Imagine (John Lennon album)
Imagine | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Studio album by | ||||
Released | 9 September 1971 (US) 8 October 1971 (UK) | |||
Recorded | 11–12 February, 24 May – 5 July 1971 | |||
Studio | Ascot Sound, Berkshire; Record Plant, New York City; Abbey Road, London | |||
Genre | Rock | |||
Length | 39:29 | |||
Label | Apple | |||
Producer | ||||
John Lennon chronology | ||||
| ||||
Singles from Imagine | ||||
|
Imagine is the second solo studio album by English musician John Lennon, released on 9 September 1971 by Apple Records. Co-produced by Lennon, his wife Yoko Ono and Phil Spector, the album's elaborate sound contrasts the basic, small-group arrangements of his first album, John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band (1970).[1] The opening title track is widely considered to be his signature song.
Lennon recorded the album from early to mid-1971 at his Ascot Sound Studios, EMI Recording Studios and the Record Plant in New York City, with musicians that included his ex-Beatles bandmate George Harrison, keyboardist Nicky Hopkins, bassist Klaus Voormann and drummers Alan White and Jim Keltner. The lyrics reflect peace, love, politics, Lennon's experience with primal scream therapy and, following a period of high personal tensions, an attack on his former writing partner Paul McCartney in "How Do You Sleep?". Extensive footage from the sessions was recorded for a scrapped documentary; parts were released on the documentary film Imagine: John Lennon (1988). The documentary John & Yoko: Above Us Only Sky, based on that footage, was released in 2018.
Imagine was a critical and commercial success, reaching number one on both the UK Albums Chart and US Billboard 200. Along with John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band, it is considered one of Lennon's finest solo albums. In 2012, it was voted 80th on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. The album has been reissued several times, including in 2018 as The Ultimate Collection, a six-disc box set containing previously unreleased demos, studio outtakes, "evolution documentaries" for each track, and isolated track elements along with surround mixes.
Background
[edit]While in New York, former Beatles John Lennon and George Harrison had a short jam session,[2] during which Lennon asked Harrison to perform on Lennon's next album. Recording was scheduled to begin in a week's time at Lennon's Ascot Sound Studios, at his Tittenhurst Park residence.[2] Harrison agreed, and invited their friend, bassist Klaus Voormann.[2]
Recording and structure
[edit]Recording for the album started on 24 May at Ascot Sound Studios.[3] The first songs recorded were "It's So Hard" and "I Don't Want to Be a Soldier" in February 1971 at Ascot Sound Studios, during sessions for Lennon's single "Power to the People".[4][5] A cover of the Olympics' 1958 song "Well (Baby Please Don't Go)", later released on John Lennon Anthology, was recorded on 16 February.[3] Lennon chose to remake "I Don't Want to Be a Soldier" on 24 May 1971,[3] the opening day of the main album sessions.
