Check Yourself Before You Wreck Yourself: Carter Funeral Edition
Pro-tip: Googling BEFORE posting a Hot Take can save a lot of embarrasment

One of the things that raised some eyebrows at former President Jimmy Carter’s Funeral was Garth Brooks’s and Trisha Yearwood’s performance of John Lennon’s “Imagine.” I’m part of that group who (at least initially) side-eyed the musical selection. To be clear, my issue wasn’t so much about how overexposed, trite, and cringy that song is/has culturally become. Like a lot of other folks, I felt there was a disconnection between the song’s explicitly atheist lyrics and the Former President’s deep connection to Christianity. Here’s Fox News writing more about the reaction:
The late former President Jimmy Carter reportedly held the 1971 John Lennon hit “Imagine” as his favorite tune. But its use as a song at his state funeral ceremony has set a firestorm on social media from critics saying it wasn’t fit for use in what in a memorial service in a Christian church…Social media lit up later Thursday, calling into question the performance of the song, given its lyrical rejection of religion.
“Imagine there’s no heaven / It’s easy if you try / No Hell below us / Above us, only sky,” the first line goes.
A prominent member of the Catholic clergy also chimed in on X, saying he was “appalled” by the performance.
“Under the soaring vault of what I think is still a Christian church, they reverently intoned, ‘Imagine there’s no heaven; it’s easy if you try” and “imagine there’s no country; it isn’t hard to do. Nothing to kill or die for, and no religion too.’ — Vested ministers sat patiently while a hymn to atheistic humanism was sung,” said Bishop Robert Barron, prelate of the Catholic Archdiocese of Winona-Rochester, Minnesota.
“This was not only an insult to the memory of a devoutly believing Christian but also an indicator of the spinelessness of too much of established religion in our country,” the bishop said.
If you’re just working from the song’s lyrics, there’s a lot of logic to Bishop Barron’s statement. I think many of us can easily imagine how the well-meaning, granola-crunching, electric car-driving libs* who planned the funeral thought this was the perfect non-offensive and non-religious song to use at Carter’s funeral.
However, unpacking real life shouldn’t be reduced to just analyzing lyrics and projecting motivations on others. Human beings are complex. So before I joined Bishop Barron and others in snarking on social media, I thought, “Hey, I wonder if Jimmy Carter ever expressed any opinion on “Imagine” and/or The Beatles.” So, in a rare moment of checking myself, I decided to check with Dr. Google.
It turns out Carter did have opinions on “Imagine.” In 2007, he had this to say when asked at a film festival about his favorite Beatles song:
“My favorite is ‘Imagine.’ When I go to a strange country, Cuba and other places, in some of those nations, ‘Imagine’ has become a national anthem. If you go to Havana, for instance, you’ll see a statue of John Lennon. … When we go to a folk performance or a symphony concert or to modern American music, they always play ‘Imagine,’ and it’s one of my favorites just personally. If you listen to the lyrics closely, you’ll see that it’s against religion, it’s against national boundaries, it’s against nationalism, it’s against jingoism, but the impact it has on people is profound.”
Leaving aside Carter’s incorrectly calling “Imagine” a Beatles song (there are no words to express my disgust, President Carter), it’s clear that, despite its atheist lyrics, this is a song that meant a lot to the former President. So much so that it was also sung at his wife’s funeral last year…
By the exact same people….
In front of, checks notes, Jimmy Carter.
It turns out that Brooks and Yearwood are both longtime supporters of Habitat for Humanity and had many interactions with the former first couple. The Carters personally requested that they perform that song at their funerals. This is all easily available via google.
Sing along with me, kids: Imagine if you first checked Google; it’s easy if you try…
Put in the broader context of all the things going on in the world, this little bit of social media outrage isn’t even a tempest in a teacup (let alone a teapot). And it remains a great example of why it’s always a good idea to do some googling and reflection before firing off a hot take (or just commenting on a post). I’m happy I did. If nothing else, it saved me from some “Instant Karma*.”
