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Everything To Know About "Imagine" at The Paris 2024 Olympics Opening Ceremony
The 1971 John Lennon song "Imagine" has become an unofficial way to open the Olympics, despite its lyrics.
The official Olympic Games theme music may not have lyrics, but if there were to be a song with words that often gets associated with the event, it might unofficially be John Lennon's "Imagine."
Stevie Wonder first sang "Imagine" at the closing ceremonies of the 1996 Games in Atlanta, Georgia, according to Vanity Fair. A decade later, Peter Gabriel followed suit during the opening ceremonies of the 2006 Games in Turin, Italy.
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John Lennon himself performed "Imagine" — via a remastered video, accompanied by a choir from his hometown of Liverpool — at the 2012 games in London. South Korean artists Ha Hyun-woo of Guckkasten, Ahn Ji-young of K-pop duo Bolbbalgan4, Jeon In-Kwon of Deulgukhwa, and solo artist Lee Eun-mi took turns singing the verses at the 2018 Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea. The Voice Coach John Legend — along with Angélique Kidjo, Keith Urban, and Alejandro Sanz — performed it via a recording at the 2020 Games in Tokyo. It came back again in 2022 in Beijing, albeit in another, anonymous recording rather than a live show.
It was also performed on Friday in Paris.
Who sang "Imagine" during the Paris 2024 Olympics Opening Ceremony?
French singer-songwriter Juliette Armanet sang the 1971 hit during the 2024 Paris Olympics Opening Ceremony, accompanied by Frnehc musician Sofiane Pamart on piano.
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What does John Lennon's "Imagine" mean?
Released in 1971, the song is a plea for peace, calling for an end to divisions among mankind by letting go of country, nationality, religion, war, and personal possessions in favor of "living for today" in harmony.
It's one of Lennon's most popular and best-known songs from his post-Beatles career, and one of the more radical ones.
In a September 1980 interview with Playboy, Lennon said of the tune, "It's not a new message: 'Give Peace a Chance' — we're not being unreasonable, just saying, 'Give it a chance...Can you imagine a world without countries or religions?' It's the same message over and over. And it's positive."
After Lennon was murdered just two months later, the song took on an especially poignant meaning, and the word "imagine" is written in tile in Strawberry Fields in Central Park, New York.
Why is Yoko Ono now credited as a songwriter on "Imagine"?
Though recorded by Lennon and typically attributed to him, his wife Yoko Ono was formally added as a songwriter in the credits in 2017, per the BBC.
“There’s a lot of pieces in [Ono's book Grapefruit] saying like ‘imagine this’ or ‘imagine that’,” Lennon said after the song came out, according to the article. “'Imagine' could never have been written without 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, but I was still selfish enough and unaware enough to take her contribution without acknowledging it," he added. "The song itself expresses what I’d learned through being with Yoko and my own feelings on it. It should really have said ‘Lennon/Ono’ on that song, because she contributed to a lot of that song.”
