“If you tried to give rock and roll another name, you might call it Chuck Berry.”

Well, the quote above belongs to none other than John Lennon. Chuck Berry is one of those legends we should never miss out when we talk about Rock ‘n’ Roll music. A stalwart in the rock and roll music, he has been highly influential in the nurturing of the rock and roll guitar techniques. Chuck Berry was one of the first musicians to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. One song of Chuck Berry which testifies his legendary status would be Johnny B. Goode.

The song is basically about a young boy from Louisiana who becomes famous owing to his guitar-playing skills. The song can be called autobiographical considering the fact that Chuck Berry himself had a middle class upbringing  and he also like Johnny B. Good could play the guitar just like a ringin’ a bell. Also the fact that Berry was born on Goode Avenue in St. Louis adds credence to this argument. But its also believed that the inspiration of the song is Johnnie Johnson, the pianist who played alongside of Chuck Berry. It is said that Johnnie Johnson’s drinking issues made Chuck Berry write the lines “Johnny Be Good“. Much later, in a November of 2000, Johnnie Johnson sued Chuck Berry claiming that he co-authored about a dozen songs of Berry, and demanding credits and royalty for the same.

Johnny B Goode opens with a guitar riff which is the most famous guitar riff in rock and roll history. It is essentially a note-for-note copy of the opening single-note solo on Louis Jordan‘s Ain’t That Just Like a Woman, played by guitarist Carl Hogan.  

Johnny B Goode is a gem of a song which leads us to appreciate the guitar play/ art of the genius Chuck Berry. Typical of the rock n roll songs of the time, it is a very fast rhythmic song with the vocals handled by Berry himself, accompanied on the piano by Lafayette Leake, a blues and jazz musician. The song was a defining musical turnaround in the life of Chuck Berry and he went on to use and reuse Johnny in two more of his subsequent compositions, Bye Bye Johnny and Go Go Go. The song is the rock and roll embodiment of the American Dream.

I think we can classify musicians into three categories, those who have covered Johnny B. Goode ,  those who haven’t covered Johnny B. Goode and the third being Chuck Berry. Numerous musicians have covered Johnny B. Goode that picking a few artists from among those talented musicians would be a hard endeavour. So sit back, relax, listen to the few versions of the song we have given below and B Good!

This article comes from our regular guest columnist Easwar. If you wish to contribute to this section or to any other section of Music Aloud please do drop a mail to response [at] musicaloud [dot] com.





Cover by Judas Priest (Courtesy Arun A S)

An omnipresent feature of the ’60s and early ’70s pop radio was the sophisticated, often elegant, pop of the legendary American songwriting team of composer Burt Bacharach and lyricist Hal David. Their music was seen as a throwback to a prerock era of popular song, flourishing during a musical landscape of British invasion, psychedelia and folk rock. Having been introduced to each other at the Brill Building in NY city in 1957, the duo went on to have a prolific 15 years, the unconventionality of Bacharach’s melodies forming a perfect fit for the eloquent romanticism of Hal David’s poetic lyrics. And in 1969, as part of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, was born the song that got the duo their only Oscar (as a duo this was their only Oscar. However Bacharach also won a second Oscar for his movie score for the same movie, and in 1981 won a third for the movie Arthur) – Raindrops Keep Fallin’ On My Head.

The story goes that the title of the song came to Bacharach’s mind the instant he saw the bicycle scene in the movie and kept recurring whenever he saw it. Hal David tried changing the lyric to something else but it never seemed to work, and hence they fixed on Raindrops.. The pair wrote the song with Ray Stevens in mind, but he didn’t like the song and declined to sing it. Bob Dylan was also reportedly approached to sing the song but he too turned down the offer. It was around the same time that American singer B J Thomas was creating waves with his single Hooked on A Feeling (famous for its featuring of an electric sitar). Dionne Warwick, a singer who had had many successful partnerships with Bacharach-David, recommended Thomas to the duo and they chose Thomas to render Raindrops.. Apparently Thomas was getting over laryngitis when he recorded the song, giving the song a raspy quality which was instantly liked by the producers of the movie. Later on Thomas came out with a single version of the song, and by 1970 it was on top of the charts, the first #1 single of the 1970s.

