Moment in time: Oct. 8, 1971: Release of John Lennon's Imagine -- John Lennon wrote Imagine in early 1971 on a particularly fruitful white grand piano at his England estate. It turned out to be a serene, iconic statement on the power of a united world to transform itself, though in recollection, Lennon's wife Yoko described it as a song of modest ambition: "It was just what John believed: that we are all one country, one world, one people."
We are not all of one mind however, and in his original review of the album Imagine, Rolling Stone reviewer Ben Gerson dismissed the title song. "The singing is methodical but not really skilled, the melody undistinguished, except for the bridge," he wrote. Gerson went on to say the album's only "really worthy, musically effective numbers" were Jealous Guy, How Do You Sleep? and Gimme Some Truth. Imagine that. -- Brad Wheeler
We are not all of one mind however, and in his original review of the album Imagine, Rolling Stone reviewer Ben Gerson dismissed the title song. "The singing is methodical but not really skilled, the melody undistinguished, except for the bridge," he wrote. Gerson went on to say the album's only "really worthy, musically effective numbers" were Jealous Guy, How Do You Sleep? and Gimme Some Truth. Imagine that. -- Brad Wheeler
