Time Capsule: Oct. 30, 1971

John Lennon's Imagine hit #1 on the British charts 37 years ago.

Imagine was originally released in North America on Sept. 9, 1971 and later came out in Lennon's home country on Oct. 8, 1971 (a day before Lennon's 31st birthday). It would go on to become his most popular solo album.

The album not only gained notoriety for its title track, which is still Lennon's most well-known solo song to date, and has become an anthem for peace movements worldwide. But Imagine also attracted attention for a song ("How Do You Sleep?") that was an outright attack on Paul McCartney.

The song is a vitriolic swipe at Macca in respose to what Lennon thought were veiled attacks on him on McCartney's Ram, and the song features Lennon snarling, "Those freaks was right when they said you was dead." Lennon would later say the song was more about himself than his former songwriting partner. Lennon even included a "postcard" with the album, which featured him holding a pig in mockery of McCartney holding a sheep on the cover of Ram.

Most of the album's other songs are also extremely well-known, including "Jealous Guy," which Lennon originally wrote while The Beatles were in India. It has been covered by everyone from Elliott Smith to Roxy Music.

Here is a section on "How Do You Sleep?" from the Imagine movie. It's narrated by Yoko Ono:

And the video for "Imagine":