One of the most prominent bands to cover Raindrops.. was the Rat Pack. Welsh rock band Manic Street Preachers perform the song at each of their live concerts. The band even recorded a version inclusive of a trumpet solo by their drummer Sean Moore. Dionne Warwick collaborated with Kelis for her 2006 duets album version of the song. There have been numerous other covers of the song which we restrain ourselves from talking about. The song has also made appearances in various films, the most famous one being in Forrest Gump. Leslie Nielsen does a parody of the whole scene, complete with the song in the background, in his 1996 movie Spy Hard. The song also made its appearance in Spiderman 2.

David once described his lyrical technique as, “I search for believability, simplicity and emotional impact.” And Raindrops.. is an embodiment of this statement. And his combo with Bucharach, a classic case of lyricist and composer coming together in perfect synergy, shall ever be remembered for this work of theirs. So whenever you feel a bit down, we recommend you listen to this song. We guarantee that it will have you back in your elements in no time! Au revoir..

There once was a boy from Bronx.  When he was 14 (that was in 1964), he got inspired by The Beatles and decided to pursue a musical career. So he started playing the piano and very soon was playing in recording sessions for some unknown bands in and around New York. In 1971, he got his first solo album called “Cold Spring Harbor” released. But due to an error by the recording company, the boys voice sounded a semitone too high than it was supposed to and the album tanked on the charts. The guy’s heart was crushed and unable to get a commercial success with his album, he started playing under the pseudonym “Bill Martin” in The Executive Room, a bar in Los Angeles.

A couple of years later, he got an opportunity to record another studio album and he made a song about his experiences in the bar in Los Angeles. The song spoke about an old man who was a regular at the bar and John who worked at the bar whom he had had befriended. The song gave the man the man so much success that since the release of this single he has become the sixth best-selling recording artist in the United States and the single itself is the most downloaded single off the iTunes store. The man of course was Billy Joel and the single released in 1973 is his signature song “Piano Man”.

What makes the Piano Man such a great song is the brilliant arrangement of instruments. A delightful arrangement of instruments like piano, harmonica, drums, bass and mandolin accompanying the melodic voice of Billy Joel add to the beauty of the song but what makes the song such a legend is the contrast between its music and lyrics. While the music of the song is cheerfully played on a jazzy piano line in the C major key (from the bits of music I know of the major chords is usually played for happy songs while minor chords accompany sad ones. People who know more about music theory may disagree), there is a melancholy in the lyrics of the song that would disturb you creating waves of emotions in your heart.

The song has not been covered by any major brands because it is hard to categorize it as a rock song. The essence of the song lies in all the instruments it uses and hardly any rock band goes around carrying so many instruments. Wierd Al’s parody of Spiderman based on the music of “Piano Man” is hilarious. Also worth watching is the Flight of the Conchord’s song Bret’s day. Although these are not exactly “cover” versions of Piano Man, it gives you an idea of the popularity of the song.

As usual we leave you at this point with a few videos to enjoy. We will be back soon with another exquisite song. Enjoy!

Weird Al Yankovic – Ode To A Superhero

Flight of the Conchords :: Bret’s Day

The 1980s marked a shift in a generation of music from the classic rock of 70s to the pop music that would rule the charts for the coming decades. If there is one song that would iconize this shift I would say it is the 1985 single by Dire Straits called Money for Nothing. Although the music of the song is as good as any other Dire Straits song, its success was driven by the pop elements in it as well.

Let’s begin with the music. If there is one thing unique about Dire Straits, it is that none of their songs have been covered by anybody and the factor that makes them so difficult to imitate is the unique style of Mark Knopfler. Knopfler rarely uses a plectrum while playing the guitar. He has a unique style of plucking the guitar that most people find impossible to copy. He has given a detailed insight into his playing style in a French interview that you may find here. He has given a good insight about his playing style for a rock documentary called ‘The seven ages of rock’.

The song begins with the line “I want my MTV” that was sung by Sting (who was in Montserrat where the song was being recorded and was casually invited to add some background vocals). Then the keyboards and drums enter and at 1:37 one of the most memorable guitar riffs begins. At a run-length of 8:26 the song does an amazing job of keeping one engaged throughout.

The lyrics of the song are about a layman who works as a delivery man in a hardware store.  He sees the life of rock-stars on MTV and sees that everything comes much easier to them while the delivery man works so hard and gets nothing in return. Knopfler wrote the song while overhearing a delivery man setting up his kitchen and the language of the lyrics depicts this fact quite well. In some parts the language was so crude that it created a controversy over being sexist, racist and homophobic. Interestingly the writing credits of the song are given to both Sting and Knopfler. Sting, however, has said that he has only written the line “I want my MTV”.

