John Lennon’s ‘Imagine’ Receives Olympics 2021 Tribute – Watch

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John Legend, Keith Urban, and Angelique Kidjo performed John Lennon’s classic hit “Imagine” in a pre-taped rendition at the Tokyo Olympics Opening Ceremony which took place at Tokyo’s new Olympic Stadium. This new version was arranged by Oscar-winning composer Hans Zimmer. It also featured Alejandro Sanz and the Suginami Junior Chorus.

“Yes, it is very different from what all of us had imagined,” Thomas Bach, president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) said during the ceremony. “But let us cherish this moment because finally we are all here together.”

“If the Games were a song, ‘Imagine’ would be the song,” one of the organizers said.

Yoko Ono then reacted to the performance by tweeting, “John and I were both artists and we were living together, so we inspired each other.”

“The song ‘Imagine’ embodied what we believed together at the time,” she continued. “John and I met — he comes from the West and I come from the East — and still we are together.”

This wasn’t the first “Imagine” was performed at an Olympics event. It was previously featured in the opening ceremonies for the 2012 games in London, and more recently, at the 2018 winter games in PyeongChang. Peter Gabriel even sang it at the 2006 Turin Olympics, and Stevie Wonder performed it at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.