Imagine

499. Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder – Ebony and Ivory (1982)

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The Intro

Ebony and Ivory started out as a demo for Wings inspired by a marital tiff. It mutated into a well-intentioned but often-ridiculed number 1 duet between Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder, two of the greatest singer-songwriters of all time.

Before

Wings had hit their commercial peak in 1977 with the Christmas number 1 double A-side Mull of Kintyre/Girls School. It had eclipsed even The Beatles singles chart figures to become the biggest-selling single ever at that point. However, only two years later, McCartney was growing weary of maintaining the band. He decided his next album would be the first to be billed as a solo effort since 1970’s McCartney, which had caused controversy by being accompanied by a press release that had resulted in the break-up of the Fab Four.

It made sense for the 1980 LP to be named McCartney II, as it was a return to eccentric, loose songs featuring only McCartney. However, this time the instrumentation heavily featured synthesisers. When Coming Up peaked at two, and even impressed John Lennon, he must have felt vindicated in his decision. History (sort of) repeated itself when Denny Laine quit Wings in April 1981, and the band dissolved. Around the same time, McCartney was already working on his next solo album, Tug of War. Sessions had been cancelled earlier that winter after the shocking murder of Lennon.

One of the songs, Ebony and Ivory, had originally been conceived for Wings in 1978, after an argument with his wife Linda. ‘It was like, “Why can’t we get it together? Our piano can.”‘, as he succinctly but unrealistically put it during a 1997 interview with Record Collector.

However, McCartney more recently said in his 2021 book The Lyrics: 1956 To The Present that he wrote and demoed the track in 1980, during the unrest that was starting to take place in the UK, which included a riot at the Black and White Café in Bristol that April. He recalled hearing comedian Spike Milligan say: ‘Black notes, white notes, and you need to play the two to make harmony, folks!’. Of course, he may be misremembering one or the other, or there’s truth in both stories.

Either way, he knew Ebony and Ivory‘s naive messaging would have more resonance if he turned it into a duet with a black male singer – who better than Stevie Wonder?

Stevland Hardaway Judkins was born in Saginaw, Michigan on 13 May, 1950. He was six weeks premature and developed retinopathy of prematurity, which left him blind. We’ll have none of that conspiracy theory claiming he isn’t, here. When he was four his mother divorced and the family moved to Detroit, and he began singing at Whitestone Baptist Church, becoming a soloist aged eight.

Judkins totally fell in love with music and surprised everyone by learning an array of instruments at such a young age. He formed a partnership with a friend, and Stevie and John became known for singing on street corners and performing at local parties.

In 1961, aged 11, Judkins sang his own song, Lonely Boy, to Ronnie White of The Miracles. White could see massive potential and took the boy and his mother, Lula Hardaway, to Motown. CEO Berry Gordy signed him to Tamla and his surname was legally changed to Morris, an old family name. However, he was christened ‘Little Stevie Wonder’ by Gordy and co.

Two albums followed – Tribute to Uncle Ray and The Jazz Soul of Little Stevie, released in reverse order in 1962. The following year, Wonder released the live LP Recorded Live: The 12 Year Old Genius, which featured a performance of the largely instrumental Fingertips. Split across two sides as a single, Fingertips – Part Two rocketed to the Billboard number 1 in the US. Wonder was only 13 when he became the youngest ever act to top the chart.

However, the novelty of ‘Little Stevie’ was in danger of fading as his teen years began, inevitably. His voice was changing and Motown executives were considering dropping him. In 1964 he appeared in two films – Muscle Beach Party and Bikini Beach, and also released a concept album of sorts, Stevie at the Beach, full of lacklustre surfing songs. Wonder was not The Beach Boys, and was floundering.

Fortunately, producer and songwriter Sylvia Moy reckoned it wasn’t over for Wonder yet. Together, with arranger Henry Cosby, they co-wrote the storming single Uptight (Everything’s Alright), which was a very well-deserved hit in 1965. This classic Motown stomper reached three in the US, and was his breakthrough UK hit, reaching 14. His stock having risen once more, he had a few more hits over here, including a cover of Bob Dylan’s Blowin’ in the Wind (36) and A Place in the Sun (20) in 1966. This was the same year that McCartney and Wonder met for the first time, after the latter had played a gig in London.

