"Imagination" is a song by British musician

Belouis Some Belouis Some (born Neville Keighley; 12 December 1959) is a British singer, songwriter and musician. He had UK and Worldwide hits in the 1980s with " Some People", "Imagination" and " Round, Round" from the John Hughes film ''Pretty in Pink''. ...

, from his 1985 debut album '' Some People''. Upon its first release as a single in the UK in 1985, the song only managed to chart at No. 50, but a

re-release In the music industry, a reissue (also re-release, repackage or re-edition) is the release of an album or single which has been released at least once before, sometimes with alterations or additions. Reasons for reissue New audio formats Rec ...

proved more successful, hitting the top 20 and peaking at No. 17 on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

in February 1986. In the U.S., the song reached No. 88 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in May 1985. On 10 October 1994, a remix of the song by British electronica band The Beloved (Jon and Helena Marsh) was released as a single on Some's own label Some Music LTD. It reached number 95 in the UK Singles Chart in March 1995. In February 2023, producer Lee Rose with Belouis Some released a

tech house Tech house is a subgenre of house music that combines stylistic features of techno with house. The term ''tech house'' developed as a shorthand record store name for a category of electronic dance music that combined musical aspects of techno, ...

version of "Imagination" on Deevu Records.

Background

Belouis Some has described the song as being "about a British man's encounter with an extremely self-indulgent American woman", and one that "expresses the conflict between reality and dreams". Speaking of the song to ''

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'' in 1986, he commented, "'Imagination' isn't an erotic song because it doesn't go for the jugular in say the same way that Prince does, but it is very suggestive." In a 1985 interview with ''

Record Mirror ''Record Mirror'' was a British weekly music newspaper between 1954 and 1991 for pop fans and record collectors. Launched two years after the '' NME'', it never attained the circulation of its rival. The first UK album chart was published in '' ...

'', he said, "The single's very straight, no gimmicks, it's the song for the song's worth."

Music video

A music video was produced for "Imagination", and was directed by

Storm Thorgerson Storm Elvin Thorgerson (28 February 1944 – 18 April 2013) was an English graphic designer and music video director. He is best known for closely working with the group Pink Floyd through most of their career, and also created album or other ar ...

. It caused controversy as it contained full frontal nudity. Some said of the video to ''Record Mirror'' in 1985, "It's quite tasteful, not dirty. uitaristCarlos Alomar called me a sexist pig but thought it was wonderful." In an interview with ''

'' the following year, Belouis Some said of the video's controversy, "It wasn't done to cause a stir, it was done for artistic reasons and we put a lot of our own money into it. It became an obsession for all of us because we believed in it so much." The video received medium rotation on MTV.

Critical reception

On its release, '' Cash Box'' listed the single as one of their "feature picks" during April 1985. They commented, "With a dour vocal a la

Ric Ocasek Richard Theodore Otcasek (March 23, 1944 – September 15, 2019), known as Ric Ocasek, was an American singer-songwriter, musician, and record producer. He was the primary co-lead vocalist, rhythm guitarist, songwriter, and frontman for the rock ...

and a theatrical sensibility, Belouis Some delivers a well produced and interesting debut." Paul Bursche of ''

'' wrote, "Imagine a

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known professionally as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer-songwriter and actor. A leading figure in the music industry, he is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the ...

single from his ''

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'' period played by his '' Let's Dance'' band and you'll have a fair idea of what this is about. It's played exceptionally well and is a brilliant single." Di Cross of ''

'' described the song as "a stomping, assured record sung with Bowiesque conviction". In a review of the 1986 re-issue, Dave Rimmer of '' Smash Hits'' said, "Despite one or two winceworthy lines, this is really a bit of a beaut. Deserves to be a hit this time round, I reckon, and probably will be."

Cover versions and other uses

The song was used as a soundtrack for a humorous Barclays Bank advertisement in the 1980s, as well as the 1987 film '' Ghost Chase''. It was

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Boyzone Boyzone were an Irish boy band, created in 1993 by talent manager Louis Walsh. Before even recording any material, Boyzone made an appearance on RTÉ's '' The Late Late Show''. Their most successful line-up was composed of Keith Duffy, Steph ...

members Keith 'N'

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in their song "

Girl You Know It's True ''Girl You Know It's True'' is a 1989 album that served as the North American debut of German contemporary R&B duo Milli Vanilli. It is a version of Milli Vanilli's Europe-only release '' All or Nothing'' reconfigured and repackaged for the US ...

" in 2000 and covered by

Harry Harry may refer to: TV shows * ''Harry'' (American TV series), a 1987 American comedy series starring Alan Arkin * ''Harry'' (British TV series), a 1993 BBC drama that ran for two seasons * ''Harry'' (talk show), a 2016 American daytime talk show ...

as part of the album '' The Trouble with... Harry'' in 2003.

Charts

References

{{authority control 1985 songs 1985 singles 1986 singles Belouis Some songs Parlophone singles Songs written by Belouis Some Music videos directed by Storm Thorgerson