Lennon enlisted help from Nicky Hopkins, members of the Apple band Badfinger, Alan White and Jim Keltner. Harrison contributed lead guitar parts on various songs.[6] Lennon showed the musicians a song that he had recently written, "Imagine".[2] Also recorded was a demo of the future Lennon track "Aisumasen (I'm Sorry)", the unreleased song "San Francisco Bay Blues", and a demo of "I'm the Greatest".[2]
Lennon and his wife Yoko Ono flew to New York on 3 July to continue sessions for the album the next day, at the Record Plant.[2] Many instrumental parts were re-recorded there, and strings and saxophone by King Curtis were also added.[2] The tracks that were finished at Record Plant were "It's So Hard", "I Don't Want to Be a Soldier" and "How Do You Sleep?"[2] As on Lennon's last album, Phil Spector joined him and Ono as co-producer on Imagine. The string arrangements for the album were written by Torrie Zito.[7]
Extensive footage of the sessions, showing the evolution of some of the songs, was originally filmed and titled Working Class Hero before being shelved.[2] Footage of "Gimme Some Truth" aired as part of the BBC TV show The Old Grey Whistle Test on 12 December 1972.[2] Portions were released as part of the documentary film Imagine: John Lennon.[2]
Music and lyrics
[edit]Imagine was written and recorded during a period of particularly bad feeling between Lennon and former bandmate Paul McCartney,[8] following the Beatles' break-up the year before and McCartney winning his case in the High Court to have their legal partnership dissolved.[2] Harrison guested on half of Imagine's ten tracks, including "How Do You Sleep?" – a song written in retaliation against McCartney's alleged personal attacks on Lennon and Ono, on his recent Ram album.[9][10] Lennon said in 1980: "I used my resentment against Paul ... to create a song ... not a terrible vicious horrible vendetta ... I used my resentment and withdrawing from Paul and The Beatles, and the relationship with Paul, to write 'How Do You Sleep?'. I don't really go 'round with those thoughts in my head all the time ..."[11]
The track "Imagine" became Lennon's signature song and was written as a plea for world peace. Years later he acknowledged Ono's role in the song's creation and stated his regret that he had not credited her as a co-writer. "Jealous Guy" has also had enduring popularity; it was originally composed as "Child of Nature" during the songwriting sessions in India in 1968 that led to the Beatles' double album The Beatles.[12] "Oh My Love" and the song "How?" were influenced by his experience with primal therapy.[13]
Lennon also indulged his love of rock and roll with "Crippled Inside" and "It's So Hard". "Gimme Some Truth", first heard during the Let It Be sessions in early 1969, appears on the album with a new bridge. The politically themed "I Don't Want to Be a Soldier" closes the first half of Imagine in a cacophonous manner. The last song on the album was "Oh Yoko!"; EMI pushed for this track to be issued as a single, but Lennon thought it was too "pop".[14]
Packaging
[edit]The photographs on the front and back covers were taken by Ono, using a Polaroid camera.[15] It was previously believed that the front cover photo was taken by Andy Warhol.[16] The back cover includes a quote ("Imagine the clouds dripping. Dig a hole in your garden to put them in.") from Ono's book Grapefruit, which UK re-release the Lennons were promoting at the time.[17] The album's original release also included a poster of Lennon at the piano and two postcards. In lieu of sporting the typical full green apple picture on most Apple record labels, a black and white photograph of Lennon's face was presented on Side A instead.[18]
Release
[edit]Apple Records issued Imagine on 9 September 1971 in the United States and a month later, on 8 October, in the UK. Early editions of the LP record included a postcard featuring a photo of Lennon holding a pig, in mockery of McCartney's similar pose with a sheep on the cover of Ram.[19][20]
Even though Spector championed a "Back to Mono" aesthetic starting in the 1980s, monophonic sound was out of style in the 1970s. Instead, the album was released in stereo and in the then new four channel quadraphonic technology.[21] In the US, the four channel mix was only available on a quad 8-track tape with some copies marketed as "Quadrasonic". In the UK and Australia, the quad mix was issued on LP record using CBS's SQ matrix system along with a quad 8-track version in the UK. In Japan, the quad mix was issued on LP using the QS Regular Matrix system; and also, a discrete quad reel-to-reel tape.[citation needed]
"Imagine", backed with "It's So Hard", was released as a single in the US on 11 October 1971.[2] The album went to number one worldwide and became an enduring seller, with the title track reaching number three in the US. "Imagine" was not issued as a single in the UK until four years later, to coincide with the release of Lennon's Shaved Fish singles collection.[22]
Promotional film
[edit]In 1972, Lennon and Ono released a 70-minute film to accompany the Imagine album which featured footage of them at their Berkshire property at Tittenhurst Park and in New York City. It included many of the tracks from the album and some additional material from Ono's 1971 album Fly.[2] Several celebrities appeared in the film, including Andy Warhol, Fred Astaire, Jack Palance, Dick Cavett and George Harrison. Derided by critics as "the most expensive home movie of all time",[citation needed] it premiered to an American audience on TV on 23 December 1972.[2]
