The late president noted the impact and influence of the song, which denounces war, nationalism and the excesses of capitalism.
The body of the late former United States President James Earl Carter Jr. is taken from the United States Capitol after lying in state in the Capitol Rotunda on January 9, 2025 in Washington, DC.
(Jahi Chikwendiu/The Washington Post)
No American president or post-president thought more deeply about the causes of war and the prospects for peace than Jimmy Carter. So it should come as no surprise that the most compelling musical performance at the 39th president’s funeral on Thursday was a quiet, radical challenge to militarism, nationalism, capitalism and the exploitation of religious differences for political purposes.
When country stars Garth Brooks and Tricia Yearwood sang “Imagine” by John Lennon and Yoko Wang to a great collection of domestic and international leaders who gathered to honor Carter at the National Capitol on Thursday, the recitation of the texts touched on the hope for a world without war that inspired and inspired Carter during his presidency and for the next 44 years.
The rich tapestry of religious and secular music and soaring rhetoric at the funeral service underscored Carter’s prophetic legacy as a uniquely committed leader who, in the moving words of former US Ambassador to the United Nations Andrew Young, dedicated his public service to seeking “peace on earth and goodwill toward all men, especially women and children”. He noted the former president’s commitment to diplomacy — from his work in the White House as an architect of the 1978 Camp David Accords between Israel and Egypt to his final years as an outspoken advocate for justice for the Palestinian people — along with his belief in the possibility of a world where swords can to reforge into plowshares. Lennon shared this yearning, and he expressed it in the title track of his second solo album. The former Beatles and anti-war campaigner pleaded that the world, then torn by conflicts that stretched from Vietnam and Cambodia to India and Pakistan to southern Africa, Northern Ireland and the Middle East, could “imagine that all people live in peace . “
Carter has spoken about his passion for the song more than once. He was delighted that “Imagine” had become a truly international anthem. “(In) many countries around the world — my wife and I have visited about 125 countries — you hear John Lennon’s ‘Imagine’ being used almost as often as national anthems,” the former president said. said in a 2006 NPR interview. “So John Lennon had a big impact on some developing countries in the world.”
When asked by the Associated Press about his favorite Beatles song when he was participation in the Toronto International Film Festival in 2007 for Jonathan Demme’s documentary debut, Jimmy Carter Plainsmanat the time of the premiere Through the universea film set to music by Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr, Carter once again recalled Lennon’s majestic solo.
“My favorite is ‘Imagine.’ When I go to a foreign country, Cuba and other places, in some of these countries “Imagine” has become the (unofficial) national anthem. If you go to Havana, for example, you’ll see a statue of John Lennon.” he saidreferring to the John Lennon memorial in a Havana park. “Whenever we go to a folk show, a symphony concert, or American contemporary music, they always play ‘Imagine,’ and it’s one of my personal favorites. If you listen carefully to the text, you will see that it is against religion, against national borders, against nationalism, against chauvinism, but the impact it has on people is profound.”
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Carter was not alone in his nuanced understanding of the song, which Lennon said was inspired and influenced by That’s ithis wife and musical partner. (In 2017, based on an interview the former Beatle gave before his death in 1980, Ono was credited as a co-writer on the track.) Rolling Stone once described Imagine as “Lennon’s greatest musical gift to the world”, while David Frick, one of the magazine’s most astute writers, is observed“‘Imagine’ is a subtly controversial song, Lennon’s greatest joint achievement as balladeer and campaigner.”
The song’s politics have caused much controversy over the years, especially for the lyrics, which invite listeners to: “Imagine there’s no heaven/It’s easy if you try/There’s no hell below us/There’s only the sky above us/Imagine all the people/Living today afternoon” and “Imagine that there are no countries / It’s not hard to do / There’s nothing to kill or die for / And there’s no religion either.”
Despite the worldwide resonance of the song for many years, social networks were messages on Thursday that criticized the inclusion of “Imagine” at Carter’s funeral. Critics suggested it was an inappropriate choice to celebrate the life of such an ardent evangelical Christian. Lennon acknowledged these concerns during his lifetime as a Beatles writer and historian. – noted Kenneth Womackwhen in 2023 The US Library of Congress has added the song “Imagine” to its National Recording Registry. “Lennon also quoted from a Christian prayer book as part of the song’s momentum”, Womack wrote. “In June 1969, comedian and civil rights activist Dick Gregory presented him with a book. As Lennon later explained to Chef (interviewed by David), the book gave him a key concept about the nature of “positive prayer” that underpinned the composition of “Imagine”. “If you can imagine a peaceful world without denomination—not without religion, but without that ‘my-God-is-bigger-than-your-God’ thing—then that might be true.”
Carter, a progressive evangelical who spoke about how he strove “applying my Christian faith much more regularly to my secular life,” was well aware of the song’s message and of Lennon’s influence as a musician and political activist.
Along with Ono, the former Beatle attended Carter’s 1977 inauguration. When Lennon was assassinated in New York in December 1980, the Georgian, who was ending his only term as president, mourned the news and continued to the White House. statement who noted: “It is particularly unfortunate that John Lennon died in a violent act, although he had long advocated peace.”
In his later years, Carter praised Imagine. When Georgia Tech students surprised Carter and former First Lady Rosalyn Carter performance of the song in 2017, the former president rose to his feet and broke the applause. At Rosalyn Carter’s funeral in 2023, Brooks and Yearwood, who worked with the Carters on Habitat for Humanity projects– performed “Imagine”.
The choice of songs at both funerals reflected that musical tastes The Carters and their families — along with the messages they hoped to convey.
Jimmy Carter was, his grandson Jason Carter said at Thursday’s memorial, a practical idealist who “made peace with love and respect” and who preached “The power of human rights… is not just for some people, but for all people.” He was also a fan of the power of music, appreciating the global reach and impact of the song, which ended with the words: “You may say I’m a dreamer/But I’m not the only one/I hope that someday you’ll join us/And the world will live as one”.
