Lennon’s Imagine vs Yoko’s Walking on Thin Ice

This could be "Imagine" vs an elephant tap-dancing on my balls and Lennon would still lose.

I've never actually heard Walking on Thin Ice but there's no way Imagine's gonna win this

Googled for their most popular songs and these are it. Walking On Thin Ice is Yoko's most popular song... probably her catchiest too and it's a really good, odd slice of no wave disco. It's worth the listen.

It's supposed to be the last song Lennon worked on, too and legend has it he was obsessed with it and played it several times a day. Supposedly he got shot the same day he was re-recording a guitar part because he was not happy with it.

I've always hated Imagine, even as a child with a Beatle-maniac father that song bored me to tears. Hope Yoko wins this one.

Imagine is in my top 5 songs ever

Yup

I love both these songs and think WOTI has John's maybe best ever guitar work but uh, Imagine. Even though this is ILM.

'Walking On Thin Ice' because it's not 'Imagine'.

"Supposedly he got shot the same day he was re-recording a guitar part because he was not happy with it." this isn't 'supposedly', it is a fact that this is the recording session he was returning home from when he was murdered.

Thin Ice obv, Imagine is treacly although it's good. I think Lennon's best solo song is 'watching the wheels' personally.

I think it's interesting that Imagine was kind of a redo of "I'll Get You" which was not treacly nor was it very nice.

Performed by Yoko Ono (vocals), John Lennon (guitar, keyboards), Hugh McCracken (rhythm guitar), Earl Slick (rhythm guitar), Tony Levin (bass), Andrew Newmark (drums), Jack Douglas (percussion)
vs.
Lennon on piano and vocal, Klaus Voormann on bass guitar, Alan White on drums and the Flux Fiddlers on strings.

respect to Klaus Voorman but Yoko has assembled a squad of killers there

Lennon's solo on "Thin Ice" is one of his best things imo.

It is, and a vision of the future we didn't get..

Haven't heard walking on thin ice

Voted imagine

There's a number of diff versions of "Walking on Thin Ice" on youtube. Which is the one that best represents the original intention, not a later remix? There are two '1981 re-edits' but one is longer, and sounds a bit smoothed out to me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VS5p345HBIM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XzV7FiuDYKo

Didn’t listen to it full but sounds like the second link you got there is the original one.

Btw, as Alfred mentioned, Approximately Infinite Universe is a fucking masterpiece, back to back.

both of the above youtubes are unofficial edits

sound quality isn't great on this one but at least it's the proper recording:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ft7-xEiwvJw

I think it's interesting that Imagine was kind of a redo of "I'll Get You" which was not treacly nor was it very nice.

― akm, Sunday, November 19, 2017 9:27 AM (ten hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I don't hear this at all, besides the use of the word "imagine."

Fiy Flappy, not to abandon this sip, but fuck Lennon and head thee towards this. It will change your life, Garden State style and then some.

I don't hear this at all, besides the use of the word "imagine."

And "it's easy..."

The piano introduction is plausibly inspired by the 'oh yeah, oh yeah' rise and fall too.

ha thanks for the tip, Hood is a band I always meant to get around to but never did. will do some digging. is there a good record to start with? xp

Btw thanks dyl! That's what I was looking for.

You need to Flappy! Cold House is prob the best starter (of the electronic era), Rustic Houses tho..

Carry on Lennon Yoko folk. As if it matters.

This is absolutely "Imagine", one of the greatest and strangest pop hits ever, but agree that AIU is a classic

How is Imagine a weird pop hit? Not being facetious. Like if you say O Superman is one of the weirdest pop hits ever that makes instant sense for me but Imagine sounds like a standard, straightforward piano ballad.

how is one of the most omnipresent/evergreen hits of its decade simultaneously among the 'strangest pop hits ever'?

You guys are hilarious. Lyricallt it's almost without precedent for a top 10 hit

It's also (clearly, still) quite unusual in its divisiveness

Oh you mean lyrically! Yeah I can agree with that.