Critical reception
[edit]Review scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [23] |
Christgau's Record Guide | A[24] |
Encyclopedia of Popular Music | [25] |
The Great Rock Discography | 9/10[26] |
Mojo | [27] |
MusicHound Rock | 4/5[28] |
Paste | [29] |
Q | [30] |
The Rolling Stone Album Guide | [31] |
Uncut | [32] |
Reviewing the album for Rolling Stone in 1971, Ben Gerson said it "contains a substantial portion of good music" but considered Lennon's previous LP to be superior. He also warned of the possibility that Lennon's "posturings will soon seem not merely dull but irrelevant".[33] Alan Smith of the NME lauded the album as "superb", "beautiful" and "one step away from the chill of his recent total self-revelation, and yet a giant leap towards commerciality without compromise". He said it was Lennon "showing McCartney how to tighten up the flab in his music, and its worth", and concluded: "Lennon rides high!"[34] In Melody Maker, Roy Hollingworth named Imagine the best album of the year and Lennon's finest work up to that point.[35]
Imagine was voted the fifth best record of 1971 in The Village Voice's Pazz & Jop, an annual poll of American critics nationwide.[36] It was voted "Album of the Year" in polls conducted by Radio Luxembourg and Record World.[37] Robert Christgau, who ranked it fifth in his Pazz & Jop ballot,[38] appraised the album as "primal goes pop – personal and useful" in the 1981 book Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies.[24]
Reviewing for Mojo in 2000, Jon Savage said the preponderance of mid-tempo tracks partly explained the album's popularity among Britrock bands, yet this quality made some of the songs drag. He admired Harrison's slide guitar playing in the "sinuous and spacy" soundscape, but found that the album "contains both the best and the worst of [Lennon] – the idealist and the ranter, the righteous and the vindictive anger – and as such remains more patchy than its iconic status might allow".[39] Writing for AllMusic, Stephen Thomas Erlewine finds the lyrics to be "only marginally less confessional" than on Lennon's previous album, adding: "If Imagine doesn't have the thematic sweep of Plastic Ono Band, it is nevertheless a remarkable collection of songs that Lennon would never be able to better again."[23]
In 2012, Imagine ranked at number 80 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.[40] It dropped to number 223 in the 2020 edition of the list.[41]
Legacy
[edit]Lennon later expressed his displeasure with the more commercial sound of the album, saying that the title track was "an anti-religious, anti-nationalistic, anti-conventional, anti-capitalistic song, but because it's sugar-coated, it's accepted".[42] In a November 1971 interview for Melody Maker, McCartney spoke positively of Imagine, considering it to be less political than Lennon's previous solo albums. In a subsequent edition of the same publication, Lennon rebuked his former bandmate, saying, "So you think 'Imagine' ain't political? It's 'Working Class Hero' with sugar on it for conservatives like yourself!!"[43] and likened McCartney's politics to those of the staunchly traditional Mary Whitehouse.[44]
After Lennon's death, Imagine, along with seven other Lennon albums, was reissued by EMI as part of a box set, which was released in the UK on 15 June 1981.[nb 1][45] Like its title track, Lennon's Imagine became a posthumous hit worldwide after his death in December 1980. The album re-entered the charts during 1981, peaking at number three in Norway,[46] five in the United Kingdom,[47] 34 in Sweden,[48] and 63 in the United States.[49] In 2000, Yoko Ono supervised the remixing of Imagine for its remastered reissue. In February 2000, the remastered and remixed edition reached number 11 on the Japanese chart.[50] It was reissued in 2003 by Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab on gold CD and on 180 gram half-speed mastered LP. The Record Plant piano on which Lennon re-recorded some of the album's keyboard parts was sold at auction in 2007.[51]
In October 2010, another remastered version of the album was released, and the album re-entered the Billboard 200 at number 88. On 23 November 2010, Imagine became available on the Rock Band 3 video game, exploiting the music game's use of a keyboard. On Record Store Day 2011, in honour of the album's 40th anniversary, it was re-released on 180-gram LP with an additional 12" white LP record entitled Imagine Sessions, featuring tracks taken from the John Lennon Anthology. In January 2014, the album was released by Universal Music on the High Fidelity Pure Audio Blu-ray format, featuring PCM, DTS HD and Dolby Tru HD audio tracks, based on the 2010 remaster.[nb 2] In 2018, the album was remixed yet again and titled Imagine: The Ultimate Collection.[52] A six-disc box set, spread over four CDs and two Blu-ray discs, features previously unheard demos, rare studio outtakes, and isolated track elements along with a 5.1 surround mix and the original four channel quadraphonic mix.