Addendum: If you’ve gotten this point and are thinking, “Nah, Matt… no need to interrupt my red hot takes with facts and context,” then at least have the decency to do what Jim Geraghty of the National Review did and come up with a novel hot take. Again from Fox News:
The National Review’s Jim Geraghty said the fact “Imagine” asks the listener to imagine the absence of heaven is a “de facto concession” that it exists, in an apparent defense of the rendition.
“Otherwise, there would be no need to ask us to envision otherwise,” Geraghty said.
All I can say is:

[Update] In the comments below @Jay L Gischer points out that this line of thinking was previously brought up on the seminal TV program WKRP in Cincinnati:
In https://archive.org/details/wkrp-in-cincinnati-season-03-episode-22-clean-up-radio-everywhere of WKRP in Cincinnati, the same argument is made to a moral-majority type preacher/politician who is trying to “clean up radio”. Carlsen, not known for his courage, takes the lyrics to “Imagine” and reads them out to the preacher, (apparently they didn’t get the rights). The preacher objects.
But, it’s just “imagine” he says to the preacher. Imagine. Not real.
That was a seriously great show.
That scene happens to be on YouTube (the entire episode is also available):
* – For the record, if those staw-libs actually programmed the funeral, the song they would have used is, of course, the equally culturally-over-exposed-through-no-fault-of-its-creator Hallelujah. RIP Leonard Cohen.
** – Instant Karma is a far superior song. That’s a hill I’m willing to die on (metaphorically).
And Harrison, not Lennon or McCartney, had the best post-Beatles creative-musical career.*** I will battle over that (again, metaphorically).
*** – Ringo, of course, had the best acting career (and possibly the most fun post-Beatles musical career).
Imagine it being sung by Gregorian monks. It’s easy if you try.
Hot takes are easier than the complexities of Google searches.
Not anyone’s job to critique the program of a funeral/memorial service. The job of the attendees is to look suitably somber and dignified and to present fond memories of the memorialized if called upon to.
That anyone thought differently is simply a sign of how crass and politicized our culture has become.
Agree 100% with @,just nutha‘s take on this.
MYOB, *especially* when it comes to funeral services for a 100-year-old ex-president because the likelihood that HE PICKED THE DANG TUNE HIMSELF is 100%.
Maybe the average run of the mill person doesn’t plan their own funeral, but aging world leaders DO. (See also: Queen Elizabeth II).
I understand why Fox News and certain rightwing Catholics might want to pretend to be kindred spirits with Jimmy Carter. His essential decency is an indictment of their lack of it.
Of course those whose beliefs are merely is a thin disguise for hate couldn’t possibily fathom there are Christians who love and learn from their atheist friends, and vice versa. Folks will souls full with bitterness can’t do much more than be resentful. Sad way to live.
Jim Geraghty’s take is not quite as new as you think: In https://archive.org/details/wkrp-in-cincinnati-season-03-episode-22-clean-up-radio-everywhere of WKRP in Cincinnati, the same argument is made to a moral-majority type preacher/politician who is trying to “clean up radio”. Carlsen, not known for his courage, takes the lyrics to “Imagine” and reads them out to the preacher, (apparently they didn’t get the rights). The preacher objects.
But, it’s just “imagine” he says to the preacher. Imagine. Not real.
That was a seriously great show.
@Jay L Gischer:
Ha.
You don’t even have to Google (and let’s face it, Google search is enshittified at this point, and mostly crap) – common sense suggests that a Presidential funeral would be meticulously pre-planned, and there’s no way that any performance at said funeral would not be the result of the wishes of the family or decedent.
@Jay L Gischer:
Ooh, thanks for the reference!
I’ll have to dig up that episode.I found the clip and added it (with attribution) to the article.
@,just nutha:
Slow down there buddy… That’s the type of thinking that puts pundits out of work.
Seriously, hard agree.
