Happy Xmas (War Is Over)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)" | ||
|---|---|---|
 |
||
| Single by John & Yoko, The Plastic Ono Band with the Harlem Community Choir | ||
| Released | 1971 | |
| Format | 7" vinyl | |
| Recorded | 1971 | |
| Genre | Rock/Pop | |
| Writer(s) | John Lennon (taken from a trad melody) | |
| Producer(s) | Phil Spector, John Lennon and Yoko Ono | |
| Chart positions | ||
|
||
| John & Yoko, The Plastic Ono Band with the Harlem Community Choir singles chronology | ||
| "Imagine"/"It's So Hard" (1971) |
"Happy Xmas (War Is Over)"/"Listen, the Snow is Falling" (1971) |
"Woman Is the Nigger of the World" (1972) |
Happy Xmas (War Is Over) is a song that was written by John Lennon with help from Yoko Ono. It was recorded at Record Plant Studios in New York City in late October of 1971, with the help of producer Phil Spector. It features soaring, heavily echoed vocals, and a sing-along chorus. The children singing in the background were from the Harlem Community Choir and are credited on the song's single.
Directly following John Lennon's death on December 8, 1980, the song was re-released in the UK on December 20 of that year.
Although the song is a protest song about the Vietnam War, it has become a Christmas standard and has appeared on several Christmas records. It was covered by Céline Dion on her These Are Special Times 1998 album. One of the best known versions was recorded live by Melissa Etheridge. Los Angeles based artist John Romano scored a hit with the song during the 2005 holiday season.
The lyrics are based on a campaign in late 1969 by John Lennon and his wife Yoko Ono, who rented billboards and posters in eleven cities around the world that read: "WAR IS OVER! (If You Want It) Happy Christmas from John and Yoko." Five of the eleven cities included in the billboard campaign were New York, Tokyo, Rome, Amsterdam, and London. At the time the United States was deeply entrenched in the Vietnam War, which would later become a major political debacle. The line "War is over/If you want it/War is over/Now!", as sung by the background vocals, was taken directly from the billboards.
The song is heavily covered in rock circles by bands such as Thrice, An Angle, The Used, and Acceptance.
It was also covered by the finalists of Pop Idol 2 in 2003 and by Rebecca St. James on her album entitled Christmas.
Also in 2003, Delta Goodrem recorded the song as a B-side on her single Predictable, but changing the lyrics "war is over" to "let the war be over".
In addition, it's been covered by Sarah McLachlan on her 2006 Christmas album, Wintersong, and is featured on Jimmy Buffett's album, Christmas Island.
A Swedish language version of the song is known as Låt julen förkunna, and that text was written by Py Bäckman and recorded by Tommy Körberg and Sissel Kyrkjebø in 1989.
