Fair enough, I will give a listen to that song, when I’m able.
Perhaps your interpretation of the events is correct, that he simply wasn’t able to say the line because he found it was blasphemous and in turn changed it to something less so, even though it made the line incoherent.
Is he a deeply religious man though? He never struck me as such, then again, I don’t know much about him. I just figured anyone on “the voice” was automatically in league with Satan…
He does apparently come from a religious background, but particualrly if you are conventionally religious, “All religions true” is just as blasphemous as “no religion, too.” The difference is that one is atheistic and anti-religious in that it’s a criticism of the idea of believing in someone else’s doctrine, and the other is a generic Hallmark Greeting Card sentiment that doesn’t make a lot of sense, doesn’t fit with the rest of the song, and doesn’t even fit very well with the explanation Green gave.
Sounds like a stupid change.
I will never understand the love affair people have with that song, though.
Some of its covers are great for falling asleep to, IME. I’m not much of a slow songs kind of girl, ok?
I doubt that he thought so hard on it. He probably just didn’t like the idea of no religion, and doesn’t know or care about the logical contradictions of all of them being true.
I don’t know a lot about Cee Lo, but he doesn’t strike me as a stupid man. He does strike me as someone who would do this for exactly the response it’s getting. 
John Lennon wasn’t a poet, a philosopher, or a particularly deep thinker. Just about anything he said has been said better by somebody else, usually a lot better. I’m not affected by the premises of the song, I’m affected by the yearning the song expresses, trapped between a dying world and a world that may never be born. That, I relate to.
I guess I wasn’t crazy when I thought I heard the change. FWIW, I don’t particularly like the song because when I imagine no religion and no concern about the afterlife I tend to visualize anarchy with massive looting and violence (yes-I’m a bit of a pessimist). That said, if you don’t want to sing about no religion then just skip that verse.
That’s not pessimistic, it’s idiotic.
Then maybe he should have chosen a different song to sing.
I’m wondering if “Imagine there’s no heavan … no hell below us …” didn’t seem like as big a blaspheme. Or did he change those lines too?
I think it was George Carlin who once suggested that maybe it would be funny if whatever anyone believed was right. If you believed in God, you’d die and meet Him. If you didn’t you’d rot in the ground. (Of course, he managed to make this much funnier than I just did.)
If this were to be the case, then yes, all religions would be true.
If Cee Lo Green were cognizant of that, and if he were a deep thinker…nah.
No, he didn’t change those lines. I agree that little thought went into the change he did make.
Presumably people who liked his version will be okay with changing some lyrics in the Star-Spangled Banner? I could make some suggestions.
Ooh, I’ll start: “Oh, say does that star-spangled banana still waaaaave…”
Wasn’t Cee Lo Green the guy that did the voice of the singing Demon Hot Tub on that episode of American Dad?
What about the time that Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel changed the lyrics to that Simon & Garfunkel song. You know the one Kodachrome where Simon & Garfunkel sing “everything looks worse in black and white”, but when Simon and Garfunkel sang it in Central Park they changed it to the exact opposite, “Everything looks better in black and white”.
Blasphemers!!
I bet Simon & Garfunkel are turning over in their graves over the change made by Simon and Garfunkel
Garfunkel wasn’t involved in the recording of “Kodachrome,” which appeared on the album There Goes Rhymin’ Simon
You know, I have a hard time caring about this, but anyone saying it’s the exact same thing as a parody or as an artist changing the lyrics to their own songs is either full of shit or retarded.
And didn’t he make a slow song…even slow
oh
er?
But see, it’s not anyone’s national anthem. It’s just a treacly pop song. People shouldn’t treat this thing like it’s a sacred cow and should stop freaking out over a reference to religion. Show some perspective.