The first time I heard the song Imagine actually wasn't the song itself, amazingly enough.
I don't know how I managed this, given the song in question, but the first time I heard Imagine was when a local Beatles tribute band, who in truth were pretty good, played a show at a nearby mall, and they did Imagine as a tribute to Lennon. "That's a pretty lovely song" I thought, but, in perhaps true Jaq in the 80s style, my attention was quickly distracted by looking down and seeing someone had dropped some money on the floor behind the crowd of people watching the band. NINE DOLLARS!
This being 1981, nine dollars went a long way. Long enough to buy an album-Journey's Escape-and a paperback book. So part of me, whenever I think of Imagine, is still thinking "NINE BUCKS! I'M GONNA BUY AN ALBUM NOW!"