wanna cry
Well, I don’t wanna be a soldier mama,
I don’t wanna die
Oh no oh no oh no oh no
Gimme Some Truth
I’m sick and tired of hearing things
from uptight-short sighted-narrow
minded hypocritics
All I want is the truth
Just gimme some truth
I’ve had enough of reading things
by neurotic-psychotic-pig headed
politicians
All I want is the truth
Just gimme some truth
No short haired-yellow bellied
son of Tricky Dicky
is gonna Mother Hubbard
soft soap me
with just a pocketful of hope
Money for dope
Money for rope
I’m sick to death of seeing things
from tight lipped-condescending-
mommies little chauvinists
All I want is the truth
Just gimme some truth

I’ve had enough of watching scenes
of Schizophrenic-ego-centric-
paranoic-prima-donnas
All I want is the truth
Just gimme some truth
Oh My Love
Oh my love for the first time in my life
my eyes are wide open
Oh my lover for the first time in my life
my eyes can see
I see the wind, oh I see the trees
Everything is clear in my heart
I see the clouds, oh I see the sky
Everything is clear in our world
Oh my love for the first time in my life
my mind is wide open
Oh my lover for the first time in my life
my mind can feel
I feel sorrow, oh I feel dreams
Everything is clear in my heart
I feel life, oh I feel love
Everything is clear in our world
How Do You Sleep?
So Sgt. Pepper took you by surprise
You better see right thru that
mother’s eyes
Those freaks was right when they said
you was dead
The one mistake you made was
in your head
How do you sleep?
Ah how do you sleep at night?
You live with straights who tell you
you was king
Jump when your mamma tell you
anything
The only thing you done was yesterday
and since you’ve gone you’re
just another day
How do you sleep?
Ah how do you sleep at night?
A pretty face may last a year or two
But pretty soon they’ll see what
you can do
The sound you make is muzak
to my ears
You must have learned
something in all those years
How do you sleep?
Ah how do you sleep at night?
How?
How can I go forward when
I don’t know which way I’m facing?
How can I go forward when
I don’t know which way to turn?
How can I go forward into something
I’m not sure of?
Oh no, oh no
How can I have feeling when
I don’t know if it’s a feeling?
How can I feel something if I just don’t
know how to feel
How can I have feelings when my
feelings have always been denied?
Oh no, oh no
You know life can be long
and you got to be so strong
And the world is so tough
Sometimes I feel I’ve had enough
oh no, oh no
How can I give love when I don‘t know
what it is I’m giving?
How can I give love when I just don’t
know how to give?
How can I give love when love is
something I ain’t never had?
9
Oh no, oh no
How can we go forward when we don’t
know which way we’re facing?
How can we go forward when
we don’t know which way to turn?
How can we go forward into
something we’re not sure of
Oh no, oh no
Oh Yoko!
In the middle of the night
In the middle of the night I call
your name
Oh Yoko, oh Yoko
My love will turn you on
In the middle of a bath
In the middle of a bath I call
your name
Oh Yoko, oh Yoko
My love will turn you on
My love will turn you on
In the middle of a shave
in the middle of a shave I call
your name
Oh Yoko, oh Yoko
My love will turn you on
In the middle of a dream
In the middle of a dream I call
your name
Oh Yoko, oh Yoko
My love will turn you on
My love will turn you on
In the middle of a cloud
In the middle of a cloud I call
your name
Oh Yoko, oh Yoko
My love will turn you on
Oh Yoko, oh Yoko, oh Yoko, oh Yoko,
oh Yoko

John Lennon and The Plastic Ono
Band (with the Flux Fiddlers)
Produced by John & Yoko and
Phil Spector
Imagine: John Lennon: Pianos. Klaus
Voormann: Bass. Alan White: Drums
Crippled Inside: John Lennon: Electric
Guitar. Klaus Voormann & Steve
Brendell: Upright Bass. George
Harrison: Dobro. Nicky Hopkins: Piano.
Ted Turner, Rod Linton & John Tout:
Acoustic Guitars
Jealous Guy: John Lennon: Guitar/
Whistling: Klaus Voormann: Bass.
