10 Rock Songs You Didn't Realize Were Protest Tracks

10. Imagine - John Lennon

When John Lennon first started work on Imagine, he knew that he was creating something that was meant for the whole world to understand. And it’s not like the rest of the world didn’t follow suit, almost adopting the song as a message for peace every single time it’s used in promotional events. It’s just that…this song isn’t really supposed to be about peace and love for the entire world.

As John explained back in the day, this was actually meant to advocate for something that was a lot more militant in tone, saying that half of the words were ripped straight out of the Communist Manifesto. Although it’s easy to pick up on the central idea of the world living as one, you also have to take into consideration those lines where he imagines no countries either, with everyone living in peace and brotherhood without any possessions to their name. To be fair, John knew that he had to disguise this mindset a little bit, saying that he “sugarcoated” the melody to make the rest of the song go down easy.

There have been many people since that have tried to tear him through the mud for going political, but this song was never meant to spark revolution. We’re just meant to picture this kind of utopia in our minds and think of what it must be like without any cares in the world.