ONS.pl / In the photo: Przemyslaw Babiarz
John Lennon’s song “Imagine” was played during the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games. Przemysław Babiarz attempted a surprising and controversial interpretation of this song on TVP.
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The opening ceremony of the 2024 Olympics on Friday was significantly different from those seen in previous years. For starters, the event took place in the city center, not in the stadium. In addition, the athletes did not take part in the traditional parade. Instead, they sailed down the River Seine in barges.
However, there were also elements that appeared during previous games. At one point, as in recent years, the song “Imagine”, released in 1971 by John Lennon, was heard.
“Imagine” is an anti-nationalist, anti-religious, and anti-monarchist song. First and foremost, it is often referred to as the “peace anthem,” and its pacifist message is the reason it has accompanied the Olympic Games for years.
The song was met with a rather harsh interpretation by Przemysław Babiarz, who commented on the opening ceremony on TVP. According to the commentator, the demands contained in it refer to the assumptions of communism.
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– A world without sky, without nations, without religion (Babyarz quotes the lyrics of the song – editor’s note) and this is the vision of this peace that embraces everyone. He said that this is a vision of communism, unfortunately.
This is not the first time a TVP commentator has sounded similar notes about the song. After Chinese artists sang it at the opening ceremony of the Beijing Winter Olympics for more than two years, he said of it:
– On the one hand, it is a call for peace, equality and brotherhood for all humanity, a utopian vision of the world, but it must be noted that the composition contains a strong and controversial message of a communist, anarchist and anti-religious tone. Moreover, Lennon himself explained this, saying that it was sugar-coated content in such a way that the sharply conveyed content would not frighten people.
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