Give Peace a Chance
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| "Give Peace a Chance" | ||
|---|---|---|
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| Single by John Lennon credited as Plastic Ono Band | ||
| Released | 1969 | |
| Format | 7" vinyl | |
| Recorded | 1 June 1969 | |
| Genre | Rock/Pop | |
| Length | 4:54 | |
| Label | Apple | |
| Writer(s) | John Lennon (originally credited to Lennon-McCartney) | |
| Producer(s) | John and Yoko Ono Lennon | |
| Chart positions | ||
| John Lennon credited as Plastic Ono Band singles chronology | ||
| "Give Peace a Chance" (1969) |
"Cold Turkey" (1969) |
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"Give Peace a Chance" is a song written by John Lennon and originally credited to Lennon-McCartney (John Lennon and Paul McCartney). However, when Lennon's live album Live in New York City (recorded in 1972), was reissued in the 1990s, "Give Peace a Chance" was credited solely to Lennon. End credits of the 2006 documentary "The U.S. vs. John Lennon" (in which the song appears) also list John Lennon as the sole writer of this song.
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[edit] Writing
Early in the Bed-In, a reporter asked John what he was trying to do. John said, "All we are saying is give peace a chance," spontaneously, but he liked the phrase and set it to music for the song. He sang the song several times during the Bed-In, and finally, on 1 June 1969, rented an 8-track tape machine from a local music store and recorded it in bed.
[edit] Recording
It was recorded by John Lennon and issued as a single under the name Plastic Ono Band. To maximize media exposure, newlyweds John Lennon and Yoko Ono originally intended to host their second "Bed-In" event in New York City (the first was held in Amsterdam), but U.S. immigration officials refused to allow Lennon in the country because of his November 1968 drug conviction in London. The couple instead chose Montreal because it was close to the U.S. border. The song was recorded on 1 June 1969 in Room 1742 at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal, Canada. The recording session was attended by dozens of journalists and various celebrities, including Timothy Leary, Rosemary Woodruff Leary, Petula Clark, Dick Gregory, Allen Ginsberg, Murray the K and Derek Taylor. John played acoustic guitar and was joined by Tommy Smothers of the Smothers Brothers, also on acoustic guitar.
[edit] Commercial Release
The "Give Peace A Chance" single (with Yoko Ono's "Remember Love" as the b-side) was released on 45 RPM vinyl in the UK on Friday, July 4, 1969 and Monday, July 7, 1969 in the U.S. The track's first full-length album appearance was on the Lennon hits compilation "The John Lennon Collection" issued November 1, 1982 in the UK (EMI/Parlophone Records) and November 8, 1982 (originally on Geffen Records, since re-released on Capitol Records). A significantly truncated version of the Montreal session and a snippet of the One to One Benefit concert performance of the song appear on Lennon's Shaved Fish hits compilation from 1975.
[edit] Popularity and chart position
Give Peace a Chance was the first "solo" single released by a member of the Beatles while the band was still intact, though, technically, the artist was credited as Plastic Ono Band, not John Lennon. It reached number 14 on the pop charts in the United States and was kept out of the top slot in the UK by The Rolling Stones' "Honky Tonk Women". The song has become a peace anthem and is often sung at protests.
[edit] The last verse
The original last verse of the song refers to: "John and Yoko, Timmy Leary, Rosemary, Tommy Smothers, Bobby Dylan, Tommy Cooper, Derek Taylor, Norman Mailer, Allen Ginsberg, Hare Krishna".
In the performance of "Give Peace a Chance" included on the Live Peace in Toronto 1969 album, Lennon couldn't remember the words and improvised with the names of the band members sharing the stage with him and anything that came to mind: "John and Yoko, Eric Clapton, Klaus Voormann, Penny Lane, Roosevelt, Nixon, Tommy Jones and Tommy Cooper, and somebody."
[edit] Trivia
- The single b-side is "Remember Love" by Yoko Ono. It is available as a bonus track on John & Yoko's Two Virgins CD, reissued in 1997 by Rykodisc.
- Paul McCartney performed the song as part of a tribute medley to John Lennon (Strawberry Fields Forever, Help!, Give Peace a Chance) during his world tour stop in Liverpool on June 28, 1990. The track was issued on one of the "All My Trials" CD singles.
- In 1991, Yoko Ono collaborated with Amina, Adam Ant, Sebastian Bach, Bros, Felix Cavaliere, Terence Trent D'Arby, Flea, John Frusciante, Peter Gabriel, Kadeem Hardison, Ofra Haza, Joe Higgs, Bruce Hornsby, Lee Jaffe, Al Jarreau, Jazzie B, Davey Johnstone, Lenny Kravitz, Cyndi Lauper, Sean Ono Lennon, Little Richard, LL Cool J, MC Hammer, Michael McDonald, Duff McKagan, Alannah Myles, New Voices of Freedom, Randy Newman, Tom Petty, Iggy Pop, Q-Tip, Bonnie Raitt, Run, Dave Stewart, Teena Marie, Little Steven Van Zandt, Don Was, Wendy & Lisa, Ahmet Zappa, Dweezil Zappa, and Moon Unit Zappa as the Peace Choir to perform a version of the song in response to the imminent Gulf War. This version hit #54 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart.
- In 2003, Yoko Ono released a remixed version of "Give Peace a Chance" in response to the events of 9/11.
[edit] References in Popular Culture
- It is sung by peace activists in Pretty Village, Pretty Flame.
- At the end of the 'Your Move' section of "I've Seen All Good People" by Yes, the chorus All we are saying/Is give peace a chance is the backing vocal.
- In the CGI animated film Antz (1998), worker ants sing an ode to hero ant Z-4195 (voice of Woody Allen) Give Z a Chance.
- In The Simpsons episode, "New Kids on the Blecch", Homer mentions it as being nonsense, along with rama lama ding dong.
- In the episode of The Wonder Years entitled "The Walk Out," Kevin Arnold leads his middle-school in a protest march against the Vietnam War. When the children gather in the school field, they are chanting, "All we are saying is give peace a chance." The episode is set in 1969.
- In the comic strip Zits, Jeremy, Hector, and Autumn sing this song after they release thousands of crickets on the school.
- In Nicaragua, during the political campaign for presidential elections (2006), Daniel Ortega (FSLN) used its melody, modifying the lyrics; it has been sung by almost every Nicaraguan who has heard it, regardless of his or her political preferences.
- In the Avalon song "Testify to Love", the words "Give peace a chance" are heard as background vocals immediately following the line "Every hand that reaches out to offer peace".
- In an episode of Rocko's Modern Life, a group of cub-scout parodies, the eagle scouts, try to get Heffer to join them in a "space cruise" after his father told him to give it up. They stood outside his home, near his bedroom window and sang, "All we are saying, is give Heff a chance."
- In the Joni Mitchell song "California", there is a lyric mentioning "Give Peace A Chance": "They won't give peace a chance, that was just a dream some of us had."
- In the song "Liar" by Bikini Kill, lyrics from "Give Peace a chance" were sung, followed by screaming. This was probably for humor.
