10 Songs With Meanings That Are Completely Misunderstood
10. John Lennon's Imagine Is "Virtually The Communist Manifesto"
John Lennon's Imagine is one of those songs that crops up everywhere. It's a fantastic piece of music, cherished in a world of endless conflict for imagining a future in which none of the things that tear humanity apart exist. Since its initial release in 1971 it has sold millions of copies around the world and was named by BMI as one of the one-hundred most performed songs of the twentieth century.
But Imagine isn't just the free-spirited, idyllic anthem that everyone thinks it is. According to Lennon himself, the song is virtually the Communist manifesto and that because the song is sugar-coated it's accepted.
Though Lennon was quick to distance himself from the party (saying he's not particularly a Communist), he did note that sweetening up a message, regardless of what it actually is, is the most effective way to have it championed. Even, it seems, Communist ideals.