Track listing
[edit]All tracks are written by John Lennon, except where noted
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "Imagine" | Lennon, Ono | 3:01 |
2. | "Crippled Inside" | 3:47 | |
3. | "Jealous Guy" | 4:14 | |
4. | "It's So Hard" | 2:25 | |
5. | "I Don't Wanna Be a Soldier[nb 3]" | 6:05 |
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
6. | "Gimme Some Truth" | 3:16 | |
7. | "Oh My Love" | Lennon, Ono | 2:50 |
8. | "How Do You Sleep?" | 5:36 | |
9. | "How?" | 3:43 | |
10. | "Oh Yoko!" | 4:20 | |
Total length: | 39:29 |
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
11. | "Power to the People" | 3:26 | |
12. | "Well… (Baby Please Don't Go)" | Walter Ward | 4:07 |
13. | "God Save Us" | Lennon, Ono | 3:15 |
14. | "Do the Oz" | Lennon, Ono | 3:12 |
15. | "God Save Oz" | Lennon, Ono | 3:31 |
16. | "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)" | Lennon, Ono | 3:35 |
Total length: | 60:35 |
Imagine Sessions
[edit]No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "Baby Please Don't Go" | Ward | 4:03 |
2. | "Imagine" | 3:24 | |
3. | "How Do You Sleep?" | 5:23 |
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
4. | "Jealous Guy" | 4:12 |
5. | "Oh My Love" | 2:56 |
6. | "I Don't Want to Be a Soldier Mama" | 5:23 |
Total length: | 25:21 |
Personnel
[edit]Personnel per John Blaney.[53] Track numbering refers to CD and digital releases of the album.
Musicians
[edit]- John Lennon – vocals (all), piano (1, 7, 9), electric guitar (2, 4–6, 8, 10), acoustic guitar (3), whistling (3), harmonica (10)
- George Harrison – Dobro (2), slide guitar (5, 6, 8), electric guitar (7)
- Nicky Hopkins – tack piano (2), piano (3, 5, 6, 9, 10), electric piano (7, 8)
- Klaus Voormann – bass guitar (all but 2), double bass (2)
- Alan White – drums (1, 2, 6, 8–10), vibraphone (3, 5), Tibetan cymbals (7)
- Jim Keltner – drums (3, 5)
- Jim Gordon – drums (4)
- Ted Turner – acoustic guitar (2, 8)
- Rod Linton – acoustic guitar (2, 6, 8, 10)
- Joey Molland, Tom Evans – acoustic guitar (3, 5) (credited as "Joey and Tommy Badfinger")
- Andy Davis – acoustic guitar (6, 8–10)
- Steve Brendell – double bass (2), maracas (5)
- John Tout – piano (2, 8) (incorrectly credited as playing "acoustic guitar")[54]
- King Curtis – saxophone (4, 5)
- John Barham – harmonium (3), vibraphone (9)
- Mike Pinder – tambourine (3, 5)
- Phil Spector – harmony vocal (10)
- The Flux Fiddlers (members of the New York Philharmonic) – orchestral strings (1, 3–5, 8, 9)
Production
[edit]- John Lennon – producer, cover artwork[55]
- Yoko Ono – producer, cover photography
- Phil Spector – producer
- Jack Douglas– engineer[56][57]
Charts
[edit]
Weekly charts[edit]
|
Year-end charts[edit]
|
Certifications
[edit]Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
---|---|---|
United Kingdom (BPI)[73] | Gold | 100,000* |
United States (RIAA)[74] | 2× Platinum | 2,000,000^ |
* Sales figures based on certification alone. |
References
[edit]Footnotes
- ^ UK EMI JLB8[45]
- ^ Side one: "Baby Please Don't Go" (Walter Ward), "Imagine", "How Do You Sleep?" Side two: "Jealous Guy", "Oh My Love" (Lennon–Ono), "I Don't Wanna Be a Soldier".
