Madonna sings 'Imagine'

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PARIS, France (AP) -- Madonna drew massive applause from a sold-out crowd at Paris' Bercy stadium when she dedicated a cover version of John Lennon's peace ode "Imagine" to the Russian hostage crisis.

Addressing the audience midway through her Sunday-night show, Madonna spoke briefly about the hostage-taking at a school in the southern city of Beslan that left at least 330 dead. Officials have blamed the deadly attack on Chechens and other Islamic militants.

As video images of war and children were broadcast behind her on giant screens, the 46-year-old pop diva urged fans to think about what happened in Russia and about Lennon's lyrics.

― Dan Perry '08 (Dan Perry), Wednesday, 8 September 2004 00:16 (twenty-one years ago)

She should go perform it for the Chechen rebels .. try to appeal to their maudlin sensibilities.

― dave225 (Dave225), Wednesday, 8 September 2004 00:23 (twenty-one years ago)

Seriously, that's just horrible. I'm sure she means well, but unless she's got something constructive to say she should stay well out of it. Sadly, she's probably so divorved from reality that she thinks mawkish platitudes actually are constructive.

― Wooden (Wooden), Wednesday, 8 September 2004 00:29 (twenty-one years ago)

I was hoping for a sec she was covering Dizzee Rascal.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 8 September 2004 00:30 (twenty-one years ago)

(I categorized this as "Obit".)

― Dan Perry '08 (Dan Perry), Wednesday, 8 September 2004 00:35 (twenty-one years ago)

hahaha perfect

― s1ocki (slutsky), Wednesday, 8 September 2004 00:39 (twenty-one years ago)

i really wish madonna hadn't turned into such a big loser

― s1ocki (slutsky), Wednesday, 8 September 2004 00:39 (twenty-one years ago)

It was very brave of her to sing it, both politically and musically. And very poignant the way she took an old song and made it relevant to today's problems.

(I just looked up poignant for spelling, and the first definition is "Physically painful..." ha!)

― dave225 (Dave225), Wednesday, 8 September 2004 00:40 (twenty-one years ago)

When Neil Young sang "Imagine" for that live 9/11 program the day after he changed the line "I wonder if you can" to "I wonder if I can." I wonder if Madonna could even fathom such an insight.

― manthony m1cc1o (Anthony Miccio), Wednesday, 8 September 2004 00:43 (twenty-one years ago)

Fuck I hated that programme.

― Wooden (Wooden), Wednesday, 8 September 2004 00:46 (twenty-one years ago)

ditto. I was just impressed that Neil surgically excised the pomposity from that song.

― manthony m1cc1o (Anthony Miccio), Wednesday, 8 September 2004 00:47 (twenty-one years ago)

Madonna should get some credit for not being totally apathetic even if she doesn't impress some of the more... "discerning" ILM contingent, here.

Good for her, I say.

― Thea (Thea), Wednesday, 8 September 2004 00:58 (twenty-one years ago)

I disagree. All she's saying is 'Yeah, guys, this real bad shit's been going down. Now here's a song about how we should, you know, just love one another.' If she really wanted to show a lack of apathy she should try and draw attention to things that her fans could do to help the world situation. You know, offer some proper insights. Otherwise she should just play some fucking music.

― Wooden (Wooden), Wednesday, 8 September 2004 01:05 (twenty-one years ago)

Madonna should get some credit for not being totally apathetic

Well hold on now. If we're measuring commitment, however defined, by public gesture, then by all rights we're ALL supposed to be required to comment on things as they happen, as opposed to speaking, reacting, etc. as we feel moved to do so.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 8 September 2004 01:16 (twenty-one years ago)

"Otherwise she should just play some fucking music. "

damn uppity broad.