Wonder branched out into songwriting for others, co-writing Smokey Robinson and The Miracles’ beautiful The Tears of a Clown in 1967, which became a UK chart-topper three years later. For the rest of the 60s, he would release several classic singles, which featured on albums of otherwise average material. these included I Was Made to Love Her (five in 1967), For Once in My Life (three in 1968) and My Cherie Amour (four in 1969).

The 70s began very promising, with the LP Signed, Sealed & Delivered spawning another classic, his first self-produced song Signed, Sealed, Delivered, I’m Yours, which surprisingly only reached 15. It also contained that rare feat – a Beatles cover that is perhaps better than the original – We Can Work It Out (27).

In September 1970, Wonder married songwriter Syreeta Wright. They worked together on his next album, Where I’m Coming From, which showcased a more mature sound and themes akin to his labelmate Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On. Inevitably the two were compared, and Gaye won out. Wonder’s album was considered a little weird for audiences at the time. Nonetheless, it’s an interesting bridge between Wonder’s earlier work and what was to come, including the lovely ballad Never Dreamed You’d Leave in Summer and the sweet If You Really Love Me (20).

Wonder’s contract with Tamla was coming to an end, and he was becoming increasingly interested in synthesisers. He used recordings of new material produced alongside Tonto’s Expanding Head Band to leverage a new contract with the label that gave him full artistic control. This was released as Music of My Mind. Hot on its heels was the more successful Talking Book, which came the same year and featured songs recorded at the same sessions. The phenomenally funky Superstition and tender You Are the Sunshine of My Life went to 11 and seven respectively in the UK, and of course the former in particular is among his best work and something I’ll never tire of.

The golden period of Wonder’s music was in full flow, and in 1973 came Innervisions, perhaps his best LP, which spawned excellent singles Higher Ground (29), Living for the City (15) and He’s Misstra Know It All (10).

That August, Wonder was seriously injured. While on tour, a car he was in hit the back of a farm truck, resulting in the star suffering a fractured skull and cerebral contusion. He fell into a coma for four days, but was soon performing once again.

In 1974 came yet another brilliant album. The tongue-twisting Fulfillingness’ First Finale spawned the angry, funky You Haven’t Done Nothin and bouncy Boogie On Reggae Woman, which went to 30 and 12 respectively. Later that year he jammed with McCartney and John Lennon, which eventually surfaced on the bootleg album A Toot and a Snore in ’74.

Anyone would be forgiven for thinking Wonder was simply taking a very well-earned year off in 1975, as no new material was released. But no, he was actually working on double album (and accompanying EP) Songs in the Key of Life. I’m going to be a little controversial here and say it’s possibly a little overrated – but when it’s good, it’s magnificent. Among the considerable highlights are hit singles I Wish (five) and Sir Duke, which sadly just missed out on reaching the top spot – it peaked at two in 1977 and really should have become his first UK number 1. Wonder’s 70s ended with Stevie Wonder’s Journey Through ‘The Secret Life of Plants’. Yes, it was a film score, but it’s hard work and his first misfire in a long time.

The 80s began with a return to form in Hotter Than July. His last great album, it included 1980 singles Master Blaster (Jammin’), which deservedly soared to two, and I Ain’t Gonna Stand for It, which reached 10. The following year, Lately went to three, and Happy Birthday did one better.

That February, Wonder travelled to Montserrat to meet McCartney at AIR Studios. The latter later recalled that his guest had been annoyingly evasive but at last they could begin working together. Sessions took place from 27 February to 2 March. As well as being two of the greatest songwriters of all time, McCartney and Wonder are also adept multi-instrumentalists. On this track, the former played acoustic and bass guitars, piano, synths, vocoder and percussion. The latter played electric piano, synths, drums and percussion. Wonder left McCartney at it to perform overdubs – but not before the two jammed on the funky and far superior What’s That You’re Doing?.

Review

Ah, Ebony and Ivory. Well, first off, I’m not stupid enough to call it either legend’s finest 7-inch, but I’m not here to run it into the ground, either.

The good: I’ve no doubt McCartney and Wonder’s hearts were in the right place. Perhaps the former felt Ebony and Ivory would replicate Lennon’s Imagine? Both are piano-led, both long for a better world, and both have been derided for naive, simplistic, even (in Lennon’s case) hypocritical messaging. McCartney was of course still in the very early days of grieving for his lost songwriting partner. It is of course catchy as hell, and I really like the middle eight instrumental section, straight before the ‘Ebony, ivory, living in perfect harmony’ chanting.