- ^ The title also appears variously as "I Don't Wanna Be a Soldier Mama I Don't Wanna Die" or "I Don't Wanna Be a Soldier Mama".
Citations
- ^ Clayton, Marie (2003). John Lennon. Unseen Archives. Parragon Publishing Book. p. 383. ISBN 0-7525-8514-2.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Miles, Barry; Badman, Keith, eds. (2001). The Beatles Diary After the Break-Up: 1970–2001 (reprint ed.). London: Music Sales Group. ISBN 978-0-7119-8307-6.
- ^ a b c Madinger, Chip; Raile, Scott (2015). LENNONOLOGY Strange Days Indeed – A Scrapbook Of Madness. Chesterfield, MO: Open Your Books, LLC. p. 239. ISBN 978-1-63110-175-5.
- ^ Williams, Richard (2003). Phil Spector: Out of His Head. London: Omnibus Press. p. 160. ISBN 0-7119-9864-7.
- ^ Blaney, John (2005). John Lennon: Listen to This Book (illustrated ed.). [S.l.]: Paper Jukebox. pp. 66–70. ISBN 978-0-9544528-1-0.
- ^ Leng, Simon (2006) [2003]. While My Guitar Gently Weeps: The Music of George Harrison. SAF Publishing Ltd. pp. 108–109. ISBN 978-1-4234-0609-9.
- ^ "Lennon's Imagine Orchestrator Zito Dies". Contactmusic.com. 8 December 2009. Archived from the original on 6 June 2011. Retrieved 14 October 2020.
- ^ The Editors of Rolling Stone, Harrison, Rolling Stone Press/Simon & Schuster (New York, NY, 2002), p. 42.
- ^ Brown, Peter; Gaines, Steven (2002). The Love You Make: An Insider's Story of The Beatles. New York: New American Library. p. 351. ISBN 0-451-20735-1.
- ^ Perone, James E. (2012). The Album: A Guide to Pop Music's Most Provocative, Influential, and Important Creations. ABC-CLIO. pp. 143, 1488. ISBN 978-0-313-37907-9.
- ^ "Playboy Interview with John Lennon and Yoko Ono – 1980". john-lennon.com. Archived from the original on 15 August 2014. Retrieved 15 December 2007.
- ^ Miles, Barry (1997). Many Years from Now. Random House. p. 423. ISBN 978-0-7493-8658-0.
- ^ "45 Years Ago: John Lennon Reclaims His Legacy With "Imagine"". Classic Rock. 9 September 2016. Archived from the original on 8 September 2017. Retrieved 8 September 2017.
- ^ The Words and Music of John Lennon. Greenwood. 2007. p. 33. ISBN 978-0-275-99180-7.
- ^ Yoko Ono (December 2018). "John Lennon Imagine Yoko Ono". Archived from the original on 9 March 2019. Retrieved 19 March 2019.
- ^ Richard Forrest (1 January 2019). "The Cover Design Of John Lennon's "Imagine" Album. Not Warhol After All?". Archived from the original on 19 October 2020. Retrieved 19 March 2019.
- ^ "The Book That Inspired 'Imagine'". Slate. 4 July 2014. Retrieved 8 September 2017.
- ^ superadmin (1 December 2018). "Imagine John Yoko - Making the Imagine album artwork". Imagine John Yoko. Retrieved 18 June 2024.
- ^ Clayton 2003, p. 301
- ^ Norman, Philip (2008). John Lennon: The Life. New York: HarperCollins. p. 672. ISBN 978-0-06-075401-3.
