The studio lights were on, but the cameras were rolling for a film that would never be finished. John Lennon, the former Beatle, was recording his second solo album, Imagine, and a documentary crew was capturing every take. That footage sat unseen for years, until parts of it finally surfaced in Imagine: John Lennon in 1988 and again in the 2018 film John & Yoko: Above Us Only Sky. The album itself, released on 9 September 1971 on Apple Records, became the one most people think of first when they hear Lennon's name. Imagine came out in the UK on October 8, 1971.
Building the sound layer by layer
Imagine was a deliberate step away from the stripped-down sound of his 1970 debut, John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band. Where that record had been raw and minimal, the new one was built up layer by layer. Lennon produced it with Yoko Ono and Phil Spector, and the sessions sprawled across three studios: Ascot Sound Studios, EMI Recording Studios, and Record Plant in New York. The recording began in early 1971 and stretched into the middle of the year, with musicians coming and going as the songs took shape.
The cast of players was small but striking. George Harrison, Lennon's former bandmate, played lead guitar on several tracks. Nicky Hopkins, Klaus Voormann, Alan White and Jim Keltner all contributed. One day Lennon sat down and showed the musicians a song he had just written, the title track 'Imagine'. It was a simple piano melody with a lyric about peace and love, and it would become the song most closely tied to his name.
Fury, politics and primal therapy
Not everything on the album was gentle. 'How Do You Sleep?' was a direct attack on Paul McCartney, Lennon's old writing partner. The lyrics pulled no punches, and the song became one of the most talked-about moments on the record. Elsewhere, Lennon drew on politics and his experience with primal therapy, a form of psychotherapy he had been exploring. 'Jealous Guy', one of the album's most enduring songs, had begun life years earlier as 'Child of Nature', written in India in 1968.
When the sessions moved to Record Plant in New York, the sound changed again. Many instrumental parts were re-recorded, and string arrangements and a saxophone part by King Curtis were added. The album was finished, but Lennon made one notable refusal. EMI wanted to release 'Oh Yoko!' as a single, but Lennon said no, calling the song too pop. He had a clear idea of what Imagine should be, and he was not going to let the label reshape it.
He had a clear idea of what Imagine should be, and he was not going to let the label reshape it.
A number one and a shelved film
The album reached number one in both the UK and the US, a rare feat for a solo Beatle. But the documentary that had been shot during the sessions was shelved. The footage was originally intended for a film called Working Class Hero, but the project was postponed. For years, the only public glimpse came when a clip of 'Gimme Some Truth' aired on The Old Grey Whistle Test in 1972. The full story of how Imagine was made stayed largely hidden.
That changed in 1988, when the film Imagine: John Lennon was released, using parts of the original footage. Three decades later, in 2018, the documentary John & Yoko: Above Us Only Sky drew on the same material to tell the story of the album's creation. The sessions that had almost been lost to time became a window into one of the most famous records of the 1970s.
Fifty-five years after its release, Imagine still stands as the album that defined John Lennon's solo career. The title song has been covered, quoted and debated, but the record around it is just as revealing: a mix of tenderness and fury, made by a man who was still figuring out what he wanted to say. The cameras kept rolling, and because they did, the story behind the music did not disappear.