Ha Ha Ha! Take that, atheists! Cee-lo Green rewrites John Lennon's Imagine!

[pokerfan]

Checkmate, atheists!

Old version:
Imagine there's no countries.
It isn't hard to do.
Nothing to kill or die for.
And no religion too.

Cee-lo's new and improved version:
Imagine there's no countries.
It isn't hard to do.
Nothing to kill or die for.
All religion is true.

http://freethoughtblogs.com/camelswithhammers/2012/01/01/john-lennon-did-not-imagine-that-all-religion-is-true/

[MarkCharles]

1. Only religion can ALWAYS be right, (and self-contradictory) and

ONLY god-believing people can take the lyrics of a popular song and change the words to suit their own agendas, and get away with it legally when performing on national television networks with millions of viewers.

Yes, this shows how reversing the meaning of composers is perfectly acceptable among those believers in a god. Just throw out the philosophy of the composer, in an attempt to convince the world that John Lennon really believed "all religion is true". Amazing!

DESPICABLE, in my opinion.

[dkf]

3. Wow this is wrong.

To take someone's work and say the opposite of what they meant is not okay. If it were satire maybe, but this obviously isn't meant to be funny.

It's like rewriting the ending of someone else's book.

[tama]

4. You just can't help it, can you?

Turning every incident of disrespectful stupidity (and worse adjectives...) by a "believer", this case by Cee-Lo, into general attack against ALL believers:
"ONLY god-believing people"
"among those believers in a god."

[MarkCharles]

8. Sorry, but this guy has no ethics, and he

seems to believe in a god.

Show me an atheist that ripped off a popular song from the Beatles or a classic of Beethoven to make his self-centered point.

Better still: tell us why no Christian in this nation is standing up in protest over this outright theft of an artist's original work.

[tama]

22. I don't know

about whether he believes or pays lip service to... ehm... dunno what. And don't really care, funnily it's Satanism of sorts: I first read the idea "To each as he believes" in Bulgakov's novel "Satan comes to Moscow", and that was charming Satan's solution to believes about after life.

I'm not Christian and I'm not speaking for them and hope that you don't expect me to. My point was simply that firing a full side against all religious people because of an incident ("anecdotal evidence", if you like) is not very productive in any way. You would and do take offense if all atheists were accused because of one atheist (e.g. Stalin, brought to my mind now by Bulgakov), and correctly so.

[rug]

25. Joe Hill did it better.

&feature=related

[AlbertCat]

32. into general attack against ALL believers:

Well, if incidents "of disrespectful stupidity " weren't so common among believers then....

It's the arrogance that we'd all just nod in agreement with something so unthinking, phony, absurd and just plain wrong that is so annoying.
What next? A death bed conversion of Lennon in the ambulance story?

And speaking of Imagine...

Imagine the outcry if some half ass rapper had sung "Darwin loves me, yes I know, Origin of Species tells me so..." sans satire on national television.

Cut the poor put upon theists crap.

[dmallind]

2. Great - so the universe came from the sky cow, we all reincarnate..

...and several interchangeable hero archetypes were born around the winter solstice. Not to mention that spells and curses work, golden tablets need to be read inside hats and only 144k virgins will make it to heaven. But hey some can god about on their own planets. It's all true after all.

[onager]

5. So the religions of Jim Jones and David Koresh are true?

Wow! ALL religions are true! What an exciting theological concept. This might be the biggest breakthrough since the idea of Limbo. Or something.

According to the internet, artists are always requesting permission to change the lyrics of "Imagine." Generally to "one religion too." And in the case of One Nation Under Jebus, of course, that means THE Real 'Merican religion of Michelle Bachman, Tim TebLow, G.W. Bush and Billy Graham. No off-brand religions need apply.

Requests to change the lyrics are always denied and the artists are told if they want to use the song, it will be performed exactly as written. There was one exception nobody seemed to mind - in the 9/11 concert of 2001, Neil Young changed "Imagine no possessions/I wonder if you can" to "I wonder if I can."

[moobu2]

6. If all religion is true

then none of them are true or else they would have killed each other off eons ago.

[Goblinmonger]

7. Not Checkmate

Last edited Sun Jan 1, 2012, 05:20 PM - Edit history (1)

I submit, "For God so hated the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall perish and not have eternal life." Pretty much what Cee-Lo did.

