Cee-Lo Green Corrects The Weak, Faulty Lyrics of John Lennon's "Imagine"

[PeterG]

We've all been irked by Lennon's poor lyric-writing, no? Well Cee-Lo Green is a corrector of mistakes, bless his heart. His correction happened over a month ago when he sang the little ditty in New York's Times Square on New Year's Eve.

Fans angry that Cee Lo changed 'Imagine' lyrics (http://entertainment.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/01/9875746-fans-angry-that-cee-lo-changed-imagine-lyrics)

Here's the lyrics to the song, with Lennon's goof in red to Cee-Lo's improvement in green:


Imagine there's no heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today...

Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
And all religion's true
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace...

You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one

Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world...

You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one

[Cachoo]

Well there are two issues here: Changing the lyrics to one of the greatest songs we have in the rock songbook is --speaking religiously-- a grave sin.

If whats-his-face had any grasp of history he would understand Lennon chose those words knowing what has been done in the name of religion.

Idiot.

[triple_toe]

He is such a tool.

[PeterG]

I can only imagine.

:P

[Ozzisk8tr]

WWYD?

[BigB08822]

Saying "all religion's true" is just idiotic, anyway. Think about it, some religions teach some very horrible things and they can't all be true, that is just not logical.

[MacMadame]

But it rhymes. ;)

[John 3 17]

As much as I dislike the original words (and tune), Cee-Lo's re-write was no improvement. Both suck.

-Bridget

[tarotx]

I think Cee-lo was trying to make it mean imagine if people allowed everyone their own religion without judgement or prejudice. People change lyrics all the time. The song isn't a national anthem or sacrament. It's a pop song. Plus It doesn't change the lyric meaning dramatically imo. I don't see why such an issue would be be made.

[znachki]

If you're an atheist, I'd imagine the change would be offensive.

[Garden Kitty]

I blame Purrfect the cat! :lol:

[Beefcake]

Saying "all religion's true" is just idiotic, anyway. Think about it, some religions teach some very horrible things and they can't all be true, that is just not logical.
For reals. Now, if he'd corrected it to "and one religion's true" it would've made more sense. [But, alas, which religion is the true one? :drama:]

I blame Purrfect the cat! :lol:
Purrfect is obviously behind all Cee-Lo shenanigans and inappropriateness. Mrrrrrrrrrowwwwwwl!

[DarrellH]

Imagine That!

[olympic]

My first paranoid impression was that he was pressured into changing the lyrics / was afraid of any backlash to Lennon's original line.

But, I think he released a tweet since then saying that he just wanted to make the lyrics better :blah: Write your own song. Don't change a classic. WTF was he thinking?

[danceronice]

Personally, I hate that song, so any crapping on it works for me.