If I consider two people who claim deep faith:
One looks around, sees gay people, and condemns, not only them, but calls any person who supports them, demons;
The other looks around and sees human beings;
I assess that the former’s faith is incredibly weak, and the latter’s faith is strong. All the outward actions of the finger-pointer strike me as compensation.
Or just a con artist.
I guess that the urge to “imagine all the people living life in peace” and “sharing all the world,” is unchristian woke demonic communism. Or something.
Also, is it unchristian to imagine nothing to kill or die for? Or no countries?
Would it be wrong to characterize the song as “anti-religious” or “virtually the Communist Manifesto”?
@Fortune: It. Does. Not. Matter. Carter chose it, it was literally his funeral, so everyone can bag their complaints and throw them in the trash.
@Jen: I agree that Carter was free to choose what he wanted but it’s not a stretch to see the song as anti-religious or inappropriate.
Imagine if any of these phony Jesus-wranglers actually listened to Cohen’s original lyrics for Hallelujah…
@Fortune: “Would it be wrong to characterize the song as “anti-religious” or “virtually the Communist Manifesto”?”
Not so much “wrong” as moronic.
“I agree that Carter was free to choose what he wanted but it’s not a stretch to see the song as anti-religious or inappropriate.”
Do you think it’s more “inappropriate” than, say, internet trolls who feel entitled to pass judgement on the choices of complete strangers that don’t affect them in the least?
@Fortune: …it’s not a stretch to see the song as anti-religious or inappropriate.
Well, I suppose ignorant people who only infest websites with ridiculous statements might think so. But normal intelligent people disagree.
@wr:
Take it up with the guy who described “Imagine” that way, the guy who wrote the song.
Huh? What’s inapproprate about discussing the choice?
@Fortune: I don’t think it’s inappropriate. Now this song might have been a surprise (but, IMHO, not inappropriate either).
@DK: I think the Catholic bishop (and all of those religious decrying Imagine) should stop and ask himself why a song positing that the absence of religion would make life so much better resonates with millions worldwide. Maybe if he (and so many others) would do his job in a Christian way, millions wouldn’t think religion is the problem, not the solution.
I thought was an interesting song choice by Rosalynn Carter when Trisha Yearwood and Garth Brooks played Imagine at her memorial service in Atlanta a little over a year ago. There was no question at the time that Rosalynn and her family had chosen the song. And a side note about her Atlanta service–it was held at a United Method Church, which I thought was notable because it occurred shortly after a schism primarily over the UMC’s openness to LGBTQ members resulted in thousands of individual churches disaffiliating from the UMC.
@wr: To be fair to Fortune (and to demonstrate that is it possible to provide links and evidence), here’s an LOC article on the song, which includes the following:
While I think that that such a summation is not quite apt, even if it comes from Lennon himself, it is fair to say that the song does capture Marx’s basic vision of utopian communism.
I would add two thoughts.
1. If you take out the “no religion” part, it also sounds an awful lot like the Christian message of universal love for humankind and a description of the early church in Acts.
“The world could be as one” sounds rather biblical, TBH.
2. Just because it can be associated with communism should not automatically invalidate it (despite this being the way deployed “communism” works in US discourse).
@wr:
Or even just the couples who use it for weddings
Ringo’s greatest acting role: Merlin, in Harry Nilsson’s “Son of Dracula“. I’ll fight anyone over it
Do you know how to save a troll from drowning?
No, I don’t.
Good.
@Steven L. Taylor:
Tangential, but when I bestirred myself in college to actually learn a little about communism, which was constantly denounced during my childhood and well into my adulthood, I was a little taken aback. It seemed to me that Marx’s communism wasn’t evil, it was just wrong. And had been proven wrong by the mid-twentieth century at the latest. He predicted what would happen, and it didn’t.
It’s like most ism’s. People develop absolute faith in communism, libertarianism, Maoism, whatever, and maintain that faith long after real life disproves them.
@Joe: Good point. Then again, I’d never chosen “you’re the only Jesus most of the people you meet will ever know” as a marketing plan. Fortunately, there are occasional Jimmy Carters that come along. I hope there’re enough to offset the damage the rest of us do.
