The Whole World Is John Lennon Essay Example

was forced to finally apologize. However, the pressure of Beatlemania and press proved to be too much for them to handle and they stopped touring and did not perform another concert. This comment would later profoundly affect his life.

Partially in reaction to the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy the Beatles released 'Revolution', written by John Lennon in 1968; was the first song with an explicitly political statement,

• You say you want a revolution
• Well you know, we all want to change the world …
• But when you talk about destruction,
• don't you know that you can count me out?

Lennon wanted to convey his message of revolution, but without violence. The far left responded immediately accusing them of betraying the cause while the far right branded them as pro-communist. Lennon was actually not sure how he felt, writing three different versions of 'Revolution', one of which added the word 'in' after 'you can count me out.' After leaving the Beatles to start his solo career, he continued to write songs supporting civil rights and the people fighting for them and many more political statement songs.

The next chapter in Lennon's life was after meeting and eventually marrying Yoko Ono. This is when he began protesting the Vietnam War, attending many public demonstrations. They were both passionate about political activism and peace, inspiring young people into political activity and participation in the peace movement. Lennon and Ono wrote 'Give Peace a Chance,' an anti-war chant that definitely showed his pacifist side. Then there was 'Working Class Hero' that advocated for the 'peasants' to rise up and make a change, to not just go along

with what the government taught you. Lennon talked about the song with the left-wing newspaper Red Mole. 'They think they are in a wonderful, free-speaking country, they've all got cars and tellies and they don't want to think there's anything more to life,' he said. 'They are prepared to let the bosses run them, to see their children fucked up in school. They're dreaming someone else's dream, it's not even their own.' The song ends with the lyrics, 'If you want to be a hero well just follow me.' He later said this was meant to be sarcastic as he had attained wealth and power but was still unhappy at times. Next came 'Power to the People' with the lyrics,

• Say we want a revolution
• We better get on right away
• Well you get on your feet
• And into the street
• Singing power to the people

Lennon advocated that individuals needed to take control from the government by actively participating. 'Power to the People' was a song that could easily be sung while protesting.

The next song he released is arguably his most famous work, 'Imagine' and it continues in popularity to this day. However, some feel it is sappy, patronizing, or overly sentimental; as well as a communist anthem and against God. A comment Lennon addressed in an interview, ''Imagine,' both the song itself and the album, is the same thing as 'Working Class Hero' and 'Mother' and 'God' on the first disc. But the first record was too real for people, so nobody bought it. It was banned on the radio. But the song 'Imagine,' which says: 'Imagine that there was no more religion, no

more country, no more politics' is virtually the communist manifesto, even though I am not particularly a communist and I do not belong to any movement. You see, 'Imagine' was exactly the same message, but sugar-coated.

Now 'Imagine' is a big hit almost everywhere - anti-religious, anti-nationalistic, anti-conventional, anti-capitalistic song, but because it is sugar-coated it is accepted. Now I understand what you have to do.' In addition, Lennon said, 'If you can imagine a world at peace, with no denominations of religion - not without religion but without this 'my-God-is-bigger-than-your-God thing' - then it can be true.' This shows that Lennon was not an atheist but he was against violence over whose God is better or true. He also updated lyrics in live performances from, 'Imagine no possessions, I wonder if you can,' to 'I wonder if we can,' reflecting his.