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October 8, 2010

Google's John Lennon Doodle

Google's doodle that celebrates the 70th anniversary of John Lennon's birthday doesn't seem special until you click on it.


Google embeds a short animated video for John Lennon's "Imagine". After using bigger doodles, image animations, particle simulations and JavaScript games, it's time for video doodles.


Unfortunately, clicking on the YouTube video doesn't send you to the search results page for [John Lennon], but Google used a trick: after playing the video, you're automatically redirected to the search results.

If you don't see the doodle on Google's homepage, go to Google Australia or Google India.

66 comments:

  1. I think someone at Google made an error... John Lennon's birthday was the 9th of October. Today is only the 8th. :D

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  2. yess... n now the tune"You may say i'm a dreamer" is stuck in my head

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  3. Most famous singer in history and they got the date of his birthday wrong.
    Fills me with confidence!!!!

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  4. I don't think they got the date of his birthday wrong. The Pac-Man doodle was added to the Google homepage one day before the game's 30th anniversary and it was taken down two days later.

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  5. Well done on an absolute magnificent doodle!! You guys ROCK!!

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  6. Why did you write "Unfortunately"?

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  7. John Lennon was THE greatest singer/songwriter that ever lived. A man of sublime genius.

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  8. Good things comes 1 day before

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  9. I'd like to see the stats on Lennon downloads after this. I bet you they spike like there's no tomorrow.

    BTW: For those who were confused about the date, don't forget that Australia is very close to the international date line. It is the 9th. for them.

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  10. FABULOUSSS doodle!!

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  11. Amazing!!!! Thank you, Google!

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  12. The video is not playing in my case. I am directly being redirected to the search result page. FYI i'm using Google chrome !!!

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  13. A message to Google and us all from John:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqP3wT5lpa4

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  14. Is keeeeewl.
    HB JL <3

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  15. Lennon's "Imagine" is anti-religious and I, for one, don't want to live in Lennon's world, much as I love the Beatles generally.

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  16. Imagine is not as "anti-religious" as it is anti- artificial-division. Look at the damage that religious and political schisms have caused over the last 40 years. Now, imagine what would have happened if we paid attention.

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  17. I think Lennon's "Imagine" is less anti-religious (as one writer put it) than that it's simply saying that we, as a people of the earth, shouldn't need religion to be at peace with our brothers and sisters who co-inhabit this place we call Earth. Then again, I guess I'm a dreamer too.
    John, wherever you are, your intentions were pure. Happy Birthday, my friend.

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  18. actually Australia and the Pacific are a day ahead of the States. so, it would seem that Google updated the logo almost time as they moved into October 9th.

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  19. tune stuck in head..

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  20. You may all want to know that this animation is inspired by John Lennon's own art! The portrait doodle used was actually drawn by Lennon himself and it quite well known amongst us old "Beatlemaniacs".

    The tune used is a clip from the song/album "Imagine".

    And yes, Oct 9th - tomorrow in the U.S., is John Lennon's birthday but the animation originated in Australia, remember they are ahead of us by a day.

    Happy Birthday, John, we miss you.

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  21. Kudos to the Google person or persons who originated the notion of paying tribute to John in this fashion; I'm now an even bigger fan of your company. Miss John and George, but thankful we still have Paul and Ringo.

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  22. The best google doodle ever. I love it

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  23. Love the doodle and the song "imagine" perfect timing!

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  24. Okay, I can understand celebrating the life of John Lennon for his part in the Beatles despite his rabid atheism/communism, but to celebrate his birthday with the piece of radical communist propaganda that is Imagine?

    It seems like those wanting to celebrate Lennon's life wouldn't want to focus on his support of one of the most evil (and thoroughly failed) political ideologies of recent history...

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  25. Also, even more significantly, as Nerd42 said, Imagine is overtly anti-religious (insulting that 85% of the world's population who ascribe to a religion).

    Lennon's dream of peaceful paradise will only come true upon the Second Coming of Christ and not for those, like him, who reject the One true God.

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  26. Y'know? I really enjoyed the animation, until the end, when it morphed back into the Google corporate logo to finish. Peace, love, Google? Meh.

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  27. Now imagine if your 85% of the worlds population that believe in their respective religions are all wrong. then imagine how the world would be if all those people with religious differences that have been in conflict with other religions all this time, actually put all that effort into just being good to one another instead of trying to prove whose religion is supposedly the right one.

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  28. Best google doodle so far! A great tribute. Can't wait to see what you come up with for the other 3 Beatles at significant times in their lives.

    And THANK YOU for realising that in Australia, the dates are not the same as on the other side of the world!! Better yet, we all get to see this for longer than usual.

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  29. Why wasn't HTML5 used? Come on google!

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  30. I want a doodle for myself, damnit!

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  31. Love everything about it! I don't mind it morphing back into the Google Corp logo. I can still see Lennon there. Congratulations, extremely clever and fantabulous doodle.

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  32. excellent doodle...very inspired..thank you

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  33. What a fantastic doodle!

    EarthTheCow, communism isn't evil in its own right. Evil is using all resources to sustain a few in power.

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  34. Imagine is anti-religous - for heaps of good reasons. Just unfortunate the Google decided not to include that section of the song.

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  35. A true disciple and mentor in our time.
    Thank You for all celebrating a wonderful persons gift to humanity and a wonderful human being.