@MarkedMan: I wouldn’t even go so far as “wrong.” I see it mostly as too simplistic to account for the Stalins, Maos, Pol Pots, and Kim Dynasties that have existed for a long as humans have lived among other humans. Mistaking capitalism as automatically being more “democratic” (and therefore automatically leading to expanded freedom for citizens) is a similar and parallel oversimplification.
@Just nutha ignint cracker: So basically it didn’t account for the shittiness that is humanity.
@MarkedMan: I’ve always been partial to Ringo’s Hamlet.
@Just nutha ignint cracker:
Exactly. Marx essentially predicted that the masses would rise up and self organize, something that has never happened in recorded history.
Now that I think about, that’s Libertarianism too, in a nutshell. Maybe with a healthy splash of, “Are there no poor houses? If they are going to die they should go ahead and rid us of the excess!”
@Steven L. Taylor:
The thing about good art is that not everyone will interpret it the same way, and ultimately, the artist doesn’t get to determine its meaning to any individual, regardless of the artist’s intentions.
Yes, an argument can be made that it speaks to the kind of socialist/communist utopianism that was more popular then than it is now, but – as you rightly note with some examples – that’s not the only interpretation.
I’d also say it’s possible to love or find meaning in songs or art whose message one might not agree with.
Now you’re just pulling my leg
Good to know the intolerant fake Christian control freaks wearing pointy hats wonder why church attendance is down in the US. And that’s just the KKK!
@matt: I wouldn’t put it quite like that, but sure, that works.
Hey, DK and other snarky, low-information commentators! “Sad way to live” because people have faith or care about others in ways you can’t fathom says to me that if you were offered purple kool-aide that you would drink it. (Look up the reference – I’m sure you’re not informed enough to comprehend.). Willingness to drink the kool-aide without knowing what’s behind it IS a sad way to live, DK. Oh, one more thing. I met Jimmy Carter when he was on a diplomatic mission overseas; we spoke at length. You can learn a lot from having an intelligent conversation with someone (you should try it!). Mr. Carter would agree with me. Clearly you know nothing about the man…
@Steven L. Taylor:
Just look at a lot of the “popular millenarian” Christian literature from the Middle Ages.
Or other pre-Marxist popular egalitarianism, going back to at least ancient Greece and Rome.
Or forward to, say, the Chartists in Britain in the 1830’s.
The reality-based perception that a large number of people were getting a rather shitty deal is hardly some communist novelty.
Nor is the hope that there might be a resolution to that that did not require massacres.
This is common among both Christian and non-Christian movements of social reform and/or discontent.
@Jen:
Personally, I’ve demanded that at my funeral, the two song that must be played are Lisa Gerrard’s Sanvean.
And for the actual cremation: Hawkwind’s Psychedelic Warlords Disappear In Smoke
I fully intend to have, if not the, at least a, last laugh.
@K.T.: Yo, K.T. I see from your belated tantrum you were triggered by my comment calling out low IQ rightwing nuts who use your fake Christianity to coverup your selfish white supremacy. A hit dog will holler, won’t y’all? Lol.
Since Carter himself chose to have “Imagine” played by handpicked musician friends at his late wife’s homegoing, then had the gesture repeated for own transition, having also publicly explained the song’s closeness to his heart…
…no, President Carter would obviously not agree with bitter, deluded MAGA freaks now criticizing his choice. A suggestion so obviously desperate and stupid it could only be made by a Trumper — member of the dumbest cult in America.
And yeah, lame references to kool aid are rrrrreally obscure, as if every kid born before 1995 didn’t grow up watching Guyana Tragedy: The Story of Jim Jones on TNT. I have pubic hairs more “informed” than you, boo.
My great-uncle ran Georgia’s NAACP, the state’s attorney general lived next door, I went to high school in the shadow of the Carter Center, up the road from the MLK Center. Before my birth, my people on both sides had founded Baptist churches and were in and around Georgia politics; I don’t need or have time to name drop. I know the Carters and Kings oppose everything you stand for.