The juxtaposition of archetypal, minimalist pop structure w disconcertingly political, direct, even offensive lyrics is at the heart of its genius. This is the same kind of thing i enjoy from, say, Steely Dan, this kind of deliberate marriage of contradictions (smoothness belying cynicism etc.)

hmm, let's see - schlocky ballad that was the go-to of the boomer high school teachers on the level of eric clapton's tears in heaven vs. a song that doesn't have this demarcation.....yoko obvs

"Imagine" is perfect in almost every way, but I think the bulk of its power comes from the contrast between the naive, almost pathetically innocent melody & playing, and the earnest, desperate plea for people to just fucking imagine a world that we know will never be possible. It's a song that reliably brings me to tears. The cynicism that Shakey speaks of is right up front, but it's not the bile spewing of Plastic Ono Band or most of the other songs on the Imagine LP... it's the anger of a child, really. Anger at people and at a world that could live together in harmony but never will. I understand that it's powerful if it works for you and schlocky if it doesn't, it's a thin line, but "Imagine" endures for me. a humanist hymn that isn't coded or ironic at all- its popularity is a testament & tacit acknowledgment of its premise, that we all yearn for the world it describes.

hmm, let's see - schlocky ballad that was the go-to of the boomer high school teachers on the level of eric clapton's tears in heaven vs. a song that doesn't have this demarcation.....yoko obvs

― Week of Wonders (Ross),

and, like with "Every Breath You Take" and "The One I Love," everyone missed the point.

Can't remember Walking on Thin Ice, can remember Imagine, voted Walking on Thin Ice.

pet shop boys did a good remix of WOTI for their Disco 4 album.

one of two done for a 2003 "ONO" single, later collected on Disco 4

"Imagine" possibly the most over-hated song.

Still, I always loved "Walking on thin ice"

Voted for the one that got covered by Elvis Costello, and Fuzzbox.

and, like with "Every Breath You Take" and "The One I Love," everyone missed the point.

not convinced of this

it is interesting how polarizing this song is, especially here where I would suspect a lot of ilxors are sympathetic to its politics, but hate the messenger and the method of delivery

I like the Costello version best

Wow I didn't realise Fuzzbox covered Walking On Thin Ice! My sister had that album, but I don't remember the cover song and I certainly hadn't heard the original when I was a teenager.

there should probably be a thread for quality covers of Yoko Ono songs cuz there are a lot (probably more than there are quality covers of solo John Lennon songs)

I like the Costello version best

― you had better come correct (Ye Mad Puffin)

produced by Allen Toussaint!

oh hello

yoko ono/ yoko ono covers S&D

Nilsson's last single was two Yoko covers

"Imagine" possibly the most over-hated song.

It's better than "All You Need Is Love".

"What would you suggest I do? Give everything away and walk the streets?" - John Lennon, 1980.

Xpost AYNIL isn't hated as much as I.

both classics, of course
my only thing against thin ice is that it sticks around a little too long without introducing anything new to keep things interesting.

I wouldnt even put WoTI in a Yoko top 10 tbh. It's good though.

I'm assuming you wouldn't put Imagine in a Lennon top 10.

I absolutely would, sorry

it's true that Lennon has become the go-to "well didn't you know he was a wife beater/horrible person?" for some reason. said by the same people that just put a Lindsey Buckingham song on at the party

tfw ur at a party in real life

Hahaha it’s been years since I overheard Imagine in any setting. It seems earthquakes and narco executions aren’t tragic enough for people to grab hands and Imagine.

So when did you (over)hear it?

"Imagine" has nothing to do with natural disasters or tragedies. The song is a prayer for humanity to live as one, to stop hurting each other. not that hard to understand

tfw ur at a party in real life

― sonnet by a wite kid, "On Æolian Grief" (wins), Monday, November 27, 2017 2:37 PM (four minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

don't get what you're trying to say

darraghmac, Nancy was a singer, yes. However, it's fair to say that I doubt she had much trouble getting a record deal with a label founded by her father. No dis on Nancy, just a fact that is fair game in a discussion of how hard it must have been for Ms. Ono to find an outlet for her music.

Some time ago the radio program "My Word"* included a category of "unlikely book titles," and one of the unlikely book titles was "My Struggle, by Martin Amis."

(Old-fogey zing!)

don't get what you're trying to say

Just a joke cause your commonly encountered scenario of being at a party where ppl play Lindsay Buckingham then give you shit at the party about lennon's wife-beating cause you stuck on "imagine" at the party does not really match any party experience I've ever had

lol ,my dude that is not the scenario i was describing. i've had the "didja know he was a horrible person??" conversation with many people (that they initiated) who never bring up or don't know about the loads of awful shit most rockstars that they rep did as well. Fleetwood Mac being the most egregious example, if only because this decade The Beatles are out & Fmac are in, and the conversation is just so boring and again rendered meaningless

I've never put on "Imagine" at a party, i'm not that big of an asshole

again what parties are these where ppl are just opening with "john Lennon beat his wife"

casual Beatles v. Stones convo

YOU AND I HAVE VERY DIFFERENT EXPERIENCES OF WHAT A "PARTY" IS

is the essence of the quip

I can't help you any more dude

highly driven, attention-seeking global celebrities (and politicians) are often horrible people, film at eleven

this "how could a person not like Imagine? only if they are misrepresenting it to themselves, the song itself is obviously beyond reproach" vibe kinda neatly encapsulates why every time I hear the fuckin beatles I break out in hives