Usually, we avoid writing about videos of songs in this section but the video of this song was so significant in the history of music that you just cannot ignore it. This was the first song featured on MTV in Europe when it aired in 1987. Also, it was amongst the first songs to use computer generated animations. The video went on to win the MTV video of the year award in 1986 (no surprises there!). What makes this video unique is that it is one of the first videos of a good rock song which actually had a video. All rock songs before this would usually only have concert videos (Because MTV started in US in 1981 and there was no place to air music videos before that). Knopfler was not very enthusiastic about making a video for the song as he believed it destroys the purity of the writers and performers. The producers somehow coaxed him into making this video. And after this, Dire Straits has given some of the most fantastic music videos ever (my favourites being Brothers in Arms and Walk of Life).

This song marks the beginning of the MTV generation. The 90s marked the coming of teen pop music and boy bands. Purists contend that this was a degradation of good music. Although good music still continued to be produced, how good MTV truly was for music will always remain a question.

The original Money for Nothing video

Dire Straits performing Money For Nothing live

An insight into Mark Knopfler’s technique

It is a problem when you are the youngest among a group, more specifically a rock band, for you are always treated as a kid. The kid is not expected to come up with catchy songs, especially when that area is taken care of by the amazing song writing duo of Lennon and McCartney. Yes, the kid is George Harrison, the “Quiet Beatle”.  George Harrison had plenty to offer as a songwriter himself, but talent in abundance can also be a problem.  George Harrison during his stint with the Beatles could pen only less than a score songs, one of which goes by the name While My Guitar Gently Weeps, and featured in The Beatles also known as The White Album.

It is said that the inspiration for the song came to Harrison when he was reading I Ching. Harrison found the idea of relativism promoted by the Eastern Philosophy to be appealing. Harrison, while at his parents’ home in northern England, decided to give way to chance. He decided to write a song based on the first words he saw upon opening a random book. Those words were “gently weeps”. It is quite remarkable that one of the greatest songs of rock history would find its origin in the most random of ways.

The song was not well received by the other Beatles. Several recordings of the song didn’t appeal to George and finally he had to bring in his friend Eric Clapton.  Clapton had to be persuaded and although later he would not be given credit in the album, very normal with the Beatles considering very few external artists have been credited on an official Beatles album. The arrival of Clapton set the mood right in the band. As per Harrison “It was good because that then made everyone act better… Paul got on the piano and played a nice intro, and they all took it more seriously.” The song features Eric Clapton on the lead guitar (rather it was Clapton’s guitar that wept!), George Harrison on vocals and acoustic guitar and Hammond organ, Paul McCartney on backing vocals and piano, organ and 6- string bass and Ringo Starr on drums and tambourine. It is rumoured that John Lennon was not there during the recording of the songs. Certain sources claim that John Lennon played lead guitar with Clapton, whereas some claim that he played bass making it the only Beatles song where he played bass.

Clapton’s appearance forced the other Beatles to get along for fear of embarrassing themselves in front of an outsider, resulting in a song which would end up as #135 on Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 greatest songs of all time and #7 on their list of the 100 greatest guitar songs of all time.  Clapton himself would write another song of equal stature which deserves a similar post here. It is quite appropriate to say that the friendship between the two did lead to the inspiration of the song. Clapton steals the show with his lead guitar which amplifies Harrison’s vocal rendition with a waterfall of blues fills.

Although it has been covered by a lot of artists, the one by Jake Shimabukuro who plays a ukelele in place of the guitar portions of the song stands out. Vinnie Moore on his album Time Odyssey released an instrumental version of the song, playing the voice melody on his guitar. On 29 November 2002 Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Dhani Harrison, Jeff Lynne and Eric Clapton performed While My Guitar Gently Weeps at the Concert for George held in memory of Harrison, who had died a year earlier after a long battle with cancer. This version featured Eric Clapton playing his original solo and also a second, as well as Paul McCartney on the piano. George Harrison subsequently went on to create an array of fantastic songs post his days with Beatles, as solos and with other artists. But if there was a choice of one song that would give George Harrison an immortal status in the minds of music lovers, it would undoubtedly be this track. So while we work on our next ASAD entry, you enjoy this wonderful track.

This article is again a guest article, contributed by Easwar. If you wish to contribute to this section or to any other section of Music Aloud please do drop a mail to response [at] musicaloud [dot] com.
Vinnie Moore’s version

There is something which divides the Bob Dylans, David Crosbys, Neil Youngs and Joni Mitchells of the world from the others. Apart from being amazing musicians, they were part of the elite group who were called singer- songwriters who came up with songs and lyrics which were sung and covered by a lot of other artists. One such singer-songwriter is Don Mclean and one such song of his is the rock epic American Pie.

