Above us only sky
When will I learn. When it's time to head over the mountains again I can never get any sleep. Tomorrow's the day; Only this time I'll make my second ever Oslo-Bergen trip by car, not train. Tiny and Morten have graciously offered to act as chauffeurs. Hopefully it'll be a little easier on Linni too.
So anyway, random insomnia thoughts: 'Imagine' by John Lennon.
I remember the first time I ever heard that song. It wasn't Lennon singing, it wasn't even a recording: It was my elderly mild-mannered fervently-religious Norwegian/Music/Religion teacher in fifth grade. She was also a very talented pianist, and she would sing and play us every song she'd decided we needed to learn. 'Imagine' being one of them. So the second time I ever heard that song, it was sung by twenty-something shrill children's voices, including my own. And I really couldn't stand that song.
But as I got older I learned to appreciate it a lot more, though I still vastly prefer Lennon's original version to all the countless cover versions I've been subjected to at summits, talent competitions, school ceremonies... But every time I do have to sit through some bright-eyed children's choir or nasal folk-rock artist whining their way through it, I've started to wonder more and more...
...Do they realize that there's a message in the text? Beyond the "Wouldn't peace be neat" all-around vanilla hippie sentiment? I realize when you hear a set of words a sufficient number of times they seem to lose all meaning, and many songs can be interpreted in a lot of ways, but 'Imagine' seems to offer some pretty clear, and radical, ideas. As far as pop songs go.
I mean, did my very religious teacher in fifth grade truly support a sentiment like,
Imagine there's no Heaven, it's easy if you try
No Hell below us, above us only sky
[...]
Nothing to kill or die for, and no religion too
That doesn't go "And none of those heathen religions they practice in those godless furrin countries", that's "NO religion". Christianity isn't excempt here, buddy.
But the song goes on, you know - "Imagine there's no countries". No borders, no chest-pounding patriotism or nationalism, no international us-them. No countries. These days that line always reminds me of one of the countless debates about Israel I overheard at the Academy, when one teacher meekly suggested it was time to reevaluate or even redefine what borders and countries could be and not be; Such as, why couldn't one area of land be two countries at once?
And more:
Imagine no possessions, it's easy if you can
No greed or hunger, a brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people sharing all the world
Yeah, that's some fairly radical stuff. Yes, that goes "No possessions", a society that shares its goods among its people. Sure, "communism" isn't nearly the type of taboo word here like it seems to be in America (I'm well acquainted with a number of self-proclaimed communists), but... yes, that's kind of what we're talking about here. Communism.
So you got this song - which is often brought up at occasions where they want the choice of music to reflect what concerned, world-changing people they want to be in the most mainstream possible way, and they strum their guitar and turn their big wet eyes to the audience as they try to do the coda with the right kind of trembling voice;
You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one
...And I think to myself, "I wonder if you "dreamer" took a moment to reflect on what dream society you want the square audience to participate in."
I'm really sleepy and I'm fairly certain I come across as a really obnoxious besserwisser about this, I'm sorry. Let me just state for the record that misinterpreted songs is one of my biggest pet peeves (like people who think Springsteen's 'Born in the USA' is a patriotic cheer, or that The Police's 'Every Breath You Take' is super romantic and not some kind of stalker anthem). Sure, pop songs are pop songs, but when it comes to 'Imagine' I see a trend where people cover it to give the impression of being very socially conscious and radical when everything else about them shows they are anything but.
[And I didn't mean to let any of this reflect badly on my Norwegian/Music/Religion teacher, because she was awesome.]
So anyway, random insomnia thoughts: 'Imagine' by John Lennon.
I remember the first time I ever heard that song. It wasn't Lennon singing, it wasn't even a recording: It was my elderly mild-mannered fervently-religious Norwegian/Music/Religion teacher in fifth grade. She was also a very talented pianist, and she would sing and play us every song she'd decided we needed to learn. 'Imagine' being one of them. So the second time I ever heard that song, it was sung by twenty-something shrill children's voices, including my own. And I really couldn't stand that song.
But as I got older I learned to appreciate it a lot more, though I still vastly prefer Lennon's original version to all the countless cover versions I've been subjected to at summits, talent competitions, school ceremonies... But every time I do have to sit through some bright-eyed children's choir or nasal folk-rock artist whining their way through it, I've started to wonder more and more...
...Do they realize that there's a message in the text? Beyond the "Wouldn't peace be neat" all-around vanilla hippie sentiment? I realize when you hear a set of words a sufficient number of times they seem to lose all meaning, and many songs can be interpreted in a lot of ways, but 'Imagine' seems to offer some pretty clear, and radical, ideas. As far as pop songs go.
I mean, did my very religious teacher in fifth grade truly support a sentiment like,
Imagine there's no Heaven, it's easy if you try
No Hell below us, above us only sky
[...]
Nothing to kill or die for, and no religion too
That doesn't go "And none of those heathen religions they practice in those godless furrin countries", that's "NO religion". Christianity isn't excempt here, buddy.
But the song goes on, you know - "Imagine there's no countries". No borders, no chest-pounding patriotism or nationalism, no international us-them. No countries. These days that line always reminds me of one of the countless debates about Israel I overheard at the Academy, when one teacher meekly suggested it was time to reevaluate or even redefine what borders and countries could be and not be; Such as, why couldn't one area of land be two countries at once?
And more:
Imagine no possessions, it's easy if you can
No greed or hunger, a brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people sharing all the world
Yeah, that's some fairly radical stuff. Yes, that goes "No possessions", a society that shares its goods among its people. Sure, "communism" isn't nearly the type of taboo word here like it seems to be in America (I'm well acquainted with a number of self-proclaimed communists), but... yes, that's kind of what we're talking about here. Communism.
So you got this song - which is often brought up at occasions where they want the choice of music to reflect what concerned, world-changing people they want to be in the most mainstream possible way, and they strum their guitar and turn their big wet eyes to the audience as they try to do the coda with the right kind of trembling voice;
You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one
...And I think to myself, "I wonder if you "dreamer" took a moment to reflect on what dream society you want the square audience to participate in."
I'm really sleepy and I'm fairly certain I come across as a really obnoxious besserwisser about this, I'm sorry. Let me just state for the record that misinterpreted songs is one of my biggest pet peeves (like people who think Springsteen's 'Born in the USA' is a patriotic cheer, or that The Police's 'Every Breath You Take' is super romantic and not some kind of stalker anthem). Sure, pop songs are pop songs, but when it comes to 'Imagine' I see a trend where people cover it to give the impression of being very socially conscious and radical when everything else about them shows they are anything but.
[And I didn't mean to let any of this reflect badly on my Norwegian/Music/Religion teacher, because she was awesome.]