    Joy Happiness Peace

    Nam Myo Ho ren ge kyo

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  36. I really hated seeing Lennon's eye glasses being used as the double o in google. Can't see him going for that sort of thing .He'd have become an "anti-everything that resembles monopolyism"

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  37. none of this is about hate neither was Lennon

    be happy, celebrate the good

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  38. John Lennon was a genius, and I also hope that one day the world may live as one...

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  39. Thanks you! I almost cry with this doodle!

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  40. No body could do it better -thank you Google for this wonderful tribute to a once-in-many-lifetimes genius. John would certainly have been very amused by the handful of critics!!

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  41. Thank You,It was a wonderful, well thought out surprise

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  42. Er its the 9th of October already in Australia. I think you guys are forgetting the entire world doesn't run on the US time zone.

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  43. it's already the 9th in the eastern side of the world. =)

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  44. thanks google and forget the complaints - it could have been a better world than the one we have now...

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  45. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okd3hLlvvLw

    Imagine there's no Heaven
    It's easy if you try
    No hell below us
    Above us only sky
    Imagine all the people
    Living for today

    Imagine there's no countries
    It isn't hard to do
    Nothing to kill or die for
    And no religion too
    Imagine all the people
    Living life in peace

    You may say that I'm a dreamer
    But I'm not the only one
    I hope someday you'll join us
    And the world will be as one

    Imagine no possessions
    I wonder if you can
    No need for greed or hunger
    A brotherhood of man
    Imagine all the people
    Sharing all the world

    You may say that I'm a dreamer
    But I'm not the only one
    I hope someday you'll join us
    And the world will live as one

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  46. I spent the best part of the day playing Real Love. Rerodan, Lagos, Nigeria

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  47. IMAGINE is the song of world government under the UN.

    It is communist, treasonous and I find it disgusting what Google does sometimes.

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  48. Lots of trolling here from EdCow and other damaged goods. One would have thought that that kind of people would hang out elsewhere on the internet...

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  49. Well, if Google wants to openly support the religious system of atheism/humanism, I don't really have a problem with that (though obviously it makes me less inclined to support them financially when there are good alternatives). It just _seems_ like that blatant anti-capitalism/anti-freedom/anti-democracy/anti-Americanism aren't things Google would be so eager to support.

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  50. I have to agree. Why not use HTML5's audio element? It would take two lines of code to declare fallbacks depending on the user's browser (an .ogg for FF and Chrome users and another one with .mp3 for Safari users) and still embed the song with flash as a third fallback for those still using IE.

    Tsk, tsk.

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  51. Its a great doodle... besides, even if the song is a little trying to convince people to become atheists, so what? Religions do that all the time? Why do you think some religions go door to door in the first place?

    Great doodle. Enough said.

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  52. http://www.simplygooglefromonepage.blogspot.com is a roundup of every Google search and service out there on one convenient page. For those people who don't have time to learn the shortcuts or creating smart keywords, this page puts everything Google has to offer on one page.

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  53. John Lennon inspired the world with his lyrics. Too bad he wasn't as thoughtful with his first son and the ex-wife. :(

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  54. Loved the Lennon doodle! In a small way it helped fans find a little relief from the pain caused by his early departure from life's stage.

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  55. "We, as a people of the earth, shouldn't need religion to be at peace"

    That is only true if several major world religions, including both Christianity and Islam just for starters, are basically false in their essential truth claims. (law of non-contradiction)

    I don't agree with the currently popular interpretation of history that wants to blame "religion" for wars, as though every point of view that disagrees with Lennon's radical materialistic ethically-subjective atheism is "religion" and "religion" can be blamed for all the world's woes. That basically boils down to, "The reason there are wars because people don't agree with me" which is in no way better than or above what any "religion" claims.

    No, actually all these "religious wars" were mostly about territory and economics more than "religion" however much the corrupt political leaders on either side wanted to toot the sacred horn and try to disguise their real motives with false/fake knock-off second-rate versions of great religions. The problem isn't "religion" it's human nature and at least some aspects of "religion" are part of the solution, not part of the problem.

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  56. Also, Lennon's lyric about the abolition of private property isn't about general concepts of unselfishness and cooperation, it's about MARXISM which anyone with any sense knows DOESN'T WORK.

    "Nothing to kill or die for" is actually the most sinister line, as Jean-Paul Sartre explored the implications of this.

    The answer to Richard Dawkins is C. S. Lewis!

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  57. Hope, for a few beats. I had missed it, and am glad I caught it here.

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  58. how do i get rid of it from the my google home page it's now the 14th october

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  59. the most beautiful google logo, I think ever has existed.

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  60. I'm quite sure Google weren't trying to promote atheism, Marxism or anything else like that. They just picked "Imagine" because it's Lennon's most famous song. They didn't even include the bit about no religion or possessions, they only had the fairly innocent and cheerful chorus, anyone who didn't already know the themes of the song still wouldn't after seeing the video.

    Btw, I don't agree with Lennon's anti-religious views (like Nerd42 said, most "religious wars" are and were actually in the name of economics and power) but I still admire him for his talent and his amazing contributions to music with the Beatles and on his own.

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  61. i thought it was great,no wait i know it was great!!

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  62. I bet this was john lennons best birthday ever amazing

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