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Over the decades, John Lennon's songs have been covered by hundreds of thousands of artists. Just think of all the people -- from unknown Eurasian bar bands to Lada Gaga -- who have had a crack at "Imagine."

Today would have been Lennon's 71st birthday, and I'm celebrating the occasion by rounding up five of what I feel are the best performances of Lennon's songs by other artists.

Video-wise, my favorite of this bunch is "How?" by Ozzy Osbourne, in which he hits the streets of New York City -- old-school John Lennon-style -- en route to pay his respects to the man himself.

I'm also happy to include Paul Weller on this list; Weller, the former front man of The Jam, is a huge Lennon disciple who has covered several Lennon songs as B-sides. And the only flaw in Pearl Jam's "Gimme Some Truth" is that it lacks anything even close to George Harrison's perfect slide-guitar solo on the original Lennon version.

Since you're here, be sure to take this poll and vote on the best John Lennon solo album. Do we really want Imagine to win? Well ... yeah, I guess we do, actually.

Happy birthday, John Lennon! It sucks that you're gone.

OZZY OSBOURNE
How? (Originally from Imagine, 1971)

PEARL JAM
Gimme Some Truth (Originally from Imagine, 1971)

RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS
I Found Out (Originally from John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band, 1970)

PAUL WELLER
Instant Karma (Originally released as a single in early 1970)

NEIL YOUNG
Imagine (Originally from Imagine, 1971)

Damian Fanelli, the online managing editor at Guitar World, has performed around the world as a member of Mister Neutron, The Blue Meanies (the New York version) and/or The Gas House Gorillas. He loves anything associated with Quebec, which is why he's really into Godin and Richmond guitars at the moment.

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