American Pie is one of those folk rock ballads which is constantly interpreted and written about which made Mclean quip once “You will find many interpretations of my lyrics but none of them by me. Isn’t this fun? Sorry to leave you all on your own like this but long ago I realized that songwriters should make their statements and move on, maintaining a dignified silence.” And Mclean did maintain the silence.

American Pie is an amazing piece of poetry mainly written inspired by the deaths of the Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J. P. Richardson in a plane crash on the Day now known as “The Day the Music Died”. It is also a splendid melancholic tribute to the 1960′s written mostly during the late 60s. The song, mostly written in first person, makes it an autobiography of sorts. It explains McLean’s aspirations as a singer and also puts light onto his part-time profession.

This song also provides an obscure imagery of the events, most of it musical, that took place from the day Buddy Holly passed away to the date the song was released, which appealed to Don Mclean. The part which is most suggestive of the reference to Buddy Holly is This’ll be the day that I die, which is inspired by Buddy Holly’s hit number That’ll be the Day. Apart from that the song is said to have referred to a lot of artists including Bob Dylan, The Rolling Stones and Mick Jagger, Elvis “The King” Presley, The Beatles and John Lennon, The Byrds, The Woodstock, Janis Joplin and many more. A political side to the interpretation of the song is also not out of question.

The beauty of the song lies in the fact that all these allusions are carefully and artistically woven into a wonderful poem that is American Pie, equally complimented by the solemn tune and amazing instrumentation.

American Pie was covered by a few bands like The Brady Bunch in 1972. A Spanish translation sung by voice actor Francisco Colmenero surfaced around Mexico in 1971. A very significant version, also in Spanish, was recorded in 1984 by the Nicaraguan singer Hernaldo Zúñiga. Eduardo Fonseca recorded a cover version of the translation in 2000. Tori Amos performed the song often as a piano solo in her live concerts, and country singer Garth Brooks also sang this song during concerts in the early to mid 1990s. During Brooks’ “Live in Central Park” concert, he performed this song as a duet with McLean himself at the end of the concert. Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder has sung the chorus of American Pie over the outro music of Daughter during select live performances.

The most famous cover however would perhaps be the one by Madonna in 2000, which although was voted the most worst cover in 2001, got praise from none other than McLean himself. He called the cover “mystical and sensual”.

American Pie’s abstruse lyrics still invoke curiosity. May be the best explanation of American Pie comes from the unyielding songwriter himself, “It means I never have to work again.” A few videos for you to soak in the beauty of the song in some of its most exquisite versions.
This writeup comes from our dear friend Easwar, a person who literally lives music. When not listening to music however, he works for Tavant Technologies in Bangalore and also blogs. His blog can be accessed here.

If you want to feature a writeup of yours on Music Aloud, do drop a mail to response [at] musicaloud [dot] com.

One of the reasons rock music was frowned upon in its early days was its constant use of controversial lyrics on tabooed subjects. One such song of the ‘60s is Hey Joe which became such a standard that more than 400 bands have covered it so far. The song is about a man about to kill his wife accusing her of adultery and then runaway to Mexico. The song came into prominence in the early ‘60s and has been covered by almost all famous bands of that era. The most popular version, however, is one by the legendary Jimi Hendrix which he recorded in his first album with his band The Jimi Hendrix Experience.

The exact origin of the song is unknown. The lyrics of the song are often erroneously credited to American musician Chester Powers aka Dino Valenti. The copyrights of the song however, rest with songwriter Billy Roberts who registered it in 1962. During 1965 and 1966, the song was recorded by a number of popular bands such as The Leaves, The Standells, The Surfaris, Love and The Byrds swiftly making the song a garage rock classic.

Folk rock singer Tim Rose recorded the song in 1966 and it was a much slower song. Hendrix got inspired by Rose’s version of the song and made a rock version out of it. Hendrix’s version of the song rose to instant popularity and entered top 10 on the charts peaking at #6. The man responsible for Hendrix’s rise to fame was his manager Chas Chandler who had just split up from his group The Animals. Chandler had seen both Tim Rose and Jimi Hendrix play their renditions of Hey Joe and after hearing the imaginative version of Jimi Hendrix with his rough voice and his quirks on the guitar, Chandler took him to London where Hendrix rose to stardom. Interestingly, this song never reached the charts in the United States although it was released there at almost the same time.