The bad: Yes, the simplicity is patronising and at worst you could accuse McCartney of being treating his audience as morons. It’s a lovely thought to compare white and black people and say, hey, why don’t we all just get on, eh? But it’s also pretty bloody insulting to look past centuries of suffering, of bloodshed, and hatred. It plays into both artists at their worst – that saccharine and cheesy side both can be guilty of. The 80s were of course a rough time for many musical legends, and definitely was the case for McCartney and Wonder. The very fact this song was in effect the first chart-topper for McCartney on his own (we’re not counting Wings’ Mull of Kintyre here) and Wonder is a sad indictment on record buyers in the UK.

The silly: I remember as a very young boy being fascinated by seeing the video on TV. How big must that giant piano that those two men are walking on actually be. Aged 46, it’s hilarious. It’s very clear that both musicians were filmed separately, so with 21st century eyes, they look awkward and that adds another layer to the song’s messaging. The silhouettes of the Rastafarians dancing are embarrassing – and why does McCartney get to portray himself as playing loads of instruments (reminiscent of the video to the way cooler Coming Up), but Wonder is relegated to keyboard only? Possibly McCartney’s ego and/or revenge for Wonder being unavailable at times?

McCartney also recorded a version minus Wonder. Not sure why – it certainly wouldn’t have been to keep racists happy.

After

Ebony and Ivory was always destined to be a hit initially. Two huge stars, together for a good cause. It went to number 1 in many countries and in the US, it meant Wonder had now topped the Billboard chart across three consecutive decades. And it marked the start of a very 80s phenomenon – the pop star duet, in which stars whose stars were in danger of falling would work together to keep in the public eye. The sum usually being great than the parts, at this point in the careers of these artists…

The Outro

McCartney and Wonder’s duet was spoofed and ridiculed right from the start, with Saturday Night Live getting in there first in a sketch featuring the rising comic Eddie Murphy as Wonder. In 2007, listeners to BBC 6 Music voted Ebony and Ivory the worst duet in history. 2025 saw the release of a bizarre biopic under the same name, which plays fast and hard with the making of the song.

But remember this when you laugh at Ebony and Ivory – apartheid was still a thing in 1982, and the South African Broadcasting Corporation banned it – so job done, in a sense.

The Info

Written by

Paul McCartney

Producer

George Martin

Weeks at number 1

3 (24 April-14 May)

Trivia

Births

24 April: Television presenter Laura Hamilton 
26 April: S Club 7 singer Jon Lee
28 April: Reality TV star Nikki Grahame
1 May: Northern Irish actor Jamie Dornan
3 May: Actress Rebecca Hall
4 May: Comedian John Robins
10 May: Footballer Adebayo Akinfenwa

Deaths

24 April: Historian Hilda Stewart Reid
25 April: Actress Celia Johnson
28 April: Cricketer Nobby Clark
30 April: Unionist MP Vernon Willey, 2nd Baron Barnby
1 May: Violist William Primrose
4 May: Liberal/Labour MP Barnett Janner, Baron Janner 
5 May: Scottish footballer Bob Shankly
12 May: Scottish Labour MP James Dempsey/racing driver Edward Ramsden Hall/composer Humphrey Searle
13 May: Scottish footballer Billy Steel

Meanwhile…

24 April: The Eurovision Song Contest is held in Harrogate, Yorkshire. The winning song is Germany’s Ein bißchen Frieden by Nicole.

25 April: The Royal Marines recapture South Georgia during the Falklands War.

29 April: Daniel and Christopher Smith are Britain’s first twins conceived through in vitro fertilisation, born to Josephine and Stewart Smith at the Royal Free Hospital in London.

30 April: The Conservatives return to the top of the opinion polls for the first time since late-1979. The Falklands bounce had begun.

1 May: Operation Black during the Falklands War saw a Royal Air Force Vulcan bomber bomb Port Stanley Airport.

2 May: The most controversial moment of the Falklands War saw nuclear submarine HMS Conqueror sink the Argentine cruiser General Belgrano. Two years later, a furious Prime Minster Margaret Thatcher was questioned on TV by a teacher who pointed out the ship was sailing away from the exclusion zone.