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Wednesday, 8 September 2004 01:17 (twenty-one years ago)

I disagree with you, Wooden. With her tribute - however cheesy it might seem to some of us - she's attempting to draw some of those who might not follow current events, choosing to surround themselves primarily with relatively issue-free "fucking music" into a more thoughtful head-space. Many of them may not get farther and we shouldn't revere her for choosing to lay this on us out of the blue, but still.

I don't think, for example, that what the Beastie Boys, who one could say are constantly, hammeringly trying to draw fans into a more active role and more often might alienate them than inspire them are at all more effective than what she's doing, here, however bland it seems to some.

Ned, I don't think we should measure commitment by public gesture when it comes to musical artists. Feel moved, Artist, whoever you are. Say something, what's the worst that could happen by doing so?

― Thea (Thea), Wednesday, 8 September 2004 01:21 (twenty-one years ago)

Say something, what's the worst that could happen by doing so?

A cheapening, potentially. I'm putting that as neutrally as possible here.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 8 September 2004 01:24 (twenty-one years ago)

because we all know that parisian madonna fans have a great influence on russian domestic policy

― amateur!!!st (amateurist), Wednesday, 8 September 2004 01:25 (twenty-one years ago)

xpost

― amateur!!!st (amateurist), Wednesday, 8 September 2004 01:25 (twenty-one years ago)

"Say something, what's the worst that could happen by doing so?"

Message board nerds could get a bit cross?

― Wooden (Wooden), Wednesday, 8 September 2004 01:25 (twenty-one years ago)

"Cheapening" for you, Ned but maybe not for a 12 year old girl who spends 99.9 of the time thinking about makeup and the size of her bosom. Maybe instead of going to makeup artist school she'll join the effing Peace Corps, who knows.

― Thea (Thea), Wednesday, 8 September 2004 01:26 (twenty-one years ago)

how do you dedicate a song to a crisis anyhow? "i'd like to give a shout out to the south asian nuclear standoff!"

― amateur!!!st (amateurist), Wednesday, 8 September 2004 01:34 (twenty-one years ago)

Probably happens quite often, actually.

Fuck her feelingness, she should have Eminem produce her next record, fuck yeah.

Everyone's bugged cause when she sings Imagine she's not fuckable

― Thea (Thea), Wednesday, 8 September 2004 01:37 (twenty-one years ago)

i think rather we are just making wisecracks trying to fill THE IMMENSE PIT OF BORINGNESS THAT MADONNA HAS BECOME

(actually i always found her public activities boring; only her music was ever interesting and might be again)

― amateur!!!st (amateurist), Wednesday, 8 September 2004 01:39 (twenty-one years ago)

The main thing that annoys me is the closeness to the tradedy. I find it pretty patronising - I doubt the grieving parents are much heartened by the fact that Madonna feels their pain. Maybe I'm cynical, but it could be interperated as a very easy way to get an audience response.

And one would have to be superhumanly apathetic to not know of recent events in Beslan, and to not think that an absolute attrocity occured - which is all Madonna is saying. Yeah, thanks Madge.

'Cheapening' seems a perfectly reasonable conclusion.

― Wooden (Wooden), Wednesday, 8 September 2004 01:40 (twenty-one years ago)

When Madonna started acting "not cheap," yeah, she started boring many of us. Stop ironing yr hair, Mrs Ritchie and grow those underarm thatches back.

― Thea (Thea), Wednesday, 8 September 2004 01:42 (twenty-one years ago)

I was talking about Madonna cheapening the tragedy, not Madonna cheapening Madonna. I think you're playing the sexism card totally unfairly.

― Wooden (Wooden), Wednesday, 8 September 2004 01:46 (twenty-one years ago)

Actually I was riffing, sorry. I was more responding to amateurist's post.

I still stand beside my "12 year-old girl" example when it comes to the "cheapening" part. She's "cheapening" the tragedy for those of us who have been thinking about it constantly, of late but not for someone watching E! who hasn't thought about it. Yes, they're out there. No doubt in my mind.