- ^ "QuadraphonicQuad Beatles Surround Music Releases". Quadraphonicquad.com. Archived from the original on 10 March 2021. Retrieved 9 September 2011.
- ^ "Imagine". Connollyco.com. Archived from the original on 22 May 2011. Retrieved 9 September 2011.
- ^ a b Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Imagine – John Lennon". AllMusic. Archived from the original on 25 February 2021. Retrieved 10 March 2021.
- ^ a b Christgau, Robert (1981). "John Lennon: Imagine". Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies. Ticknor & Fields. ISBN 0899190251. Archived from the original on 14 November 2018. Retrieved 2 November 2018.
- ^ Larkin, Colin, ed. (2007). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music (5th concise ed.). Omnibus. p. 840. OL 11913831M.
- ^ Strong, Martin C. (2004). The Great Rock Discography (7th ed.). New York: Canongate. p. 876. OL 18807297M.
- ^ Doyle, Tom (November 2010). "John Lennon Signature Box". Mojo. p. 114.
- ^ Gary Graff & Daniel Durchholz (eds), MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide, Visible Ink Press (Farmington Hills, MI, 1999; ISBN 1-57859-061-2), p. 667.
- ^ Kemp, Mark (23 October 2007). "John Lennon – Reissues". Paste. Archived from the original on 19 October 2014. Retrieved 13 October 2014.
- ^ "John Lennon Imagine CD Album". CD Universe/Muze. Archived from the original on 25 December 2011. Retrieved 2 August 2014.
- ^ "John Lennon: Album Guide | Rolling Stone Music". Rollingstone.com. Archived from the original on 9 February 2014. Retrieved 16 August 2014.
- ^ Mulholland, Garry (November 2010). "John Lennon – Remasters". Uncut. p. 108. Archived from the original on 11 November 2014. Retrieved 11 November 2014.
- ^ Gerson, Ben (28 October 1971). "Imagine". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 12 September 2012. Retrieved 12 November 2010.
- ^ Smith, Alan (11 September 1971). "John Lennon: Imagine (Apple)". NME. Retrieved 10 March 2021 – via Rock's Backpages (subscription required).
- ^ Hollingworth, Roy (9 October 1971). "John Lennon: Imagine (Apple)". Melody Maker. Retrieved 10 March 2021 – via Rock's Backpages (subscription required).
- ^ Anon. (10 February 1972). "The 1971 Pazz & Jop Critics Poll". The Village Voice. Archived from the original on 4 November 2018. Retrieved 2 November 2018.
- ^ Miles & Badman 2001, pp. 58, 59.
- ^ Christgau, Robert (10 February 1972). "Pazz & Jop 1971: Dean's List". The Village Voice. Archived from the original on 4 November 2018. Retrieved 2 November 2018.
- ^ Savage, Jon (April 2000). "John Lennon Imagine". Mojo. p. 106.
- ^ "500 Greatest Albums of All Time: John Lennon, 'Imagine'". Rolling Stone. 31 May 2012. Archived from the original on 4 June 2012. Retrieved 12 June 2012.
- ^ "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time". Rolling Stone. 22 September 2020. Retrieved 26 August 2021.
- ^ Gilmore, Mikal (5 December 2005). "Lennon Lives Forever: John Lennon". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 13 February 2008. Retrieved 2 December 2006.
- ^ "Lennon & McCartney, Melody Maker Magazine, November 1971". The Beatles Interview Database. Archived from the original on 11 August 2011. Retrieved 25 February 2010.
- ^ Ingham, Chris (2006). The Rough Guide to the Beatles. London: Rough Guides/Penguin. pp. 64–65. ISBN 978-1-84836-525-4.
- ^ a b Blaney 2005, p. 203
- ^ "norwegiancharts.com – Norwegian harts portal". VG-lista. Archived from the original on 2 November 2012. Retrieved 22 May 2010.
- ^ "The Official Charts Company – Album chart for 07/02/1981". The Official Charts Company. Archived from the original on 3 April 2015. Retrieved 22 May 2010.