4 May: The Sun newspaper runs the simple – moronic, sensationalist, some might say – headline ‘GOTCHA’ to sum up the Belgrano‘s sinking.
Also that day, the Type 42 destroyer HMS Sheffield is badly damaged by an Exocet missile. It sinks six days later.

474. John Lennon – Woman (1981)

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The Intro

John Lennon’s tender ballad Woman was the first single released after his murder, and his third and final solo number 1. This touching tribute to his wife Yoko Ono served as a sequel of sorts to Girl, from The Beatles’ Rubber Soul. Ironically, it was the first time an artist had replaced themselves at number 1 since I Want to Hold Your Hand replaced She Loves You in 1963.

Before

Only three days before he was shot dead, Lennon told Rolling Stone that he was inspired to write Woman ‘one sunny afternoon in Bermuda’. It suddenly hit him how much women are taken for granted, and Lennon – whose relationships with women were certainly complex, right back to his feelings for his mother – decided to pay tribute to Ono. Ironically, considering the blame Ono wrongly got for breaking up his old band, he considered Woman the most Beatles-sounding track on his final album, Double Fantasy. This track is also the only example of a song title used by both Lennon and Paul McCartney for their own separate songs. McCartney’s Woman, written in 1966 under the pseudonym Bernard Webb, was recorded by folk duo Peter and Gordon.

Lennon’s Woman was recorded at sessions on 5 and 27 August, and 8 and 22 September 1980. In addition to lead vocal, he also played an acoustic guitar. Joining him were Earl Slick and Hugh McCracken on guitar, Tony Levin on bass, George Small on piano and synthesiser, Andy Newmark on drums, Arthur Jenkins on percussion, and Michelle Simpson, Ritchie Family members Cassandra Wooten and Cheryl Mason Jacks, and Eric Troyer on backing vocals.

Review

Woman was the highlight of Double Fantasy. The LP is often guilty of being too slick, but the glossy production works in favour of this track, rather than against it. Although Lennon considered it a sequel to Girl, it’s lyrically similar to Jealous Guy. He’s directly apologising to Ono again for past behaviour (perhaps the ‘Lost Weekend’?), but also paying tribute to all women. It would be nice to think, after the stories of his sometimes violent history with women, that this was Lennon at his most honest and contrite.

Opening with a barely audible ‘For the other half of the sky’, there’s sterling synth work from Small, and warm Beatles-like guitar from Slick and McCracken. Somehow, despite the sheen, the swooning backing vocals, and the lack of decent lyrics in the chorus, it’s lovely and really charming. And inevitably, this single gained huge added poignancy following Lennon’s death. A fitting Valentine’s Day number 1, indeed.

But what was going on with that chorus? ‘Ooooh, well well, do-do-do-do-do’ was surely a placeholder that Lennon and Ono decided to leave in? And they say McCartney missed Lennon’s quality control…

Speaking of quality control, I have to mention the official video to Woman. I’m in genuine shock. Ono edited the video in January, and understandably, she will have been in pieces. However, the video veers from touching, with footage of the couple in Central Park two months previous, to poor taste, including the pic of Lennon and his killer, lifted from a newspaper. But what’s really shocking is the image of Lennon’s side profile from the back of the Imagine album, made to morph into the last ever photo of Lennon – in the morgue. Unbelievably, this remains in the official video on YouTube.

After

Woman was the last solo number 1 for John Lennon. However, the outpouring of emotion after his death resulted in Roxy Music’s cover of Jealous Guy knocking Joe Dolce Music Theatre from the top spot. Inevitably, people moved on from their grief, and the next single, Watching the Wheels, only peaked at 30.

Three years later, Ono was finally able to work on Milk and Honey, which was the couple’s next projected LP. Lennon’s work was inevitably a little rough and ready as it had been tragically left unfinished, but Nobody Told Me – originally meant for Ringo Starr – was a number six hit. The follow-up, Borrowed Time, was his last original charting single, making it to 32.

Reissues of Jealous Guy and Imagine failed to reach the top 40 in the 80s, but in the 90s the legend of The Beatles grew in stature once more, thanks in part to Britpop and a newfound appreciation of 60s guitar groups. This coincided with the Anthology project, where Lennon’s 1977 demo of Free as a Bird, and 1979 home recording of Real Love, were transformed into ‘new’ Beatles recordings, courtesy of the surviving members and producer Jeff Lynne. Amazingly, neither went to number 1.