Jimmy Carter supported Kamala Harris and Joe Biden and publicly called out your owner Trump for colluding with Russia. Never in a million years would he join you amoral trash in supporting this rapist who incited a terror attack on Congress, sexualized his own daughter, praised his buddy Epstein for liking “younger” women, bragged about grabbing the crotches of other men’s wives, and tried to install pedophilic crackhead Matt Gaetz at the DOJ. But nice try.
You can change your diaper and go back to the kiddie table at your Nazi cookout tho.
@K.T.: Carter was a Christian so he has a lot in common with fellow Christians. We can recognize the good he did as well as where the impulse to do good came from. We can also admit he did bad things, whether out of error or bitterness. Most of these comments treat Christianity and liberalism as competing religions and need Carter as a utopian socialist saint. They need an anti-religious Carter.
@Andy: Indeed.
@Fortune:
File that under words our MAGA trolls never write about rapist, felon, fascist, patholgical liar, and Epstein-bestie paedo Trump.
The ones who need an anti-religious Carter are the modrrn movement conservatives who’ve invented a Christian Trump — under the laughable pretense he’s a competent, honest, trustworthy patriot.
Democrats don’t secularize Carter; they like him just like he is — flawed-but-underrated presidency, brilliant post-presidency, warts, and all. The right now wishes the left was erasing Carter’s beliefs, because the core decency of Carter’s progressive Christianity exposes the hateful, reactionary religious hypocrisy fueling modern Republican values.
That’s same frauds that spent years trashing Jimmy Carter now, in the name of God, lionize and defend the vile, scummy thug Trump. Gross.
@Kathy: Well, since the bible actively promotes communism, I think we’re on solid ground here talking about sharing the world and living in peace as a Christian value.
@DK: I hate to answer you seriously, particularly on a whataboutist digression but Trump’s a bad person. He’s not a fascist but a liar, felon, probably a rapist. You can sleep tonight knowing every thread on the website says the same thing. The only price was learning what Lennon said about Imagine.
@Tony W: A commune of believers giving all their goods to the apostles, where whoever will not work doesn’t eat. Your terms are acceptable.
Well, John Lennon is burning in Hell right now.
That is Anti-Christian, Communist, Moronic PUKE he wrote.
If Jimmy Carter loved it so much, you really ought to question his salvation, as well.
@Bruce:
I am guessing this is your belief, but what is your proof? Just wishing it does not make it so.
@charontwo:
He can’t imagine there’s no Hell. It isn’t easy if he tries.
@Bruce:
That is undoubtedly the most absurd, knee-jerk post I have ever read on this forum, and completely enfolded into self indulgent, archaic generalizations.
To all else who found the song choice incongruous at the literal level: it’s just a song for crying out loud, with all the allowances of metaphor that go with song writing, another form of poetry.
Lennon was a poet, and “when you start talking about destruction you could count him out, because if you go around carrying pictures of Chairman Mao you ain’t going to make it with anyone anyhow!”
Lennon’s writing about “imagine there’s no heaven… everybody living in peace … the brotherhood of man…. no religion…. people sharing all the world” —– these words, these ideas could have come straight out of Jesus’ own gospel.
The reflexive reaction against these sentiments seems to be a function of elevating the literalness of religious dogma above the essence of that gospel message of Jesus Christ. Something He warned against. Sheesh.
@DK:
Excellent comment.
@Steven L. Taylor:
But from that same LOC article you reference:
This is not to say that Lennon was a “dyed in wool” Christian, any more than he was a “dyed in wool” communist, as some have suggested. But this entire topic of discussion does suggest that a good many Christians don’t understand their own belief system.
Metaphors and analogy are great tools of expediency, but dangerous in the hands of a literal mind.
@Rob1:
Some of it could, some of it couldn’t. Just because Bruce went overboard doesn’t mean you have to.
@Fortune: Where’s the “overboard?”
