Lennon's Peaceful Diction

"Give Peace A Chance" & "Imagine"

Musician and icon, John Lennon started his career as a member of the prolific and popular band, the Beatles. After countless years and some artistical disagreements, Lennon took his own path and began a solo career that attracted new and old fans alike. His music took on a universal word: Peace. He promoted the ideas of anti-violence. If all his songs were surrounded with this central theme, then how was it possible for listeners not to become bored with the repeated message? Lennon explored unique and different styles of expressing his dreams. He took on a piano, soft rock ballad, "Imagine", and protesting rock chant with his song "Give Peace A Chance". With these differing styles, Lennon reinvented his message, explored new paths, and attracted a large audience of listners.

When listeners hear "Give Peace A Chance", they are reminded of the up-beat Beatles' songs that topped countless charts. With a blend of multiple voices and instruments, the song creates an image of peaceful protesters. The rhythm makes it a fun, enjoyable, lighter song. Throughout the song, Lennon makes continuous allusions; everything from himself to "ministers" to "revolution" to "Bobby Dylan" is mentioned throughout the song. "Give Peace A Chance" is addressed to war-supportive groups, and most likely government officials. With the line "All we are saying is give peace a chance", the song is directing its message to these officials, and the speaker is not only John Lennon, but the citizens who are being negatively affected by the violence. The song is a simple set of verses, each ending with the line "give peace a chance", which gives it the sound of a chant.

"Imagine" is an incredibly different approach to peace. In contrast to "Give Peace A Chance", "Imagine" has only a piano and precussion and Lennon sings the song by himself. Although Lennon does not have a big belting voice, the song can be considered more of a ballad, and similar to the Beatles's "Let It Be". His voice is noticeably calmer and addresses a general auidence. The song contains no illusions but asks listeners to "imagine" a world without violence. He says, "you may say I'm a dreamer", which shows that he is the speaker of the lyrics, rather than a whole group of people. He is also not addressing a single person or group, but a general auidence. With the lyrics, the auidence are allowed to view Lennon's hopes for the world, in comparison to the first song, which does not really ellaborate on this.

The messgae John Lennon wants to send is present in both songs but his approach is different. Where "Imagine" sounds more serious, "Give Peace A Chance" comes off as more protesting and light-hearted. "Imagine" tries to create an image to relate to listeners and "Give Peace A Chance" tries to relate with allusions. Both approaches are effective and do not shove Lennon's dream of peace into listeners. The two songs demonstrate that John Lennon is not a one-sided artist and can successfully experiment with two contrasting sounds and diction.