Cee Lo Green was performing on NBC’s New Year’s Eve show over the weekend, where he decided to cover John Lennon‘s Imagine. Risky choice, but okay, why not? He’s a talented artist and everyone was sure he would do the song justi- Oh, wait, he actually changed one of the most controversial lines of the song, which I’m sure went over well with all of Lennons fans and suppor- Nope, here comes the Twitter war via the Huffington Post:
Charged with singing Lennon’s famous solo-era tune on NBC’s New Year’s Eve show shortly before the ball dropped in Times Square , Green changed the lyrics from “Nothing to kill or die for, And no religion too” to “Nothing to kill or die for, And all religion’s true.” The change didn’t go unnoticed, and to preempt criticism, he soon tweeted, “Yo I meant no disrespect by changing the lyric guys! I was trying to say a world were u could believe what u wanted that’s all.”
Look, most of you would probably think I’d be pissed off about changing the lines, considering how much I rag on all the evils perpetrated under the guise of religion. But actually, I fall somewhere between both sides. Cee Lo shouldn’t have changed the lyrics, because it dilutes the message intended by the song’s original creator, which isn’t cool. But at the same time, Imagine has never really been one of my favorite songs, because what I always took away from it was “the world would be a better place if everyone was the same.” Personally, I’m of the belief that everyone is entitled to their own beliefs and identity, and peace is just about acknowledging those differences while remembering that they’re never so polarizing that they divide us. So I guess my opinion falls somewhere in between both sides: believe whatever you want to believe, but also respect people’s opinions enough to not censor them or replace them with your own.
