Cee Lo Green sparks controversy over lyrics change

By: Lauren Moraski
Topics: Music

Cee Lo Green performs at Bill & Giuliana Rancic Ring In New Year's Eve 2012 on Dec. 31, 2011, in New York.

(Credit: Getty)

(CBS) Cee Lo Green's New Year's Eve performance didn't win everyone over - particularly some John Lennon fans.

During his performance in New York's Times Square on Saturday night, "The Voice" judge changed the lyrics to Lennon's 1971 "Imagine" classic from "Nothing to kill or die for, and no religion too" to "Nothing to kill or die for, and all religion's true."

Criticism soon followed on Twitter, which according to the Huffington Post, prompted Green to tweet: "Yo I meant no disrespect by changing the lyric guys! I was trying to say a world were u could believe what u wanted that's all." That comment has since been taken down, but a search on Twitter will yield tweets blasting Green for swapping out the words.

Tell us: Do you take offense to Green's lyrics change?

Watch the video around the 4:00 mark to hear how Green changed the lyrics:

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by bobnjersey January 3, 2012 7:24 PM EST: [Do you take offense to Green's lyrics change?]
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he did what?

he changed two words of a song?

that fat b@st@ard ... who does he think he is?

compared to all the inequity ... starvation ... poverty ... and injustice in the world ... this is clearly a travesty ... on that should not be allowed to stand.

i'm never using 'nivea' products ... visiting times square ... or wearing long fur coats again!; Reply to this comment


by ssporleder January 3, 2012 12:45 PM EST: If it were not for The Voice, I would not know his name, and have heard him since then and he flat out gives me the creeps.

Imagine is one of the most beautiful songs, he should not have changed it - it was self-serving.; Reply to this comment


by redbirdrebirth January 3, 2012 12:12 AM EST: I'm so sick of anti-religious bigots. Cee Lo can say whatever he wants, Lennon is dead. Get over it. If he had said "I want to make to a donkey" no one would care.; Reply to this comment

by thrashd11 January 2, 2012 3:39 PM EST

Religion is about to be responsible for more violence and death in Iraq. Sunnis and ****** are about to have a civil war that will last possibly for decades. Their religious differences will cause how many deaths? Are the ones who believe the hardest going to win and go to heaven eternally? I doubt it. Religion is disaster for humankind. It gives humans a reason to side up and kill each other. Good luck on your quest for heaven by simply "BELIEVING".

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by boldandworthy January 11, 2012 6:45 PM EST: thrashd11, I just had to comment because you are correct when religion is perverted to serve means of violence it is not a religion that you want believed. Excellent comment!!


by thrashd11 January 2, 2012 3:34 PM EST: It is common knowledge among intelligent people that religion has been responsible for more human on human genocide and destruction than anything in the history of humankind. If there is a God he is not so stupid as to care whether you believe in him or not. He would be intelligent enough to only care about how you had treated your fellow man. So quit the holier than thou BS.; Reply to this comment

by thrashd11 January 2, 2012 3:31 PM EST

Religious people need to stop shoving their beliefs down people's throats. No one knows if there is a God or not. We'll all find out, or not, eventually. Until then live and let live without a "holier than thou" freeking attitude. Just maybe you will not go to heaven but at least we have all been given this wonderful life. We are all vey fortunate to have had a life at all.

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by goodness1multiplied January 2, 2012 4:31 PM EST: I try not to shove anyone or anyone belief down my throat or any person. We all no whats right or wrong. So lets take the lyrics from Michael Jackson"s song. And look at the man in the mirror instead of generalizing and painting anyone belief with prejudice or hate. IMAGINE That.


by redbirdrebirth January 3, 2012 12:11 AM EST: more atheists shove their "beliefs" down the collective throat than religious people do.

by Freepress1111 January 2, 2012 3:13 PM EST

As a musician for over 40 years, I can say that of the hundreds of truly great songs that John Lennon wrote, Imagine isn't one of them. All things, including the physical universe, exist to further the realization and awareness of the One Supreme Being. God gave humans free will, which interestingly includes the right to deny His very existence. In Imagine, John, like many others have done throughout history, wants to blame God for the fact that humans, of their own free will, have corrupted His creation. Would John be happy with a world full of people that actually do follow His word and love God with all their hearts and love their neighbors as they love themselves? I think he would.

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by Happy_Holidays1 January 2, 2012 3:47 PM EST: You're nuts.


by odd_man_out January 9, 2012 1:26 PM EST: Omniscience negates any idea of free will - you fail. But that being said when your supreme being designed, created and unleashed the plethora of pathogens, parasites and diseases did he realize he would be cruelly torturing 40,000 innocent children to death in horrific and painful ways each and every day? Does a child free will themselves to die of malnutrition and starvation while your god does absolutely nothing? Why not try thinking things and your superficial god concept through . . . .


by dpshaffer January 2, 2012 2:05 PM EST: It's so ridiculous that he changed the lyrics! He completely butchered the meaning of the song. We're in a time where music has been doped down and made only to appeal to the masses, with simple songs that are catchy but don't mean very much. Cee Lo took one of the biggest anthems in music and COMPLETELY changed its meaning! "Imagine" is a celebration of a world without focusing on religion, but focusing on each other. Saying "All religion's true" completely contradicts that. How dare he. And yes, I'm outraged, too.; Reply to this comment


by Jaylah54 January 2, 2012 1:51 PM EST: I've never understood the fascination with this midget that can only sing in falsetto anyway.

I always mute the television whenever I see him.; Reply to this comment