 The morning after the November 2015 Paris attacks , German pianist <unk> <unk> brought a grand piano to the street out in front of the <unk> , where 89 <unk> had been shot dead the night before , and performed an instrumental version to honour the victims of the attacks ; video of his performance went viral . This led Katy <unk> of Slate to <unk> why " Imagine " had become so frequently performed as a response to tragedy . In addition to its general popularity , she noted its musical simplicity , its key of C major , " the <unk> and least complicated key , with no <unk> or flats " aside from one passage with " a plaintive major seventh chord that allows a tiny bit of E minor into the tonic " . That piano part , " gentle as a rocking chair " , <unk> lyrics that , <unk> says , " belongs to the tradition of hymns or spirituals that visualize a glorious afterlife without <unk> any immediate end to suffering on earth " . This understanding is also compounded by the historical context of Lennon 's own violent death , " remind [ ing ] us that the universe can run <unk> over idealistic people " . Ultimately , the song " captures the <unk> of our hope after a violent or destructive event ... [ <unk> ] t also reveals its tenacity " . 
