An Anthem Is Born

Picture this...

The year is 1971. The place --- Ascot in England.

Early in the morning, a legendary musician sits down at a white grand piano in his bedroom, and pens the lyrics of a new song --- at one go… effortlessly. He then proceeds to compose the melody and completes it in a single sitting.

His wife (Yoko) later said that the song was already inside him, just waiting to come out.

The legend referred to is the late John Lennon, and the song is, of course, Imagine, arguably the best song ever written by him --- a point personally acknowledged by Lennon himself. However, he never intended it to become an anthem. To him, it was a simple song --- 21 lines written in simple everyday English, expressing a simple idea: that we are one country… one world… one people. The divisions within us are caused by narrow concepts like money, politics and religion.

In his imagination, Lennon even had a name for this country — he called it Nutopia. His Dakota residence had a plaque proclaiming it to be the Nutopian Embassy. Created in 1973, Nutopia, according to Lennon, had no land, no boundaries and no passports. The Nutopian National Anthem appears on Lennon’s album titled Mind Games; the track consists of a stretch of silence!

There are, however, some critics who feel that Lennon was just having a laugh. And they may well have a point there. After all, Lennon created Nutopia on April Fool’s Day!

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