The breakup between John Lennon and Paul McCartney in the late 1960s tended to be anything but cordial. Even though the songwriting duo had been making perfect songs when working with The Beatles, the tension had boiled over by the time they had finished working on Abbey Road, leading to every band member going their separate ways. Although McCartney was focused on making his brand of rock music, he knew that Lennon hit something striking when listening to his solo catalogue.
When coming out of The Beatles, though, McCartney had to spend some time alone before entertaining the idea of listening to new music. As opposed to his usual optimistic spirit, McCartney was heartbroken after the band’s split and was ultimately convinced by his wife Linda to keep going, crafting his first solo album out of demos he had lying around during the band’s final days.
From there, McCartney worked on various productions that were more attuned to what is now known as indie music, working with Linda to create albums like RAM before assembling Wings. As McCartney was finding a way out of his funk, Lennon was going through emotional hell after undergoing primal therapy.
Finally confronting the repressed emotions he had felt since childhood, Lennon channelled all of his anger into Plastic Ono Band, making songs as gripping as they were harsh on tracks like ‘Working Class Hero’ and ‘Mother’. By the time fans reached the final song ‘God’, Lennon’s articulation about not believing in The Beatles anymore sent shockwaves through the fans who were still hoping they would patch up their differences.
While the wounds were still raw, Lennon found a way to deliver his message concisely on the next album. Still advocating for peace, ‘Imagine’ became a song prayer from Lennon, hoping to find a better world someday. Although McCartney had no desire to return to the studio with Lennon at the time, he knew he had struck gold.
When talking about the legacy of the song, McCartney thought that ‘Imagine’ was a classic from the first time he heard it, telling Carson Daly, “It’s such a classic of John’s. It was after we split up, so I wasn’t with him when he wrote it. It’s one of those songs that when you listen to it for the first time, you know it’s a killer, and I still love seeing footage of him singing it”.
Although the song would only make it to number three on the American charts at the time, it would become Lennon’s anthem for peace, being featured in almost every one of his commemorations as his signature tune. Even though Lennon would later admit that there were some political ideologies behind the song’s composition, he wanted to capture the spirit of living in a utopia, hoping to deliver his song with a bit of musical honey.
While the Lennon/McCartney partnership had already fractured, Macca felt that the legacy of the song had turned it into something much more significant than a traditional hit, explaining, “It’s an anthem I think anyone can relate to, and it sums a lot of things up. It has to be one of John’s best songs”.
