<P> With the combined influence of "Cloud Piece" and the prayer book given to him by Gregory, Lennon wrote what author John Blaney described as "a humanistic paean for the people". Blaney wrote, "Lennon contends that global harmony is within our reach, but only if we reject the mechanisms of social control that restrict human potential ." In the opinion of Blaney, with "Imagine", Lennon attempted to raise people's awareness of their interaction with the institutions that affect their lives . Rolling Stone's David Fricke commented: "(Lennon) calls for a unity and equality built upon the complete elimination of modern social order: geopolitical borders, organised religion, (and) economic class ." </P> <P> Lennon stated: "' Imagine', which says:' Imagine that there was no more religion, no more country, no more politics,' is virtually the Communist manifesto, even though I'm not particularly a Communist and I do not belong to any movement ." He told NME: "There is no real Communist state in the world; you must realize that . The Socialism I speak about...(is) not the way some daft Russian might do it, or the Chinese might do it . That might suit them . Us, we should have a nice...British Socialism ." Ono described the lyrical statement of "Imagine" as "just what John believed: that we are all one country, one world, one people ." Rolling Stone described its lyrics as "22 lines of graceful, plain - spoken faith in the power of a world, united in purpose, to repair and change itself". Some observers have described the song has having a distinctly anti-religious viewpoint, to the point that some have embraced it as an "atheist anthem". </P> <P> Lennon composed "Imagine" one morning in early 1971, on a Steinway piano, in a bedroom at his Tittenhurst Park estate in Ascot, Berkshire, England . Ono watched as he composed the melody, chord structure and almost all the lyrics, nearly completing the song in one brief writing session . Described as a piano ballad performed in the soft rock genre, the song is in the key of C major . Its 4 - bar piano introduction begins with a C chord then moves to Cmaj before changing to F; the 12 - bar verses also follow this chord progression, with their last 4 bars moving from Am / E to Dm and Dm / C, finishing with G, G then G, before resolving back to C. The 8 - bar choruses progress from F to G to C, then Cmaj and E before ending on E, a C chord substituted for E7 in the final bar . The 4 - bar outro begins with F, then G, before resolving on C. With a duration of 3 minutes and 3 seconds and a time signature of 4 / 4, the song's tempo falls around 75 beats per minute . </P> <P> Lennon and Ono co-produced the song and album with Phil Spector, who commented on the track: "We knew what we were going to do...It was going to be John making a political statement, but a very commercial one as well...I always thought that' Imagine' was like the national anthem ." Lennon described his working arrangement with Ono and Spector: "Phil doesn't arrange or anything like that--(Ono) and Phil will just sit in the other room and shout comments like,' Why don't you try this sound' or' You're not playing the piano too well'...I'll get the initial idea and...we'll just find a sound from (there)." </P>

When was the song imagine written by john lennon