― Thea (Thea), Wednesday, 8 September 2004 01:50 (twenty-one years ago)

I've always been a bit naive, but I do believe she was attempting to say in a public way, that this tragedy has affected folks around the world. Nothing more.

― jim wentworth (wench), Wednesday, 8 September 2004 02:03 (twenty-one years ago)

Thea, my issue actually has less to do with Madonna and more to do with the song "Imagine". I mean, look through the archives; I LIKE MADONNA TONS AND TONS, including her more recent stuff that people scoff at.

― Dan Perry '08 (Dan Perry), Wednesday, 8 September 2004 02:15 (twenty-one years ago)

(See also ILE)

(haha Dan gets defensive SHOCKAH) (more defensiveness snipped)

― Dan Perry '08 (Dan Perry), Wednesday, 8 September 2004 02:20 (twenty-one years ago)

Pitbull & Nas & John Lennon's version of Imagine wasn't so hot either. And I had high hopes for it!

― scott seward (scott seward), Wednesday, 8 September 2004 02:25 (twenty-one years ago)

I have no problem at all with her performing this. Seems like a pretty genuine sentiment. While the song remains problematic if you think about it too much, as an expression of hope/hopelessness in the face of horror/terror, it certainly serves a generally positive purpose. I think I'd have a problem if she sang "All You Need is Love".

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Wednesday, 8 September 2004 02:41 (twenty-one years ago)

Frankly, this whole thing reminds me of that one Onion piece after 9/11 entitled "Not Knowing What Else To Do, Woman Bakes American-Flag Cake."

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 8 September 2004 02:50 (twenty-one years ago)

Well, Madonna has been performing her leaden "Imagine," replete with video images of kids carrying guns and/or dying, bloody warfare, etc every single night of her ongoing tour, including all the U.S. dates. So what's new? That she dedicated it to the Russians on this one night?

― Josh in Chicago (Josh in Chicago), Wednesday, 8 September 2004 13:10 (twenty-one years ago)

To paraphrase Pricey's recent Independent on Sunday Madonna live review:

"Imagine no possessions" - this from someone who owns half of Gloucestershire or wherever it is she lives and has been yelling "GET ORF MOI LAAND!" at the timorous natives who dare to walk within eight miles of her house.

"Imagine no religion" - this from the enthusiastic yea-sayer for Kabbalah.

― Donnie Smith The Quiz Kid, Wednesday, 8 September 2004 13:19 (twenty-one years ago)

god this song blows

― jones (actual), Wednesday, 8 September 2004 13:42 (twenty-one years ago)

It's a difficult song to pull off. It can be debated whether Lennon actually does, but his casual, off-the-cuff-sounding vocal does the job a lot better than Madonna's histrionics, as well as the video backdrop, both of which are designed to club you over the head with the idea that THIS SONG REALLY MEANS SOMETHING, MAN.

And yeah, as was said above, she's been doing "Imagine" the entire tour. This week it's for the Russian children.

― Rick Massimo (Rick Massimo), Wednesday, 8 September 2004 14:03 (twenty-one years ago)

Still I suppose it's an improvement on Errol Brown out of Hot Chocolate singing "Imagine" - a song described by its author as "a sugar-coated Communist Manifesto" - at the 1987 Conservative Party election rally.

― Donnie Smith The Quiz Kid, Wednesday, 8 September 2004 14:06 (twenty-one years ago)

Holy fuck, how could it be an improvement on THAT?

― briania (briania), Wednesday, 8 September 2004 14:30 (twenty-one years ago)

haha yeah at least that's funny!! "i hope somedayyyy you'll join us- WAIT NOT IF YOU'RE A TORY"

― jones (actual), Wednesday, 8 September 2004 14:37 (twenty-one years ago)

thea did you actually read my post? i said madonna always bored me as a public personality.