Wikipedia itself mentions about fifty cover versions of the song by popular artists such as Cher, Frank Zappa, The Who, Patti Smith, etc. Although it would be impossible to write about every song here, a cover version that I must mention is one by Deep Purple since it is the first version of the song that I have heard. Deep Purple covered this song in their debut album “Shades of Deep Purple”. The song starts with a guitar and synthesizer arrangement that sounds like it has been taken from a western movie which fits perfectly with the mood of the song. Although the lyrical arrangement is the same, the beginning and end of the song give it a completely different feel.

In one of our earlier posts, we had mentioned that the largest guitar ensemble in the world was in Leinfelden-Echterdingen, Germany, which involved 1802 guitarists playing Smoke on the Water. This record, however, was more than comfortably beaten on the 1^st of May, 2009 by a group of 6346 guitarists playing at the “Thanks Jimi” festival in Wroclaw, Poland.

While we sign off now with only so much for this song, you enjoy Jimi Hendrix playing the guitar with his teeth while performing this song.

Jimi Hendrix Performing Hey Joe

Deep Purple’s rendition of the song

The Who performing Hey Joe

After a brief hiatus in the ASAD series, today we present you with the first song a day from within the subcontinent, Bullah Ki Jaana, a Sufi song written by one of the greatest Sufi poets who ever lived, Baba Bulleh Shah. While Bulleh Shah’s philosophical poems have found their way into popular music a lot of times, a prominent one being Chaiyya Chaiyya from Dil Se, Bullah Ki Jaana remains one of his most eminent compositions.
Bulleh Shah’s compositions have always been known for their simplicity and profundity, a prime reason for their immense popularity among sufi enthusiasts, and there couldn’t be a better exemplification of these qualities than Bullah Ki Jaana. In this poem he reflects upon the origin of mankind by questioning his own identity. And the translation of the lyrics which include mention of mosques, the Vedas, Moses etc. provide testimony to the fact that Bulleh Shah’s influences pan across religions and faiths.
Popular cover versions of Bullah Ki Jaana there have been three, those of Junoon, the Wadali Brothers and Rabbi Shergill with my preference increasing in that order. To be honest Junoon’s version of Bulla Ki Jaana, which came out in 1999 as part of their most acclaimed album Parvaaz, has always struck me as less impressive than many of their other compositions. On the other hand the Wadali brothers did a beautiful classical version of the song (in raag Shivranjani) as part of their album Aa Mil Yaar (Call of the Beloved). But the credit for Bulla Ki Jaana attaining the scale of recognition that it has in India, goes to the sardar from Delhi named Rabbi Shergill. When Rabbi sat to tune the poem for his debut album Rabbi, influences from his idol Bruce Springsteen kept creeping up, and the result was a brilliant folk-rock fusion version of the song. That combined with a well-shot video meant that Rabbi Shergill became an overnight star and Bulla Ki Jaana was suddenly on everyone’s lips, in spite of being written in a language that not many could understand.
It may be true that Rabbi Shergill couldn’t quite capitalise on the success he tasted with his debut album, but if there is one thing that would keep him from going away from people’s minds it would be this masterpiece of his, that has today become the identity of Bulla Ki Jaana for most people at least within India. Here’s wishing once again all our readers a very happy and prosperous Diwali! Enjoy the videos of the three cover versions.

It is a rare instance in music that a song gets to define a genre. One such case is the song Born to be Wild, by the Canadian band Steppenwolf; that gave the name heavy metal to the musical genre. The term had earlier been used by the counter-cultural writer William S. Burroughs in his novel The Soft Machine to describe a character as “Uranian Willy, the Heavy Metal Kid”. A story goes that the song was written to be a sung as a ballad (If this seems unbelievable, listen to their first single “A girl I knew”). Steppenwolf tried it, but it just didn’t work. So they decided to give the song a hard edge with loud drums, distorted guitars and from the second verse of the lyrics, it was defined as a heavy metal song.

Born to Be Wild was written by Dennis Edmonton aka Mars Bonfire who was a member of the band The Sparrows, a predecessor to Steppenwolf. Having just split from the Band, Dennis initially did not want to offer the song to Steppenwolf. He approached other bands such as The Human Expression but they refused to perform it. Finally, Mars approached Steppenwolf, which still had his brother as their drummer, and they decided to record it. When the song released in 1968, it became an instant hit reaching #2 on the Billboard Top 100 singles chart. The song has since become a legend and in 2009, VH1 listed it as the 53^rd best hard rock song of all times.