Your move, theists.

Anyone who thinks as you are satirizing that this is a blow to atheists is just deluding themselves. This changing of lyrics was ridiculous and an insult to John Lennon.

Edited to: make my intent more clear and make me sound like less of a dumbass (and I didn't even drink last night).

[cbayer]

10. I think the OP was being sarcastic, but can't be sure.

[pokerfan]

11. I thought I was laying on the sarcasm thick enough

but I guess I should have used the smiley:

[Goblinmonger]

12. No, I got your sarcasm

My response was not to you but those thinking what you were satirizing. My bad in not making that clear. I know who you are.

[pokerfan]

19. Oh noes!

I know who you are.

[Goblinmonger]

21. Dude, I think I need to stop replying to you today.

Nothing is coming across as I intend.

[pokerfan]

23. LOL

[humblebum]

16. I don't have any doubt that that would have been done by you or someone

else regardless of what Cee-lo Green did.

[Goblinmonger]

18. Why the dig at me?

I make a pretty pointed responses to Green and tried to show that what he did would look like from the other side. Didn't say I believed it--just making a point.

Yet you need to say that I would attack theists for no reason whatsoever.

[humblebum]

28. Oh relax. You just got in the way. Nothing personal.nt

[Goblinmonger]

29. Well, I'm just collateral damage.

That makes me feel so much better.

[humblebum]

30. Here. Go ahead and insult me and I'll just take it if it makes

you feel better.

[deacon_sephiroth]

42. too easy

<3

[Dorian Gray]

31. I think that

allowing Cee Lo singing this was an affront to all the listeners on top of John Lennon's legacy. It was a travesty.

[cbayer]

9. Much ado about nothing, imo, but it will be interesting to see if Yoko Ono

was aware of the change prior to it happening.

Neil Young also changed the words to this song in a 9/11 concert, though I don't remember hearing all that much about it.

John Lennon's position on religion and god changed a lot throughout his life. I think it still remains unclear as to where he finally stood at the end of his days. The internet, of course, is full of debate about this. Many people have strong feelings about what he did or did not believe, but the definitive answer remains murky (at least to me). Whatever it is, he was clearly not a fan or organized religion.

[Goblinmonger]

13. Seems to clearly change the meaning of the song, though.

The song is clearly about the problems/vices of human organizations of which Lennon clearly includes religion.

[cbayer]

14. It clearly changes the meaning, and apparently he did so intentionally.

But this is certainly not the first time someone has done something like this for any number of reasons.

I just don't think it's a really big deal.

[Goblinmonger]

15. The problem I see,

and this is not aimed at you specifically, is one of privilege. It takes a song that speaks clearly to those that see problems with religion and turns it into a song about how religion can be awesome. That those that believe don't see a problem with it or don't see it as a huge problem comes from, imho, a position of privilege. Of course it doesn't seem like a big deal to one who believes because it changes it to comport with that belief structure. The only reason I think this is having such a good deal of traction is that Green screwed with a Lennon song which not only pisses off the atheists, but the Lennon fans.

[cbayer]

17. I see your point and respect it from that perspective.

I heard a great deal of parody of religious songs on Sirius during the holidays (I think it was a show on the Loft, which is a great channel, BTW). However, your point about positions of privilege making a difference is a good one.

If he were uncomfortable with the lyrics as written, he probably would have been wise to choose a different song.

At any rate, what he changed it to is really confusing to me. I honestly don't know what he was trying to say. I can't really fathom that he thinks all religions are true, but maybe he does. And this from a guy who's one hit has been, "Fuck you", lol.

[Goblinmonger]

20. If this were satire, I would have no problem with it.

I don't think atheist positions (if we are OK calling Lennon's position that realizing the debate about where he landed on this issue) are immune from satire and I rather enjoy satire.

From what I saw of the Twitter wars over this, he seems to be trying to say he wants a world where everyone is free to believe whatever they want (though I'm not sure how those lyrics reflect that--though we can agree that the poetic prowess of one know for "Fuck You" probably isn't epic).

[AlbertCat]

33. unclear as to where he finally stood at the end of his days

It is?????

