Gimme Some Truth

The Making of Imagine

A new film containing mostly unreleased footage of John Lennon in his studio was shown on British TV in February and will be shown around the world in the next few months. The 56- minute film, Gimme Some Truth, is distilled from hundreds of hours of 16mm film shot by John and Yoko while was recording his 1971 solo album, Imagine at his estate in Tittenhurst Park, Ascot, England. At the same time a new remixed and remastered version of Imagine was released on CD. The reissue of Imagine features a 16 page booklet with full lyrics (including Lennon's hand-written lyrics to How Do You Sleep?) and rare photographs from the Lennon/Ono archives.

As we exclusively revealed on this website Yoko Ono spent much of last autumn in London at Abbey Road studios supervising the digital remixing of the album and working as executive producer on the film. Yoko Ono said: 'I am so grateful that EMI Records and Abbey Road Studios took so much time and care to bring this project to fruition. In Abbey Road Studios, I found the engineers top-notch and the studios were the latest and the best.'

Gimme Some truth was shown on BBC 2 on February 13th. The film was broadcast in the USA by Bravo on April 17th. In the US, on April 11, the extended 63-minute version of the film, containing seven extra minutes of rare film footage, was commercially issued by Capitol Records as an interactive DVD and VHS home video. The DVD contains a stereo soundtrack and a 5.1. surround- sound mix plus approximately 40 minutes of unique audio/visual interview material recorded at the time of the album sessions. The DVD employs English language subtitles for all speech and songs in the main program; features its own set of production credits; and contains an album discography to enable the listener to hear a sample of one track per album.

The film is remarkable in many ways; as an illustration of the strength of Lennon and Ono's relationship and how they inspired each other, both in the studio and privately; as a reminder not just of Lennon's genius but of his playfulness, candour, idealism and his acidic wit. George Harrison was also on the Imagine album and it is especially interesting hearing John and George talking about The Beatles. At one point John says Beatle Ed (Paul?) is doing well in Sweden. They are also seen talking about printing lyrics on the cover and John remarks there aren't lyrcis on Paul's album and you can't hear anything he says. John plays George How Do You Sleep? to George for the first time with a cheeky grin on his face. He then says 'That's the nasty one' - as if George didn't know.

Tempers flair yet warm humour prevails throughout Gimme Some Truth an essential aural and visual experience for both the seasoned Beatles aficionado and the casual fan. The film is a remarkable illustration of the strength of John and Yoko's relationship, how they inspired each other in the studio as well as privately. It is a reminder not just of Lennon's genius but of his playfulness, candor, idealism and acerbic wit, at a time when he was fast transcending our expectations of him as an artist. Ultimately, it is a fascinating glimpse into the spirit of two artists spearheading a whole culture, functioning creatively in a turbulent era, as the idealism of the late '60s was adapting to a new decade.

The film covers a lot of ground - from priceless demo rehearsal sessions in Ascot to a madcap bookstore autographing session for Yoko's Grapefruit; from John leading a peace march down city streets brandishing a bullhorn beneath a poster for his and Yoko's subsequent single Happy Xmas (War Is Over) to a confrontation at John's front door with a vagabond hippie who is taken in and fed; from the kitchen breakfast that started it all to a gala party at Ascot shot by noted avant garde independent film maker Jonas Mekas, capturing such notables as Jack Nicholson and Andy Warhol, while John plays basketball with Miles Davis in the driveway. We even see John and Yoko buying a summer house that they want to put on the island in the middle of the lake at Tittenhurst. While the summer house is being put up the young Julian Lennon is seen running around the grounds. It is also fascinating looked out for trivial things. For instance I noticed the amount of Dr Pepper John seemed to be drinking during the sessions.

Yoko's part in the Imagine sessions was very much as an overseer. During How Do You Sleep Yoko thought the musicians were improvising as tells John. She says the playing should be tight as it's a nasty song. It should be added that the other musicians certainly don't question what Yoko says - not out of fear but out of respect.

Above all, the indomitable soul of John Lennon soars. It is no wonder that public fascination with Imagine stirred up on radio and across the Internet throughout 1999; in England, the song was recently voted the best lyric of all time in a nationwide BBC poll. As far back as October 9, 1990, John's 50th birthday was celebrated with a special simulcast of Imagine on more than 1000 radio stations in over 50 countries, an initiative sponsored by the United Nations.

Imagine is perhaps, in the mind of the public, the song that is most closely linked to the feelings they share for a truly remarkable artist - for many, the greatest rock musician of the last 50 years. The Imagine album and Gimme Some Truth provide part of the explanation why.

Richard Porter