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By William E. Ketchum III
Just days after reports surfaced that Cee-Lo Green had been tapped to star in a new UK reality TV show, the eclectic entertainer upset John Lennon fans with his New Year’s Eve performance on NBC. Cee-Lo performed a soulful version of Lennon’s classic song “Imagine,” but he changed a lyric, sparking controversy. Lennon originally sang “nothing to kill or die for, and no religion to,” but Cee-Lo changed the latter line to “and all religion’s true.”
Fans of the Beatles songwriter/vocalist felt that the lyric switch changed the song’s original message of religion causing harm. Cee-Lo used his Twitter account to explain the reasoning for his rendition.
“Yo I meant no disrespect by changing the lyric guys,” Cee-Lo tweeted. His own music, both as a solo artist and as a member of Atlanta rap group Goodie Mob, has strong influences and samples old gospel spirituals. “I was trying to say a world were [sic] u could believe what u wanted that’s all.” He responded directly to other disgruntled fans, but he deleted the tweets shortly after posting them.
As RapFix reported last week, Cee-Lo recently signed on to star in a new British reality TV show about the Goodie Mob reuniting to record a new album in London. The show, title “Cee-Lo Takes The U.K.,” is handled by the same producer who enlisted Cee-Lo as a judge on music competition reality show “The Voice.” The self-proclaimed “Soul Machine” will also perform in a theatrical show entitled “Loberace” that will play at Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas.
