Yoko Ono recreates "Imagine" for John Lennon's 78th Birthday

Tuesday marked what would've been John Lennon's 78th birthday, and to honor her late husband, Yoko Ono released a cover of perhaps his most famous song, "Imagine."

I've never been a huge fan of Yoko, which I'll admit comes from my mom's relentless criticism of her as a home wrecker, but it doesn't exactly inhibit my appreciation of her as an artist. Her music is a hit-or-miss for most people, and though I'm one who holds very little judgment against odd voices, I can't say I'm a huge fan of her music.

This is why this cover surprised me, because I wasn't expecting it to be so oddly beautiful. I mean, I guess that's kind of the nature of the song in the first place, but I certainly didn't expect Yoko to be able to do it justice.

The cover is extremely simplistic -- Yoko's mournful voice slapped together with some atmospheric piano in the background, and eventually a slowed down version of Lennon's famous piano riff, comprise the entire 3 minutes and 35 seconds of the song. The haunting simplicity Yoko brings to Lennon's masterpiece to me perfectly encapsulates all the hopefulness and reflectiveness of the song. I have to say, this cover pleasantly surprised me, and I think that if John were still alive, he'd be thrilled that his wife was able to capture these things in such a beautiful way.