In 1969, the song was used in the soundtrack of the cult-classic movie Easy Rider. The movie was about two wandering bikers who travel from Los Angeles to New Orleans in search of America. The song has since been associated with bikes so much that during the 2008 Harley Davidson anniversary Bruce Springsteen covered this song to end his show.

Having attained such a cult status, it is not a surprise that the song has been covered by a lot of bands.  The major bands that have covered this song include Slayer, INXS, Blue Oyster Cult and Ozzy Osbourne. Although I did not particularly like the Slayer cover, the cover by Blue Oyster Cult is a good listen. Ozzy Osbourne has a cover with the Muppet Show character Miss Piggy which was released on the CD Kermit Unpigged. The song has also been used a lot of movies after Easy Rider most notably Dr. Dolittle 2, Speechless, Armed and Dangerous, Mr Bean’s Holiday, Wild America, One Crazy Summer.

The song has over the years become a roaring symbol of freedom, danger and adventure. So the next time you are on a road trip, you know which song to be having on your ipod!

Steppenwolf – Born to be Wild

Kim Wilde – Born to Be Wilde

Blue Oyster Cult’s version

If you are a music lover visiting the New York Central Park, one place you invariably check out would be the Strawberry Fields Memorial dedicated to John Lennon. The memorial is a 2.5 acre triangular piece of land falling away on the two sides of the park, and its focal point is a circular pathway mosaic of inlaid stones, a reproduction of a mosaic from Pompeii, made by Italian craftsmen as a gift from the city of Naples. In the center of the mosaic is a single word, a word that the world would always Lennon for – Imagine. Today we take a look at the legendary song, how it came about. And the ideal point to start off would be with the unfortunate breakup of The Beatles. On September 20, 1969 at a business meeting of The Beatles John Lennon informed his stunned colleagues that he was leaving the group. Though he was persuaded by the group to keep it quiet while they renegotiated their royalty deal, that marked the beginning of the end to a golden age of popular music. Less than a year ahead, on April 10, 1970 Paul McCartney announced his plans to quit the group. And on December 31, 1970 with a writ issued on behalf of McCartney by the High Court London formally began, to the dismay of music fans worldwide, the process that finally resulted in the dissolution of The Beatles.

Strawberry Fields Memorial

But fortunately for us, good music from the foursome did not end with the end of Beatles, Paul McCartney and John Lennon especially going on to have very successful musical careers, both solo and in collaboration with others. Lennon created a lot of controversies through his work on peace activism, all the same producing some iconic songs on that front. One of the most successful songs hence composed was Imagine which came out as the title song of Lennon’s 1971 album. Imagine went on to be regarded one of the most influential anti-war anthems, Rolling Stone magazine ranking Imagine as the third greatest song of all time, after Dylan’s Like A Rolling Stone and The Rolling Stones’ Satisfaction.
The thing that made the song so widely accepted was undoubtedly its soft and sweet melody, Lennon realizing the need for a softer approach in order to spread his message to a larger audience. Lennon got the idea for the song from Yoko Ono’s 1965 book of instructions called Grapefruit. The book was a reaction to her childhood experiences in Japan during WWII, and has lines like “Imagine the sky crying..”, “Imagine you are a cloud” etc. Through the song Lennon asks the listener to imagine a place with no divides between people. In fact following up on this idea Lennon and Ono introduced the conceptual of Nutopia, The Country of Peace, in 1973, with

Steinway used for composing Imagine

both of them being ambassadors of the country. Lennon wrote Imagine on a brown Steinway upright piano. In 2000, George Michael paid over $2 million for the piano, and returned it to the Beatles museum in Liverpool.
As expected, cover versions of Imagine have been numerous. The most famous ones are Neil Young‘s performance of the song for the victims of 9/11 and Stevie Wonder‘s rendition at the close of 1996 Summer Olympics. My favourite cover though is the Arabic-Hebrew-English version by Khaled and Noa which came as part of Khaled’s 1999 studio album Kenza. The violin sequence from 2:58 to 3:24 is especially brilliant. Oasis used a piano section from the track at the start of their 1995 Don’t Look Back in Anger. Other famous artists to have covered Imagine include Joan Baez, Peter Gabriel, Dolly Parton, Queen etc.
Some very imaginative listeners have managed to track down backmasking instances in Imagine. One speculation says that on reversing Imagine all the people you can make out the line people war beside me. Whatever the case be, we close with the wish that some day what Lennon wished for does genuinely happen, one world, one people.