I state what should be obvious, if “Christianity” hadn’t been so appropriated by commerce and politics for personal gain.
@Rob1: What we know of Jesus’s words, there’s nothing like “no heaven” “no hell” “no religion”.
@Fortune: Well sure, if one is stuck in a literal understanding of a 2,000 year old account that has undergone countless language and cultural translations; an account of a call to transcendence of the usual human behavior and literalness..
@Rob1: You can’t say you know the real meaning of Jesus’s message then. But with the biblical texts we have a 100 year old account that has undergone one language translation, at most. Clement of Rome and Ignatius of Antioch knew the apostles and wrote less than 100 years later. The only one who’s trying to interpret the Bible 2000 years later without the cultural understanding is you.
@Fortune:
Actually, the “real meaning of Jesus’s message” has been garbled by 2,000 years of cultural appropriation, and yes, layers of translation/interpretation.
This should be fairly obvious from the divergence of the outward manifestation of Christian politics, culture, and commerce, from the known expression of Jesus Christ’s own reported behavior and His own words.
Where those words and behavior converge, one can reasonably expect to find the “essential” center of the Christian Godhead, whether the self identified followers choose to acknowledge and practice those values or not.
Bringing this sidebar back to this forum topic, it is clear that John Lennon was influenced by Christian ideals (he said so) regardless of whether he considered himself a believer. Clearly however, with the lyrics of “Imagine,” he was calling out modern Christianity for its hypocritical departure from core ideals, reflecting on the ongoing and recent violent conflicts across the planet at that time.
Asking his audience to step out of the heaven/hell mindset of formal religions, to focus on a world community of peace and brotherly love, his words resonate with Jesus’s core message.
Oh, DK! Now who’s throwing a tantrum? Gosh, I love it when the Low-Info’s try to throw out those factoids they got on TikTok…amigo, you’re late to the party. Even Dems have admitted Russian Collusion was a complete hoax, so your facts are not only wrong, but they are so yesterday. As for your personal insults, I’ve got pretty thick skin. Seen and heard it all, in fact, dealt with it, so water off the back. In case you are interested, I’m not MAGA, I’m an Independent (and a reformed former Democrat, dating back to those years when the party actually stood for something important). Unfortunately, my former party has abandoned all common sense, has lost its way, panders to the uninformed (you can’t see that?) because the easily deluded will always drink that kool-aide. Even more importantly, it suffers from an obvious and odious deficit of real leadership. I doubt I can ever go back. I don’t vote for personalities; I vote for what is best for the country, and it’s time to pull it out of the mud. I read, I watch, I think, I discuss; I’ve even broken the sound barrier. I’ve lived in 9 states, 5 countries, traveled to 36. I speak 5 languages and have 2 degrees; planning on a 3rd. I’m not a troll; I’m a writer (yes, an outspoken one), a former military pilot, a community volunteer, and a mentor. I’m not particularly religious, but I am spiritual. So, I feel I’ve had enough life experience and well-rounded education to know who to vote for and who’s faking it. I can also clearly see that the country needs a change. Badly. That’s why it had to be Trump, regardless of the hot air that comes out of him. Whether or not you know it yet, you will benefit from the changes that are coming. So, my poor, misguided friend, I will close the chapter on this commentary, as I must get back to more important things. You go on with your low brow whining and whinging; I’ve got important things to write. And next time, try to come to a battle of the wits with a little more ammunition. (Oh, and THANK YOU for the inspiration; you’ll without doubt be in my next novel!)
@Rob1: We have ancient Greek texts. We used to lose historical information every year but in the computer era we’re able to gain more every year. We know more about ancient texts than even anyone knew back then because we have access to all of it, and we’ve been able to restore inforation. But sure, you know what Jesus really meant and no one thought to write down his rejection of heaven and hell, even though most of what we believe was his expansion beyond his Jewish contemporaries.
This is why I said you went overboard. Jesus’s message included peace and brotherhood which match Imagine. It didn’t include the other half of Imagine.