Why this tune?
You never know what will happen to a song after you release it into the world. I don’t think Jimmy Van Heusen and Johnny Burke expected that their song “Imagination,” a hit for Glenn Miller in 1940, would become an R&B hit for Miki Howard over 40 years later. I first heard it performed by the Israeli singer Achinoam Nini in the 1990s and have been playing it regularly with Barbara Papendorp in our shows around the DC area.
Dig this detail!
If you read the lyrics by themselves, they sound a bit simple, even silly (or perhaps willy-nilly), but somehow the melody, especially in the bridge, gives the song power that attracts musicians from many different musical traditions.
Did I mention that Bob Dylan also recorded a cover version?
Hear the story
Check it out!
Glenn Miller, 1940
Miki Howard
Achinoam Nini (on Spotify)
Bob Dylan (on Spotify)
Oren Levine, jazz pianist and songwriter 