"Imagine" was released as a single on Oct. 11, 1971, and became one of John Lennon's defining songs

After his 1980 murder, its message of peace took on new meaning. Today, it remains a lasting symbol of Lennon's legacy

Fifty-five years ago today, John Lennon released "Imagine," a song that would become one of the most recognizable recordings of his solo career.  The single was built around Lennon's gentle piano and restrained vocals, presenting a simple but ambitious vision of a world without division.

"Imagine" paired an accessible melody with lyrics that challenged ideas about religion, nationalism and material possessions. Its message of peace would eventually become inseparable from Lennon's legacy, particularly after his death.

According to History, Lennon began writing "Imagine" amid the Vietnam War while still part of the Beatles, drawing heavily on ideas from Yoko Ono, whose poetry collection Grapefruit helped shape the song's concept and eventually led to her being given an official co-writing credit in 2017.

Lennon recorded "Imagine" at Tittenhurst Park, his country home with Ono, working with producer Phil Spector nearly a year after the Beatles publicly split in 1970.

The song stood apart from some of Lennon's more openly political work at the time. Instead of directly addressing a specific conflict, it offered a broader picture of what life could look like without the barriers that divide people. "Now I understand what you have to do: put your political message across with a little honey," Lennon was quoted as saying of the song in Geoffrey Giuliano's 2000 biography Lennon in America, per Billboard.

"Imagine" went on to become a major success, but its place in Lennon's story changed dramatically after he was killed on Dec. 8, 1980. Lennon, 40, was shot in New York City and taken to Roosevelt Hospital, now Mount Sinai West, where doctors tried to save him.

Source: yahoo.com/Tereza Shkurtaj

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The Beatles’ Rubber Soul reenters the Billboard 200 at No. 4 on the chart dated Oct. 17, thanks to the release of an expanded, deluxe edition. The album first appeared in the top 10 on Jan. 8, 1966, when it shot from No. 60 to No. 1, dethroning Herb Alpert’s Tijuana Brass’ megahit Whipped Cream & Other Delights. Rubber Soul remained on top for six consecutive weeks before Whipped Cream returned to the top spot.

Rubber Soul contains numerous Fab Four classics, including “Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown),” “You Won’t See Me,” “Michelle” and “In My Life.”

We thought it would be fun to take a look back at the top 10 the week Rubber Soul first cracked the region. It was jam-packed with superstars, including The Rolling Stones, Elvis Presley, Barbra Streisand and two albums by Alpert & the TJB.

Three of the albums in that top 10 that week received Grammy nominations for album of the year: Whipped Cream, Eddy Arnold’s country smash My World and the blockbuster soundtrack to The Sound of Music. In addition, Whipped Cream contained the record of the year Grammy winner, the zesty instrumental “A Taste of Honey.” Rubber Soul contained the song of the year winner the following year, “Michelle.” (Incredibly, that was the only Beatles song to ever win in that category.)

Source: Paul Grein/billboard.com

Sam Mendes' Neal Street Productions co-founder Pippa Harris said at the London Film Festival: "It doesn't necessarily mean we're thinking that people will go and see all four films on the same day."
More intel on Sony‘s distribution plan for Sam Mendes‘ hotly anticipated Beatles films has arrived.

Paul Mescal, Harris Dickinson, Joseph Quinn and Barry Keoghan will play Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr, respectively, with the four features currently slated to release in the same month in 2028.

Internet-savvy fans will have noticed a swathe of social media videos of the actors in costume filming around London over the last few months. For example, in August, they were spotted re-creating the group’s iconic Abbey Road album cover. The original photo, taken on Aug. 8, 1969, features the Fab Four walking in single file across a crosswalk outside EMI Studios in London.

On Monday, Mendes’ long-time producing partner, co-founder of the pair’s Neal Street Productions, Pippa Harris, sat for a keynote session at the BFI London Film Festival’s Industry Forum. She provided a coy update on the rollout, currently described as a “four-film cinematic event” across the month of April.

Harris — who came from set to make her Industry Forum appearance for just an hour before heading back — said the team is currently on day 180 of the shoot. She responded later in the session when asked for more details on the distribution plan: “The idea at the moment is the films will come out in 2028, and we want people to be able to experience them in the cinema during the same period.”

She clarified: “That doesn’t necessarily mean we’re thinking that people will go and see all four films on the same day. But within the same month, you might see one a week, or you might see one on a weekend, two the next one. However you see it, I think our hope is that people will see all four films,” she continued. “They stand alone as individual stories of each of those four men, but they have a cumulative power, which I think is greater than the sum of their parts. The Beatles are, I think, the greatest band in history, and we’re trying to do our best to do them justice. Hence the four films. I don’t think there’s probably another band that you could legitimately say you wanted to see four films for,” she added.

Source: hollywoodreporter.com/Lily Ford

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In 1971, John Lennon released what would become one of the defining songs of his solo career. Fifty-five years later, "Imagine" has not only endured, it has been ranked the greatest song of all time.