In 2010 a new ‘Stripped Down’ version of Double Fantasy was released. The aim was to remove some of the studio gloss of the original album, and sometimes this worked well. Not with Woman. Part of this song’s appeal was in the production. The 2010 version, shorn of sheen, simply sounded like a demo, not a remix. However, it’s noteworthy that you can hear Lennon drawing his breath in at the close, seemingly a deliberate nod to Girl.

Thanks to AI sound-limiting technology used in Peter Jackson’s excellent Get Back project, McCartney finally felt he could finish Now and Then, the Lennon demo from around 1977 that had been started for Anthology 3 before Harrison refused to continue. Hearing Lennon’s voice, shorn of rough-and-ready ghostly tape echo a la those Anthology 1 and 2 songs, was a beautiful, spine-chilling moment. In 2023, 54 years after The Ballad of John and Yoko, The Beatles were back at number 1.

The Outro

For many years, Lennon’s many flaws (and to be fair, he was very vocal about his failings in his lifetime) were forgotten and because his life was cut tragically short, he became a bona fide icon. A Godlike figure, who age did not dull. The cool, edgy Beatle – which understandably irked McCartney to a degree.

But Lennon’s stature has fallen somewhat in today’s cancel culture. McCartney is often now considered the cool one, his family focused lifestyle now attracting plaudits where he was once laughed at. Lennon may very well have been a nightmare in the age of social media, and his musical comeback may have soon resulted in bland MOR pop (the signs were certainly there in some of Double Fantasy).

However, the truth is more complex than that. Lennon was a troubled man and also one of the greatest singer-songwriters there has ever been – anyone arguing he is the greatest would have a very good argument. The extent to which he was mourned when he passed, and his influence on the era’s number 1s, is more than justified.

The Info

Written by

John Lennon

Producers

John Lennon, Yoko Ono & Jack Douglas

Weeks at number 1

2 (7-20 February)

Trivia

Births

8 February: Actor Ralf Little
9 February: Actor Tom Hiddleston
10 February: TV presenter Holly Willoughby
17 February: Conservative MP Andrew Stephenson

Deaths

10 February: Civil engineer Sir Hubert Shirley-Smith
12 February: Tennis player Murray Deloford
13 February: Writer Eric Whelpton
17 February: David Garnett
18 February: Comic impressionist Peter Cavanagh
19 February: Actress Olive Gilbert/Conservative MP Leonard Plugge
20 February: Cricketer Brian Sellers

Meanwhile…

9 February: Shirley Williams resigns from Labour’s national executive committee. 

12 February: The purchase of The Times and Sunday Times newspapers by Rupert Murdoch from The Thomson Corporation is confirmed.
Also on this day, Ian Paisley is suspended from the House of Commons for four days after he calls the Northern Ireland Secretary a liar.

13 February: The National Coal Board announces widespread pit closures.

15 February: For the first time, Football League matches take place on a Sunday.

16 February: Two are jailed in connection with the death of industrialist Thomas Niedermayer who had been kidnapped by the Provisional IRA in 1973.

18 February: The Conservative government withdraws plans to close 23 mines following negotiations with the National Union of Mineworkers.
Also on this day, Harold Evans is appointed editor of The Times.

20 February: Peter Sutcliffe is charged with the murder of 13 women.

473. John Lennon – Imagine (1981)

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The Intro

It may have been a new year, but the world was still reeling from the death of John Lennon. Though he was knocked from the top spot by the sickly There’s No One Quite Like Grandma, once the holiday season was over, the public saw sense. One of Lennon’s finest songs, and his biggest seller, the stately Imagine made for a fitting epitaph.

Before

After undergoing primal therapy, the stark, cathartic album John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band saw the singer deal with the demise of The Beatles and the childhood trauma of losing his mother when he was a child. It doesn’t get much bleaker than the one-two punch of God and My Mummy’s Dead at the end of that LP, released in 1970.

Lennon started 1971 with a strong political statement. Power to the People saw him reference his non-confrontational approach in Revolution and turn it on its head, urging the public to rise up. Such grand statements didn’t help him appeal to the already paranoid US president, Richard Nixon. But it was a hit, reaching seven in the UK charts.

Work began on Lennon’s second solo album in May. After jamming with George Harrison in New York, the guitarist agreed to be on board for the sessions, and invited Klaus Voorman along too, to resume bass playing duties after his work on the previous LP.

