Imagine No Privations

The two faces of John Lennon

Photo by Bo Zhang on Unsplash

The women’s beach volleyball final at the Paris Olympics made me smile and I liked to think of John Lennon somewhere, smiling too. And maybe adding one of his deadly quips.

During the match between Canada and Brazil, an argument broke out between the opposing teams and, with gold medals at stake, several players clustered at the net, volleying protests and insults at one other.

Then the French DJ in charge of the background music put on John’s ‘Imagine’ and suddenly everyone was all smiles and sportiness again.

In the half-century since it appeared on his album of the same name, ‘Imagine’ has become the world’s favourite secular hymn, pipping his fellow Beatle George Harrison’s ‘My Sweet Lord’ in its appeal to all nationalities, cultures and faiths.