"Imagine there's no heaven, it's easy if you try, no hell below us, above us only sky..." In the rain, a French singer slowly sang this classic song with piano accompaniment.
In the early morning of the 27th, Beijing time, at the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympic Games, John Lennon's 1971 work "Imagine" once again resounded on both sides of the Seine River.
French singer Almané sang "Imagine" at the opening ceremony
This song has been sung at the opening and closing ceremonies of many Olympic Games. This song from more than fifty years ago was sung again at the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics. This expresses the idea of the Olympic Games: away from war, people live together in harmony and equality. The International Olympic Committee also hopes to express the world's desire for unity and peaceful development through this song.
"Imagine" is a song sung by John Lennon. The lyrics and music were composed by John Lennon and Yoko Ono. It was released as a single in October 1971 and was later included in his album of the same name "imagine".
In 1971, John Lennon and his wife Yoko Ono lived in a villa in the British countryside. One morning at the beginning of the year, Lennon got up and wrote some of the lyrics to "Imagine", and the music part was written on the white piano at his house. Later, during a flight, Lennon made several more changes and wrote the final complete lyrics on a note at the New York Hilton Hotel.
"Imagine" was John Lennon's best-selling solo song of his entire career. In 1999, the song was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. In 2021, the song was named one of the "500 Greatest Songs of All Time" by Rolling Stone magazine, ranking 19th.
At the closing ceremony of the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, the famous blind American singer Stevie Wonder sang "Imagine", which moved the audience. This was also the first time this song appeared at the Olympics. Since then, this song has almost become a repertoire of the Olympic Games. It has been used in the opening ceremony of the 2006 Turin Winter Olympics, the closing ceremony of the 2012 London Olympics, the opening ceremony of the 2016 Rio Olympics, the opening ceremony of the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics, and the opening ceremony of the 2020 PyeongChang Winter Olympics. This song was sung at the opening ceremony of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.
Red Star News reporter Qiu Junfeng
editor Bao Chengli
