Imagine (song) - Film and Re-releases

Film and Re-releases

In 1972, Lennon and Ono released an 81-minute film to accompany the Imagine album which featured footage of the couple in their home, garden and the recording studio of their Berkshire property at Tittenhurst Park as well as in New York City. A full-length documentary rock video, the film's first scene features a shot of Lennon and Ono walking through a thick fog, arriving at their house as the song "Imagine" begins. Above the front door to their house is a sign that reads: "This Is Not Here", the title of Ono's then New York art show. The next scene shows Lennon sitting at a white grand piano in a dimly lit, all-white room. Ono gradually walks around opening curtains that allow in light, making the room brighter with the song's progression. At the song's conclusion, Ono sits beside Lennon at the piano, and they share a quaint gaze, then a brief kiss.

Included in the film is a scene during which Lennon talked with an American homeless man whom had been living on their property. The man viewed Lennon as his messiah figure, to which Lennon responded: "I'm just a guy ... that writes songs ... take words and stick them together and see if they have any meaning". Lennon's vexation quickly turned to charity, and he asked the man: "Are you hungry?" The man concurred, and Lennon replied: "OK, let's give him something to eat." 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", it premiered to an American audience in 1972. In 1986, Zbigniew Rybczyński made a music video for the song, and in 1987, it won both the "Silver Lion" award for Best Clip at Cannes and the Festival Award at the Rio International Film Festival.

"Imagine" was released as a single in the United Kingdom in 1975 in conjunction with the album Shaved Fish, and it peaked at number six on the UK Singles Chart. Following Lennon's murder in 1980, the single re-entered the UK chart and was number one for four weeks in January 1981. "Imagine" was re-released as a single in the UK in 1988, peaking at number 45, and again in 1999, reaching number three. It is Lennon's best-selling single in the UK and as of 2012, has sold 1,600,000 copies there. In 1999, on National Poetry Day in the United Kingdom, the BBC announced that listeners had voted "Imagine" Britain's favourite song lyric. In 2003, it reached number 33 as the B-side to a re-release of "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)".