The weepy John Lennon tune is pulled out for countless ceremonies, most recently Jimmy Carter’s funeral. Apparently, the former president requested the anti-religious anthem (“Imagine there’s no countries … And no religion too”), presumably because he liked the later image of “all the people/livin’ life in peace.” But it seemed an odd choice (“Imagine there’s no heaven,” it famously begins) for a man who taught Sunday school and who believed he was headed toward his celestial reward.
But it was not the most egregious use of the song. That came at last summer’s Olympic Games in Paris, when it was played following the boat parade of athletes enthusiastically waving their national flags.