― amateur!!st, Wednesday, 8 September 2004 14:49 (twenty-one years ago)

then explain your "truth or dare" tattoo, amateurist

― s1ocki (slutsky), Wednesday, 8 September 2004 15:42 (twenty-one years ago)

"thea did you actually read my post? i said madonna always bored me as a public personality."

yeah i read it. what's the problem? don't worry, i wasn't thinking i was agreeing with you.

the only damn reason i posted on this thread is because i happened to be eating Doritos when i spotted it, a la "Desperately Seeking Susan".

― Thea (Thea), Wednesday, 8 September 2004 20:09 (twenty-one years ago)

i actually don't understand your last few posts

― amateur!!st, Wednesday, 8 September 2004 20:11 (twenty-one years ago)

Thea, could you spell out the strawman you're railing against a little more explicitly for us?

― Dan Perry '08 (Dan Perry), Wednesday, 8 September 2004 20:12 (twenty-one years ago)

(the previous post was brought to you by the When Did You Stop Beating Your Wife School Of Debate)

― Dan Perry '08 (Dan Perry), Wednesday, 8 September 2004 20:14 (twenty-one years ago)

I find "Imagine" to be one of the most offensive songs ever.

― n/a (Nick A.), Wednesday, 8 September 2004 20:17 (twenty-one years ago)

Yike! I obviously don't know how to make fun of my own initial earnestness without seeming even more earnest.

As Spencer calmly puts it, to me her gesture "serves a generally positive purpose".

I humbly don the hysterical-bimbo-at-the-back-of-the-Women's-Studies-class dunce cap and creep away to hide behind Ned and Spencer in the schoolyard to finish my bag of Doritos.

― Thea (Thea), Wednesday, 8 September 2004 21:04 (twenty-one years ago)

to clarify, i wasn't mad or anything, i just honestly didn't understand your posts (their tone, etc.)

― amateur!!st, Wednesday, 8 September 2004 21:05 (twenty-one years ago)

Are they fresh Doritos?

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 8 September 2004 21:07 (twenty-one years ago)

http://www.kimswebpage.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/doritos.jpg

― amateur!!st, Wednesday, 8 September 2004 21:11 (twenty-one years ago)

If you saw what a goofball I am in person amateurist, you might not understand my posts better but you might...nod knowingly.

Ned I'm afraid the Doritos are somewhat old and stale, today. How about I bake you a cake with the UCI flag on it - for no reason at all, of course!

Wait - Holy (Daryl) Hannah. Where the hell did you find that?

― Thea (Thea), Wednesday, 8 September 2004 21:14 (twenty-one years ago)

Yay the nonreason of UCI!

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 8 September 2004 21:15 (twenty-one years ago)

I thought the "When did you blah blah I'm a tool" post showed I asn't being that serious, either!

― Dan Perry '08 (Dan Perry), Wednesday, 8 September 2004 21:39 (twenty-one years ago)

"Cheapening" for you, Ned but maybe not for a 12 year old girl who spends 99.9 of the time thinking about makeup and the size of her bosom.

12-year-olds listen to Madonna?

― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Wednesday, 8 September 2004 21:48 (twenty-one years ago)

sorry - I meant 112 year-olds

― Thea (Thea), Wednesday, 8 September 2004 21:49 (twenty-one years ago)

http://www.cnn.com/US/9608/07/welfare.citizenship/old.woman.lrg.jpg

"Play 'Everybody'!!!!"

― Original "Virgin" (Dan Perry), Thursday, 9 September 2004 12:44 (twenty-one years ago)

hey, it was her version of american pie that really offended me.

i wish chechen rebels would do a job on the old bag. then her opinion would maybe stir up some interest. as it is, it's just another self-publicising event from a ropey old tart with nothing relevant to say anymore.

maybe she should just have retired after snogging britney?

― Daz, Thursday, 9 September 2004 23:59 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm about to start another thread:

"MADONNA IMAGINES SING-SING"

― Thea (Thea), Friday, 10 September 2004 00:42 (twenty-one years ago)

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