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Imagine

from TOY CITY by Toy City

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  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    20 SIGNED CD PRE-RELEASE of our full LP, which officially drops on May 5, 2023!

    Includes digital pre-order of TOY CITY. You get 9 tracks now (streaming via the free Bandcamp app and also available as a high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more), plus the complete album the moment it’s released.
    digital album releases May 5, 2023
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about

I had been thinking about trying to record a cover of John Lennon’s Imagine for a few years. At Steve’s prompting, I started by recording the piano part on an old Wurlitzer spinet piano that lives in my basement. I changed the vocal melody a bit and handed it off to Steve, not really thinking it would become a part of this collection of songs. However Steve and our mixing engineer, John Russell, transformed that foundation into something totally new. In contrast to the utopian vision of John Lennon’s original version, John and Steve created something much darker in tone. I like to think of this as a more grounded, Gen X take on the classic version of the song. To me, this take feels more cynical, very current, and even dystopian. Looking back, this version was created during the darkest time of the COVID pandemic response which ushered in a strange mix of forced isolation, and economic and political polarization.

--Paul Burke

lyrics

Imagine there’s no heaven
It’s easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today
Imagine there’s no countries
It isn’t hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
No religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace
You may say I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
I hope someday you’ll join us
And the world will be as one
Imagine no possessions
Do you hear that call?
No need for greed or hunger
A fellowship of all
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world
You may say I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
I hope someday you’ll join us
And the world will be one

credits

from TOY CITY, released May 5, 2023
Original lyrics by John Lennon
Written and recorded by Paul Burke & Steve Shaheen
Mixed by John Russell
Produced by John Russell & Toy City
Mastered by Joe Lambert

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Toy City Brooklyn, New York

Toy City is songwriting duo Paul Burke & Steve Shaheen

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