Everybody knows John Lennon’s hippy dippy “Imagine,” his 1971 plea for peace, love, and other woo woo stuff. Musically, it quite a space song, piano based, with crony Klaus Voormann on bass, future Yes drummer Alan White, and string overdubs. Its influence is monumental; check out its Wikipedia page to learn about all that.
It began with “quarters on the piano,” as Steve Perry called them, when speaking to Dan Rather in “The Big Interview.” But there were older songs that started that way: “Penny Lane” by The Beatles, and “One” by Three Dog Night, among others.
Before “Imagine”
The Beatles – “Sexy Sade” (1968)
A John Lennon composition, “Sexy Sadie” was a swipe at the Maharishi, the TM guru that The Beatles (and other rock stars of the era) studied with (speaking of woo woo stuff). Like “Imagine,” it starts out with the piano, but unlike “Imagine,” it becomes far rockier (and nastier). “Sexy Sadie” is considered one of the highlights of The Beatles (a.k.a. The White Album).
After “Imagine”
Oasis – “Don’t Look Back in Anger” (1995)
It took a band of Beatles fanboys to come up with a song resembling “Image” – twenty four years later! Opening with a similar piano sound, “Don’t Look Back in Anger” manages to take the influence of it, but make it rock harder with guitars and a bigger sound. Some of the lyrics reflect John Lennon quotes: “So I start a revolution from my bed, ‘cause you said the brains I had went to my head” are both paraphrases of Lennon statements.
The song has been names as one of the greatest rock songs of all time on many lists.
And Finally…
Jet – “Look What You’ve Done” (2003)
Jet – an Australian band who dropped its hard rocking debut, Get Born in 2003, was the “it” band for a few moments. Songs like “Are You Going to be My Girl” and “Rollover DJ” were radio hits, and the band looked like it was headed for big things. But the most interesting track was “Look What You’ve Done, a song that somehow managed to sound like “Sexy Sadie,” “Imagine,” and “Don’t Look Back in Anger” all at the same time.