- ^ "swedishcharts.com John Lennon – Imagine". Sverigetopplistan. Archived from the original on 24 October 2012. Retrieved 22 May 2010.
- ^ "John Lennon – Chart Archives on the Billboard 200". Homepage1.nifty.com. Archived from the original on 3 November 2016. Retrieved 21 May 2010.
- ^ "Highest position and charting weeks of Imagine <Remixed and Digitally Remastered edition> by John Lennon". Oricon Style.
- ^ "Lennon's Last Piano for Sale, Bo Diddley's Better, McCartney on Home Shopping Network". Rolling Stone. 30 May 2007. Archived from the original on 19 November 2008. Retrieved 25 February 2010.
- ^ "John Lennon's Imagine to be reissued as six-disc box set". 23 August 2018. Archived from the original on 27 September 2018. Retrieved 26 September 2018.
- ^ Blaney 2005, pp. 82–90
- ^ "Interview with John Tout, May 1998". Archived from the original on 18 May 2015. Retrieved 7 May 2015.
- ^ "Imagine John Yoko - Making the Imagine album artwork". December 2018.
- ^ "Imagine – John Lennon | Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved 21 January 2019.
- ^ "John Lennon's "Imagine": Inside the Song with Jack Douglas". 15 July 2019.
- ^ a b Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992. St Ives, NSW: Australian Chart Book. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
- ^ "Top Albums/CDs – Volume 16, No. 12, November 06 1971". RPM. Archived from the original on 12 November 2012. Retrieved 3 October 2011.
- ^ "dutchcharts.nl John Lennon – Imagine". dutchcharts.nl (in Dutch). MegaCharts. Archived from the original on 14 November 2013. Retrieved 12 September 2011.
- ^ Pennanen, Timo (2021). "John Lennon". Sisältää hitin - 2. laitos Levyt ja esittäjät Suomen musiikkilistoilla 1.1.1960–30.6.2021 (PDF) (in Finnish). Helsinki: Kustannusosakeyhtiö Otava. p. 146. Retrieved 5 September 2022.
- ^ "Classifiche". Musica e dischi (in Italian). Retrieved 23 January 2024. Select "Album" in the "Tipo" field, type "John Lennon" in the "Titolo" field and press "cerca".
- ^ "– Yamachan Land (Archives of the Japanese record charts) – Albums Chart Daijiten – The Beatles" (in Japanese). 30 December 2007. Archived from the original on 14 February 2012. Retrieved 14 September 2011.
- ^ "norwegiancharts.com John Lennon – Imagine". Archived from the original on 11 January 2011. Retrieved 12 September 2011.
- ^ "The Official Charts Company – John Lennon – Imagine". officialcharts.com. Archived from the original on 29 September 2015. Retrieved 3 October 2011.
- ^ "John Lennon Chart History: Billboard 200". Billboard. Retrieved 1 May 2021.
- ^ "Album Search: John Lennon" (in German). Media Control. Archived from the original on 10 March 2021. Retrieved 3 October 2011.
- ^ "Dutch charts jaaroverzichten 1971" (ASP) (in Dutch). Archived from the original on 12 May 2014. Retrieved 2 April 2014.
- ^ "Dutch charts jaaroverzichten 1972" (ASP) (in Dutch). Archived from the original on 12 May 2014. Retrieved 2 April 2014.
- ^ "Page 15/24 – 20 Top-selling LPs on the Japanese Oricon Chart 1972~73" (PDF) (in Japanese). Oricon. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 April 2012. Retrieved 4 October 2011.
- ^ "Dutch charts jaaroverzichten 1981" (ASP) (in Dutch). Archived from the original on 12 May 2014. Retrieved 2 April 2014.
- ^ "Complete UK Year-End Album Charts". Archived from the original on 11 January 2012. Retrieved 4 October 2011.
- ^ "British album certifications – John Lennon – Imagine". British Phonographic Industry.
- ^ "American album certifications – John Lennon – Imagine". Recording Industry Association of America.