[justiceischeap]

36. Was doing some research on this and found the following:

According to Yoko Ono, who controls the rights to John Lennon's music, the most frequent request she gets comes from musicians who want to record this song but change the "No religion, too" lyrics - a request she has always denied.

http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=1094

The above doesn't touch on live performances though...

Another quote I found about Imagine from Lennon Legend: An Illustrated Life ...:

'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.

http://bit.ly/zGitOT

[cbayer]

37. Good finds. I haven't heard her weigh in on this so far.

[justiceischeap]

38. Which is kinda shocking, honestly

It seems she always trots out when there's big media hype about something pertaining to John. So, I think her silence says a lot... either she doesn't intend to reply or she's crafting a reply that doesn't anger anyone.

[stlsaxman]

24. Motherfucker wrote "Crazy" and "Fuck You"... he gets a pass on this one.

[ZombieHorde]

26. Religious privilege. nt

[onager]

27. Lennon to the Maharishi...

Maharishi: "Boys! Boys! What's wrong? Why are you leaving?"
Lennon: "If you're so fucking cosmic, you'll know."



http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-512747/Lennon-right-The-Giggling-Guru-shameless-old-fraud.html

The Lost John Lennon Interview With Tariq Ali and Robin Blackburn, 1971:

At one time I was so much involved in the religious bullshit that I used to go around calling myself a Christian Communist, but as Janov says, religion is legalised madness...

I had to do (therapy) to really kill off all the religious myths...you are forced to realise that your pain, the kind that makes you wake up afraid with your heart pounding, is really yours and not the result of somebody up in the sky...

As I realised this, it all started to fall into place. This therapy forced me to have done with all the God shit...

Most people channel their pain into God or masturbation or some dream of making it...

But for me at any rate it was all part of dissolving the God trip or father-figure trip. Facing up to reality instead of always looking for some kind of heaven.

http://www.counterpunch.org/2005/12/08/the-lost-john-lennon-interview/

[LAGC]

34. He really told it like it was.

Wish I could K&R your post.

[struggle4progress]

35. Lennon's song is a classic: why would anyone would mess with it?

[pokerfan]

39. He obviously objected to that lyric

and he's free to do what he wants of course. I personally loved it because it was a perfect illustration of how petty and small-minded some people can be.

[LeftishBrit]

40. I would guess that there are some copyright issues to deal with here

Last edited Tue Jan 3, 2012, 07:46 PM - Edit history (1)

Once this taken into account, people IMO have a right to convert a song into something more relevant to their own views, and frequently do. For example, 'This Land is Your Land' is or was sung in Canada as:

'This land is your land
This land is my land
From the Great Lake waters
To Vancouver Island...'

The hymn 'All Things Bright and Beautiful' is nowadays usually sung without the horribly class-ist verse:

'The rich man in his castle,
The poor man at his gate.
God made them high or lowly
And ordered their estate.'

Certainly John Lennon might not be too pleased at having his song thus altered by religious types; but Woody Guthrie and Mrs. Alexander the hymn writer might also not be too keen on the alterations above.

I am focussing here just on altering the spirit of songs; if there is plagiarism and intellectual property theft here, then it's more serious obviously. I don't know what the legal standing is.

This all reminds me of a 'Virtual Hell', which was on the web about 10 years ago; I haven't been able to find this particular one recently. It included a lot of cartoony characters in the flames because they hadn't believed in 'the real Jesus' and warned that 'Imagine' was the theme song of Hell! Yikes...

ETA: I think the changes are idiotic and mess up the whole point of the song - just saying that it's a fairly common sort of thing.

[MarkCharles]

41. Yes, but Canada's greatness and that of the USA are more

parallel than atheism and theism, don't you think?

I think any American would be happy to give a salute over to any Canadian for the wonders and the beauty of that part of the North American continent.

Come to think of it, I have been kind of high up north in British Colombia, way down south in Dixie, even down to Key West, way up north in Newfounland, and even down to Acapulco, then to the Gaspe' penninsula. The North American continent should have been joined into one nation with England, France and Spain and maybe even Portugal figuring out how to join with the first nation people, with the Native Americans, and how to make the most of this wonderful place on the planet, and share it with the rest of the world.