On June 14, 2017, Yoko Ono received the Centennial Award for Song of the Century. The award was given to her by the National Music Publishers Association. With the award, Ono’s name was officially added to the credits of the song that actually won the award. That song is “Imagine”, written and recorded by her late husband, John Lennon.
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Yoko Ono receiving the honor of having her name added to “Imagine” might have seemed like a bit of an insult to some. There are plenty of people out there who still believe that Yoko Ono broke up The Beatles, after all. That notion just not rooted in reality. Just as well, John Lennon himself said that Yoko Ono’s previous work had inspired the lyrics of “Imagine”. Honestly, from the start, she should have received a co-writing credit. And that’s something John Lennon echoed on several occasions before his death.
Why Yoko Ono’s Name Was Added to the Credits of John Lennon’s Famed Song, “Imagine”
After the award was given to Ono, her son Sean Lennon took to Instagram to celebrate.
“They played an audio interview of my father saying (approximately) ‘’Imagine’ should’ve been credited as a Lennon/Ono song, if it had been anyone other than my wife I would’ve given them credit,’” said Sean Lennon. “Cut to: my mother welling up in tears.”
The quote that Sean mentioned comes from a 1980 interview with Andy Peebles for BBC Radio.
“Actually, that should be credited as a Lennon-Ono song because a lot of it – the lyric and the concept – came from Yoko. But those days, I was a bit more selfish, a bit more macho, and I sort of omitted to mention her contribution. But it was right out of ‘Grapefruit’, her book. There’s a whole pile of pieces about ‘imagine this’ and ‘imagine that.’ And give her credit now, long overdue.”
If that’s not clear enough, Lennon also mentioned Ono’s influence on “Imagine” in an interview with David Sheff for Playboy Magazine that same year.
“‘Imagine’ was inspired by Yoko’s ‘Grapefruit’,” said Lennon. “If you look, if you get a copy of ‘Grapefruit’ and you look through, you’ll see where I was influenced by her. And I know she helped on a lot of the lyrics, but I wasn’t man enough to let her have credit for it, so that song was actually written by John and Yoko.”
That’s proof enough for me.
Photo by Koh Hasebe/Shinko Music/Getty Images
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