The sessions properly started on 11 May at Lennon’s Ascot Sound Studios at his Tittenhurst Park residence (several tracks had however already been recorded back in February). Phil Spector was back on board as producer after barely being involved in his last album, despite his credit. Lennon wanted a less brittle sound than before, adding strings to the mix and hoping for greater commercial appeal. This might have been partly down to the ensuing war with his former songwriting partner. Lennon perceived Too Many People on Paul McCartney’s album Ram to be a personal attack on him, and so wrote the nasty How Do You Sleep? in response. So, this new album wasn’t exactly smothered in commercial appeal – but it was certainly warmer in general than John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band, thanks in part to Torrie Zito’s strings. And of course, because of the title track.

Imagine was inspired in part by Yoko Ono’s 1964 book Grapefruit, particularly the poem Cloud Piece, which featured the words ‘Imagine the clouds dripping, dig a hole in your garden to put them in’ – that made it to the back of Imagine‘s sleeve. Another inspiration was – ironically, considering the line ‘And no religion, too’ a Christian prayer book, given to Lennon and Ono by the comedian Dick Gregory. Lennon also once compared Imagine to The Communist Manifesto.

Perhaps with the musical motif John’s Piano Piece (created during the sessions for Let It Be in 1969) in mind, Lennon finished creating the most of Imagine – both musically and lyrically – in early 1971 at a piano in one of his Tittenhurst bedrooms, while Ono watched on.

The recording of Imagine began late in the morning on 27 May and finished that evening at Ascot Sound Studios. Initially, Spector had tried to record Lennon on his famous white baby grand in his and Ono’s all-white room, but wasn’t happy with the acoustics. He also had session pianist extraordinaire Nicky Hopkins playing along with Lennon but in different octaves. With Voorman on bass and Alan White on drums, Imagine only took three takes in the end. Zito’s strings, performed by The Flux Fiddlers, were overdubbed on 4 July at The Record Plant in New York City.

Review

Where do you start with one of the most famous songs of all time? The reputation of Imagine is so huge, it’s like writing about an ancient hymn. So it came as some surprise to discover it wasn’t even released as a single in the UK until 1975. Why that is the case, I don’t know.

I do know that, in part due to the formidable power of Imagine through the decades, there has also been considerable criticism aimed at the song. Mainly due to the idea that we should imagine no possessions when the man suggesting we do that is a very, very rich man. I don’t think that’s fair, however. Lennon isn’t being hypocritical. As Ringo Starr suggested in a 1981 Barbara Walters interview, Lennon isn’t telling us to give up our possessions. He’s simply asking us to imagine it. Yes, that might make for a convenient get-out clause for the ‘working class hero’, and I can understand the critics who complain that Imagine is trite. And yet, despite being more of a cynic than a dreamer, I buy into it. Imagine is aimed at all the dreamers, the people longing for a better world. The idea that the world Lennon asks us to imagine could be real was out of reach in 1971. In 2024, it’s even harder to picture. But, if you’re still a child at heart or there’s even an element of hippy longing inside you, the chances are you love Imagine.

Musically, Imagine is just as simple as the idealistic world Lennon conjures up – and again, that’s part of its mass appeal. And as prone to overproduction (not as important as him also being a total psychopath, of course) as he was, his work on Imagine is perfect. The piano reverb is warm and enveloping, wrapping you up in the cotton wool of a world with no hell, nothing to kill or die for – a world of peace. The strings are uncharacteristically subtle for a Spector production, and so much better for it.

So, although overfamiliarity breeds contempt and the simplistic world view (ironic considering what a cynic Lennon was) of Imagine understandably rubs some up the wrong way, I could and probably have heard Lennon’s signature solo song a million times, and will hear a million more. But I’ll never tire of it. And if, for all his flaws, Lennon is known for Imagine, well, it does him no harm.

After

Imagine was released as a single in the US in October 1971, where it reached number three. It topped the Canadian charts, and in time became his bestselling solo record. The accompanying album, also released that October in the UK, was also the most commercially and critically successful post-Beatles LP.

