I prefer Roxy's version anytime...don't you?

"Roxy Music version has become almost more well-known and regularly played than Lennon’s original."

http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liverpool-life/liverpool-lifestyle/2011/03/19/rock-of-ages-roxy-music-and-boy-george-100252-28362762/

'fraid not. I'm no great Lennon fan, but his original is certainly better than Roxy's limp version which really is indicative of their "wilderness years" in 1980 and 1981.

Being a fan of Lennon as well as Roxy I can't really split them though I have always thought the first live version they did in Germany is still far and away the best version Roxy or Ferry have done. The recorded version is very stark and uncluttered but the version they do now with the x factor overblown female shrieking leaves me cold.

Totally agree on all counts. That German version was great. The x factor-esque later live versions are my cue for the toilet break.

I've been mulling over this since erland's original posting. I was a huge Beatles fan as a kid, and Lennon in particular,and was devastated when they broke up - the timing felt especially cruel as it happened soon after my family could afford a record player!
My parents bought me the Imagine album for Xmas '71, and I played it to death in my cold bedroom while watching the snowflakes fall outside, there was something fragile and stark about this song that moved me so much (adolescent emotional wreck that I was), I still get goosebumps remembering how I felt.

Roxy became my heroes a few months later, and have stayed there. When the lads released this tribute, I was touched that they chose this song, it moved me again, I think they did a fantastic job and feel everyone contributed something personal and heartfelt.