^^ Even if I wouldn't call him a communist, I think it's possible he did agree with some of the communist ideas (which in itself isn't a bad thing as some of the ideas aren't necessarily bad, they just wouldn't work in real life). Which perhaps is why it's called
Imagine and the lyrics are focused more on the dreaming/imagining aspect, he's describing a world that is unrealistic like you said but when you think about it, so is the idea of world peace realistically. There's always going to be some asshole who wants to start up crap with someone else (for the reasons such as territorialness you describe in your post).
Personally, one way I've always interpreted his "no countries" line as not necessarily getting rid of the cultures all together. I think he was referring to getting rid of these "borders" so that separate us so to speak (I don't necceserily mean just "physical" borders, even if thats some of it, I'm not sure how to articulate what I mean). People go "oh I'm Canadian" "Oh I'm Chinese" "Oh I'm American" ... "well no, we're not necessarily 200+ countries, we're all one." You kinda get what I'm saying? I don't believe he was against cultures, given he was interested in various cultures at different times in his life (even spending months on end in places such as India to take in and experience their culture).
I think what appeals most about the song to people and has given it such a universal appeal is the general message for peace that drives it. Wouldn't it be great if we didn't go to war over possessions, countries and religion especially? They're very common causes of war in history. "A brotherhood of man", what if we all just put our differences aside and got along? (like this
comic of the song shows). I think you can disagree with the extreme utopia Lennon dreams of while still being in support of the idea of peace that ultimately drives the song. I myself don't agree with everything that he describes in the song, but it's still my most favourite "peace to the world" kind of songs.
Obviously by far not the only song to have a general message for peace. There's likely some other reason I can't think of as to why it's so beloved (gimme a break it's 2am
), there has to be because I see it performed more than any other "peace" song there is.
But you know, it is a very universal song, even with the political undertones. I saw earlier tonight that Jimmy Carter once said
"And of course, as you know, in many countries around the world — my wife and I have visited about 125 countries — you hear John Lennon's song “Imagine” used almost equally with national anthems. So John Lennon has had a major impact on some of the countries that are developing in the world." [Source]. Man in the Mirror has the benefit of not taking a political side (and thus not alienating some people, like the religious lyrics in Imagine did), but I've personally seen more universal impact from Imagine than I have from MITM. Just the fact that whenever something like this happens, I more often see crowds singing Imagine than Man in the Mirror (and I do not mean to compete MJ vs JL, like I said in my original post, I'm just glad they're singing a song about peace and unity. It's
not a competition and I am not ignoring the global popularity of MITM because it is a very popular song in Michael's catalogue).
I'm not going to ignore the controversy it has though, of course there's these communist/socialist utopia tones you mention, the anti-religious tones that have upset people and the fact that some people just downright don't like the song (but that's art for ya). Different strokes for different folks ya know