The following year, Lennon and Ono released a film of the same name. Its opening scene is now recognised as the official music video for the song, with the couple walking through fog as the piano begins. They enter an all-white room, where Lennon plays his white piano, and as the song progresses, Ono lets light into the room – to the consternation of critics who find it sadly ironic that Lennon is singing of no possessions just as Ono shows how wealthy they were. Four years after the creation of Imagine, the single, housed in a photo by then-girlfriend May Pang in 1974, was finally released in the UK to promote his compilation Shaved Fish. Possibly due to most fans already owning the Imagine album, it only made it to number six.

Following Lennon’s murder in 1980, it was the 1975 single that climbed the charts in January 1981 and became his second posthumous number 1, after (Just Like) Starting Over. The single was re-released in 1988 to accompany the documentary film John Lennon: Imagine, but missed out on the top 40. In 1999 Imagine reached number three.

The Outro

One of the most famous pop songs of all time, Imagine has been covered countless times. Probably the worst version is the widely ridiculed 2020 celebrity version, headed up by actress Gail Gadot during the initial COVID-19 lockdown. It is pure torture.

The Info

Written by

John Lennon

Producers

John Lennon, Yoko Ono & Phil Spector

Weeks at number 1

4 (10 January-6 February)

Trivia

Births

11 January: Singer Jamelia/Kasabian singer Tom Meighan
19 January: Actress Thalia Zucchi
22 January: Footballer Richard Butcher/Rally driver Guy Wilks
25 January: Rower Alex Partridge
29 January: Actress Rachna Khatau
30 January: Footballer Peter Crouch
31 January: Reality TV star Gemma Collins
1 February: Racing driver Rob Austin

Deaths

11 January: Labour MP Malcolm MacDonald
12 January: Actress Isobel Elsom/Labour MP Joseph Sparks
15 January: Racing driver Graham Whitehead
16 January: Actor Bernard Lee
18 January: Engineer David Stirling Anderson
19 January: Boxer Eric Boon/Geologist William John McCallien
20 January: Conservative Chancellor of the Exchequer Derick Heathcoat-Amory, 1st Viscount Amory
21 January: Racing driver Cuth Harrison/Welsh poet BT Hopkins/Ulster Unionist Party MP James Stronge (see ‘Meanwhile…’)/Ulster Unionist Party MP Sir Norman Stronge, 8th Baronet (see ‘Meanwhile…’)/Jockey Tommy Weston
22 January: Artist Gladys Vasey
23 January: Economist Sir Andrew Shonfield
27 January: Screenwriter Roger Burford/Landscape architect Brenda Colvin/Lawyer Cecil Davidge
29 January: Aviator John Cecil Kelly-Rogers
2 February: Cricketer Jack Parsons
4 February: Tennis player Joan Ingram/Neurologist Douglas McAlpine
6 February: Cricketer Gilbert Ashton

Meanwhile…

13 January: The prison officers’ overtime ban comes to an end.

14 January: The British Nationality Bill is published.

16 January: Northern Ireland civil rights campaigner and former MP Bernadette McAliskey is shot at home in County Tyrone.
Also on this day, 78% of British Steel Corporation workers vote in favour of their chairman’s ‘survival’ plan.

18 January: 10 people were killed in the New Cross house fire. Three more died in hospital.

21 January: Sir Norman Stronge and his son James, both former Stormont MPs, are killed by the IRA.

22 January: Australian mogul Rupert Murdoch agrees to buy The Times newspaper if an agreement can be reached with the unions.

25 January: Four right-wing Labour MPs: Shirley Williams, Roy Jenkins, Bill Rodgers and David Owen – dubbed the ‘Gang of Four’ announce The Limehouse Declaration, in which they reveal plans to form the Social Democratic Party (SDP).

26 January: Nine more Labour MPs declare support for the SDP.
Also on this day, Secretary of State for Industry Sir Keith Joseph announces more financial support for British Leyland.

27 January: Tony Benn replaces Bill Rodgers in the Labour Shadow Cabinet.

28 January: Sir Hugh Fraser is removed as the Chairman of the House of Fraser.
Also on this day, damage is caused in cells at HM Prison Maze in Northern Ireland.

2 February: The Brixton prison escape is released, resulting in the Governor being transferred to an administrative post.

4 February: Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher announces the Government is to sell half its shares in British Aerospace.

6 February: The coal ship Nellie M is bombed and sunk by an IRA unit driving a hijacked pilot boat in Lough Foyle.
Also on this day, the Government drops two controversial clauses of the Nationality Bill.