Jim Keltner: Drums. John Barham:
Harmonium. Alan White: Good Vibes
It’s So Hard: John Lennon: Guitar.
Klaus Voormann: Bass. Jim Gordon:
Drums. King Curtis: Sax
I Don’t Wanna Be A Soldier Mama
I Don’t Wanna Die: John Lennon:
Guitar. Klaus Voormann: Bass. Jim
Keltner: Drums. George Harrison: Slide
Guitar. Nicky Hopkins: Piano. Joey &
Tommy Badfinger: Acoustic Guitars.
Mike Pinder: Tambourine. Steve
Brendell: Marracas. King Curtis: Sax
Gimme Some Truth: John Lennon:
Guitars. George Harrison: Lead Guitar.
Klaus Voormann: Bass. Alan White:
Drums. Rod Linton & Andy: Acoustic
Guitars. Nicky Hopkins: Piano
Oh My Love: John Lennon: Piano.
Nicky Hopkins: Electric Piano. Klaus
Voormann: Bass. Alan White: Drums/
Tibetan Cymbals. George Harrison:
Guitar
How Do You Sleep?: John Lennon:
Guitar. George Harrison: Slide Guitar.
Klaus Voormann: Bass. Alan White:
Drums. Nicky Hopkins: Piano
How?: John Lennon: Piano. Klaus
Voormann: Bass. Alan White: Drums.
John Barham: Vibes. Nicky Hopkins:
Piano
Oh Yoko!: John Lennon: Guitar/
Mouth Organ. Klaus Voormann: Bass.
Alan White: Drums. Nicky Hopkins:
Piano. Rod Linton & Andy: Acoustic
Guitar. Plus the J & P duo
All songs written by John Lennon
except track 7 by John Lennon and
Yoko Ono.
Tracks 1, 3, 10 c Lenono Music. 2, 8, 9
c Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC. 4, 5
c Northern Songs Ltd/Lenono Music.
6 c Lennon Music administered by
Sony/ATV. 7 c Lenono Music/Ono
Music
A joint interest in ‘Oh My Love’ claimed
by Ono Music Ltd. Whip and Mirror by
Yoko Ono. Cover Design and Photo:
Yoko Ono; Typography: George
Maciunas
Basic tracks made at Ascot Sound
Studios. Engineers: Philip McDonald,
Eddie Klein (no relations), Eddie Offor,
Eddie Veal, Eddie Beer. Food by Val and
Diana. John & Yoko’s personal assistant:
Dan Richter. This and that: Mal Evans
and Peter Bendry. Flux Fiddlers
overdubbed at Record Plant, NY.
Engineers: Roy Sicala, Jack Douglas,
Shelly Yukus (sleep). This and that: Tom
and Arlene and Al Steckler. String
orchestrations: Torrie Zito. Cloud Piece,
1963 by Yoko Ono, on back cover
10
All arrangements by Lennon except ‘Oh
My Love’ by Lennon/Ono. Alan White
appears by courtesy of Wizard
Records Ltd. An Apple Record. An EMI
Recording
Remaster Project Production
Producer: Yoko Ono.
Project Co-ordinator: Allan Rouse.
Remaster Engineers: Paul Hicks,
Sean Magee. Audio Restoration:
Simon Gibson. Remastered at Abbey
Road Studios, London, England, 2010
Sleeve notes by Paul Du Noyer.
Additional Photography: Peter
Fordham (c 1971 Yoko Ono),
Spud Murphy (c 1971 Yoko Ono).
Drawing by John Lennon
Art direction by Yoko Ono. Design by
Peacock. Artwork Co-ordinator:
Karla Merrifield. Photo research:
Xilonen Oreshnick. Project
management by Timothy Ryan, Jane
Ventom, Kris Perera and Guy Hayden
Digital remaster. p 2010. The copyright in this
sound recording is owned by EMI Records
Ltd. c 2010 EMI Records Ltd. This label copy
information is the subject of copyright
protection. All rights reserved. c 2010 EMI
Records Ltd.
!
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