"Imagine" was released as a single in the United States on Oct. 11, 1971, following the September release of Lennon's album of the same name.

More than five decades later, author Carolyn McHugh put the song at No. 1 in her book "The 100 Greatest Songs of All Time: Create Your Ultimate Playlist," released in December 2025.  McHugh's book ranks 100 songs spanning pop, rock, soul, folk and funk, with "Imagine" beating out every other track for the top spot. In fact, Lennon narrowly beat his former bandmates: The Beatles' "Yesterday" landed at No. 2.  The Beatles also placed "I Want to Hold Your Hand" at No. 7 and "Hey Jude" at No. 39.

McHugh describes "Imagine" as one of Lennon's most enduring works, praising its "powerful message of hope, peace and unity," as well as its "simple, yet profound lyrics" and "hauntingly beautiful melody."

The song's origins stretch back to Lennon's years with The Beatles. According to HISTORY, Lennon began writing "Imagine" while he was still a member of the band, although he didn't record it until after their breakup.

Yoko Ono had a significant influence on the song. Lennon later said its lyrics and concept came from Ono's 1964 book "Grapefruit." In 2017, Ono was officially added as a co-writer of "Imagine."

Lennon recorded the song at Tittenhurst Park, the English country estate he shared with Ono, with Phil Spector producing alongside Ono.

Despite becoming one of the most recognizable songs of Lennon's career, "Imagine" never reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. It peaked at No. 3 in the United States, while its original U.K. release reached No. 6. Following Lennon's murder in December 1980, the song returned to the British charts and spent four weeks at No. 1.  Its legacy ultimately grew far beyond its original chart performance.

"Imagine" has been used at major events around the world, including the 2012 London Olympics and 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang. It has also become part of New York City's New Year's Eve tradition, performed shortly before midnight in Times Square.

Source: yahoo.com/Andrea Reiher

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The Beatles made their first single three separate times in 1962, and on each of those three days a different man was sitting behind the drums. This is not a fan theory anyone had to reconstruct: the liner notes on the band's own Anthology state it flatly that "The Beatles recorded Love Me Do three times in 1962 – on 6 June, and 4 and 11 September 1962 – on each occasion with a different drummer."
The Lost Pete Best Session

The first attempt came on Wednesday, June 6, 1962, in Studio Two at EMI's studios on Abbey Road, with Pete Best on the kit. George Martin, the Parlophone A&R man who had agreed to meet the group on the reasoning that he had nothing to lose, got four songs onto tape that night: "Besame Mucho," "Love Me Do," "P.S. I Love You" and "Ask Me Why."

None of the four was released, and only two of them survived in EMI's vaults at all, which meant that the "Love Me Do" recorded that evening—slower than the one you know, with John Lennon's harmonica opening it—sat unheard by anybody outside the building for the next three decades.

Ten weeks later, Best was gone. On the morning of August 16, road manager Neil Aspinall drove him into Liverpool and dropped him in Whitechapel, and at 10 o'clock Brian Epstein delivered the news in his office above the NEMS record shop: "The boys want you out and Ringo in." When Best asked why, Epstein gave him two reasons, and they were the same reason twice. "They don't think you're a good enough drummer, Pete," he said. "And George Martin doesn't think you're a good enough drummer."
Ringo Starr vs. Andy White

Ringo Starr's first session with the band came on September 4, by which point the contract was signed—"By this time we did have a contract," Paul McCartney said later—and the group put down around fifteen takes of the backing track. Martin made one call in the room that outlasted the day: Lennon could not sing the words "love me do" with a harmonica in his mouth, so the line went to McCartney, and his nervousness at being handed it is audible on the finished record.

Source: mentalfloss.com/Matt Hoffman

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Hundreds of Beatles and John Lennon fans and dozens of musicians today came together to celebrate Lennon’s birthday in Strawberry Fields, singing, dancing, leaving flowers and otherwise paying tribute to the man and the music that continues to echo daily here.

Although Strawberry Fields is already a Guinness Book of World Records music marathon, musicians from New York and around the globe gathered for a kind of all-day John Lennon jam session.

Lennon was born on October 9, 1940, and died on December 8, 1980, just blocks away, with singers programmed now daily in Strawberry Fields, although today performers were welcomed to join in the jam.

“Today, there’s nobody booked on the list,” said David Muniz, the keeper of the list who programs performers daily. “Anybody can come here and play today. We have bands that show up regularly on the anniversary.”

A big band, mostly people joining for the day, played Beatles songs, beneath lights set up for the night, with a brown paper bag not collecting money, but filled with guitar picks for musicians and memories, on the mosaic.

The Core Seven, key musicians in the day-long marathon, including many from Queens, took positions at the front, bouncing from one Beatles song to another, as listeners packed the park.

“Anyone with a guitar can show up,” Jamie Rivera, one of the Core Seven, said after singing “Eight Days a Week” with lines like “Eight days a week is not enough to show I care.”

Source: amny.com

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