Pure Imagination Lyrics - WIlly Wonka Cast

"Pure Imagination" is a song sung with such surreal magnetism by Gene Wilder in the 1971 film Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory. Set on the magically mysterious environs of the Chocolate Factory Grounds, the song is an ode to the boundless scope of imagination and the marvels possible when one dares to think without boundaries.

Because, as the lyrics go, "Come with me / And you'll be / In a world of / Pure imagination," the listener is thusly left with the impression that this is a world without limitations; at least, those which the mind forces upon it. Literally, the first line in the lyrics invites the characters and, by extension, the viewers, to not hold anything back but rather to reach for open-ended channels of creativity and imagination.

It is thus a fact that, while Wonka is describing the wonders of his invention, he also notes this fact: what they will see "Will defy / Explanation," underlining the idea that the very nature of imagination and invention will escape full description or reason. It is thus a paean to the ineffable, the magical, the awesomely stunning parts of human creativity that go beyond the ordinary comprehension of it. The following chorus, "If you want to view paradise / Simply look around and view it / Anything you want to, do it," brings back powerfully that there is no other far-off or unattainable point to paradise; it is a state of being one can be in by the world around them and by pursuing their fancies. This is what affirms the power which each one claims to hold in the making of their reality and, arguably, the world at large, through the act of imagination and action.

It is in the song's last verses, "There is no / Life I know / To compare with / Pure imagination / Living there / You'll be free / If you truly wish to be," where the real essence of the song lies, for true freedom and fulfillment can only come by living in a state of constant wonder and imagination. Through it, there is a suggestion of man being able to exist in ways so much more fulfilling than anything existence in the physical world alone could be. Living there, he will be free if he truly wishes to be.

To illustrate, there is "Pure Imagination"—really, a philosophical reverie into the nature of one's creativity, exploration, and the infinite potential of the human spirit. It calls upon the listener to be invigorated by looking up and away from the ordinary, thinking grandly, and wondering what mysterious potential might lie just beyond the grasp of the common mind. With its beautiful tune and poetic lyrics, one is able to capture the core message that this film seems to be conveying relative to the transformation force of the imagination, assuring audiences to simply dream and dare.