Eddie Vedder Releases Cover Of John Lennon's "Imagine"

Eddie Vedder released a cover of John Lennon’s “Imagine,” with proceeds going to Heartbeat, an organization that aims to bond Israeli and Palestinian youth through music.

Much love to Eddie, @PearlJam, and all of you around the world who stand up & #imagine a more just, peaceful future. https://t.co/XElN8Hz0kF

— HEARTBEAT.fm (@HeartbeatAmp) October 2, 2014

Vedder Performs “Imagine” As Anti-War Statement

Vedder originally performed the cover during a concert in Portugal on July 18. Vedder performed an acoustic version of “Imagine” after going on an anti-war rant mid-concert. “If you’re anti-war, it doesn’t mean you are ‘pro’ one side or the other in a conflict. However, it does make you ‘pro’ many things…Pro-peace, pro-human, pro-evolution, [it] makes you pro-communication, pro-diplomacy, pro-love, pro-understanding, pro-forgiveness,” Vedder told the crowd, likely speaking about being accused of being anti-Israel after his anti-war statements had been interpreted as anti-Israel by some Israeli media.

“Sometimes if you speak out, people are going to misunderstand and they take things a certain way or another. If you don’t speak out, you don’t know. If someone doesn’t like it, that probably means it has some kind of meaning. It’s not just bulls—t. It’s not just nothing,” the Pearl Jam frontman added.

Heartbeat thanked Vedder and Pearl Jam for their support on Facebook, writing, “This song lifts up the voices of those who seek genuine peace around the world and inspires a new generation of Palestinian and Israeli youth to find creative means to solve their conflicts. With this support Heartbeat’s youth musicians will continue working to embrace music’s full power to make this world the world of our best imaginations. To get there, we have a lot of work to do and a lot of music to make.”