TESTIFY

lol JCLC did u even read this thread, if anyone's making unsupported claims to greatness it's the Yoko contingent

I tried to break down why I think it's a great song, the only person to go into any detail as to why they *don't* think it's a great song is Euler

nice feint there, I didn't say anything about unsupported claims, I said "people who act like it's literally impossible to understand 'Imagine' and dislike it are responsible for hives in this world"

*imagines you some fresh hives*

I suspect why ppl don't like "Imagine", but I wasn't just gonna air my assumptions/resort to strawmen/argue in bad faith

this "how could a person not like Imagine? only if they are misrepresenting it to themselves, the song itself is obviously beyond reproach" vibe kinda neatly encapsulates why every time I hear the fuckin beatles I break out in hives

― she carries a torch. two torches, actually (Joan Crawford Loves Chachi), Monday, 27 November 2017 20:36 (twenty-four minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

TESTIFY

― Big Pred aka (Noodle Vague), Monday, 27 November 2017 20:40 (twenty minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Lads how long have ye been waiting for what wasn't ever said itt to have been said before ye just pretended it had been said itt anyway and posted what ye wanted to say itt

nice feint there, I didn't say anything about unsupported claims, I said "people who act like it's literally impossible to understand 'Imagine' and dislike it are responsible for hives in this world"

It is but conversely it's not as annoying as ppl who pretend they arent

COME @ ME

lol dmac

I like the song "Imagine." Though I'm on record as saying I find its sentiment a trifle dippy, that's not fatal. I love a whole fuckton of songs that are a lot dippier.

TBH, I believe it's well-written (though overexposed). My problems with it stem from the disingenuously lazy vocal style, the faux-naïve piano part, and the deliberately underbaked recording. This and "Watching the Wheels" and a lot of the Shaved Fish material have an air of contempt-for-one's-audience that I find offputting.

My problems with it stem from the disingenuously lazy vocal style, the faux-naïve piano part, and the deliberately underbaked recording.

I don't hear any of these things, but ok

/My problems with it stem from the disingenuously lazy vocal style, the faux-naïve piano part, and the deliberately underbaked recording./

I don't hear any of these things, but ok

yeah idk the piano sound is p interesting to me, starts off kinda underwater-y and then snaps into focus with the panning shift when the vocal comes in

Just for yuks, here's my top 10 yoko jamz

1. What a Bastard the World Is
2. Mind Train
3. Listen the Snow is Falling
4. Don't Worry Kyoko (Mummy's Only Looking for Her Hand in the Snow)
5. Kiss Kiss Kiss
6. Mrs. Lennon
7. Why
8. Yang Yang
9. Sisters, O Sisters
10. I Felt Like Smashing My Face in a Clear Glass Window

I'm happy to 'imagine' you made all that up tbh

is it possible that I am the only person on this thread who is an actual fan of both Mr. and Mrs. Lennon cuz if so that is sad

shakey we stand side-by-side at long last

hail fellow, well met

Mark s consider therefore the ground man

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/33/Pachelbel_Canon_bass_line_%28quarter_notes%29.svg/2000px-Pachelbel_Canon_bass_line_%28quarter_notes%29.svg.png

yea i love them both

lord imagine this thread if there were no Mark David Chapman

It isn't hard to do

Ah god why

is it possible that I am the only person on this thread who is an actual fan of both Mr. and Mrs. Lennon cuz if so that is sad

― Οὖτις, Monday, 27 November 2017 17:38 (yesterday)Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

shakey we stand side-by-side at long last

― mark s, Monday, 27 November 2017 17:39 (yesterday)Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

All of which is fine - I doubt Natalie Cole, Sean Lennon, Julian Lennon, Jakob Dylan, or Nancy Sinatra had to struggle much to get record deals (playing in clubs, touring in a smelly van, etc.).

Sean toured in a smelly van as Cibo Matto's bassist tbf

I'm a yoko fan. nice top 10 list, but I'd put death of samantha at the top.

shakey otm itt

yeah Death of Samantha is v good. AIU is an underrated record imo, the point where she seems to start to "get" pop writing and arrangements

'Sisters, O Sisters' rules - anyone who says that Yoko couldn't write hooky, catchy as fuck songs should hear it. Could have been a big hit if Yoko had a voice that was more palatable to the masses.

that is a great yoko top ten

Covered by Sultans of Ping!