The Queen song written about John Lennon
The entire rock world began to shift on a dime once The Beatles started taking over the world. Arriving out of Liverpool, the work of John Lennon and Paul McCartney became the soundtrack of the 1960s for many, going on to last for generations to come because of how universal their appeal was. Then again, taking some of that magic for granted is easy until it’s silenced forever.
After Lennon took a break after years away from the pop sphere, he returned with some of his sturdiest songs in years on Double Fantasy, settling into his middle age and learning how to look after kids. When he was supposed to be reintroducing himself to the world, everything changed when he was shot on December 8th, 1980, by a deranged fan outside his apartment building.
This wasn’t any ordinary celebrity death, though. For rock fans, this was like losing a family member, with Lennon being intimate in every aspect of his music. Though his fellow Beatles offered tribute songs like Paul McCartney’s ‘Here Today’ and George Harrison’s ‘All Those Years Ago’, Lennon also got a send-off from one of rock’s royal spectators.
Being greatly affected by the loss, Queen documented their own sorrow in ‘Life is Real (Song For Lennon)’ off their 1982 album Hot Space. Although none of the members of Queen could have claimed to have known Lennon on a personal level, Freddie Mercury poured his soul into these words, singing about Lennon’s great impact on the world at large.
Then again, this song isn’t about sobbing over one of the founding members of the first modern rock band. Across the song, Mercury reminds the audience of the value behind human life and the need to preserve humanity’s energy together, with the title referencing Lennon’s lyrics “love is real” off the album Plastic Ono Band.
Although most of Hot Space centres around certain dance textures that didn’t suit Queen that well, ‘Life is Real’ is one of the greatest moments on the record, as Mercury puts everything on pause to get much more serious about the whole ordeal. Queen also often played ‘Imagine’ during their live shows following Lennon’s death as their mini tribute.
Despite Mercury paying tribute to Lennon in the song and the title, the tune took on a very different meaning in 1991 after he succumbed to AIDS. To pay tribute to their fallen frontman, Brian May would occasionally play the song live when Queen was touring with other singers as a thank-you to Mercury.
The tributes didn’t stop at Queen either. Throughout the rock world, Elton John would write his own song for Lennon on ‘Empty Garden’, and Tom Petty would famously inscribe the first editions of the album Hard Promises with the initials ‘JL’ in tribute to Lennon’s work. Although Lennon may have retired from music for a good while and became comfortable as a man of the people, his mark on rock and roll still reverberates throughout the world.
