| "Give Peace a Chance" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by Plastic Ono Band | ||||
| B-side | "Remember Love" (Yoko Ono) | |||
| Released | 4 July 1969 (UK) 7 July 1969 (US) |
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| Format | 7" | |||
| Recorded | 1 June 1969 in Montreal, Quebec | |||
| Genre | Rock | |||
| Length | 4:54 | |||
| Label | Apple | |||
| Writer(s) | Lennon–McCartney (original release) John Lennon (reissues) |
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| Producer | John Lennon and Yoko Ono | |||
| Plastic Ono Band singles chronology | ||||
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"Give Peace a Chance" is a song written by John Lennon, originally under the moniker Lennon–McCartney, released as a single in 1969 by the Plastic Ono Band on Apple Records, catalogue Apple 13 in the United Kingdom, Apple 1809 in the United States. It is the first solo single issued by Lennon, and became an anthem of the American anti-war movement during the 1970s. It peaked at #14 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #2 on the British singles chart.
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The song was written during Lennon's ‘Bed-In’ honeymoon: when asked by a reporter what he was trying to achieve by staying in bed, Lennon answered spontaneously "All we are saying is give peace a chance"; He sang the song several times during the Bed-In. Finally, on 1 June 1969, in Room 1742 at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal, André Perry recorded it using a simple setup of four microphones and a four-track tape recorder rented from a local recording studio.[1] The recording session was attended by dozens of journalists and various celebrities, including Timothy Leary, Rabbi Abraham Feinberg, Joseph Schwartz, Allan Rock, Rosemary Woodruff Leary, Petula Clark, Dick Gregory, Allen Ginsberg, Murray the K and Derek Taylor, many of whom are mentioned in the lyrics. Lennon played acoustic guitar and was joined by Tommy Smothers of the Smothers Brothers, also on acoustic guitar.
When released in 1969, the song was credited to Lennon–McCartney. On some later releases, only Lennon is credited; viz. the 1990s reissue of the 1972 album Live in New York City, the 2006 documentary The U.S. vs. John Lennon, and the 1997 compilation album Lennon Legend: The Very Best of John Lennon and its DVD version six years later. Lennon later stated his regrets about being “guilty enough to give McCartney credit as co-writer on my first independent single instead of giving it to Yoko, who had actually written it with me.”[2] However, it has also been suggested that the credit was a way of thanks to McCartney for helping him record "The Ballad of John and Yoko" at short notice.[3]
After its issue as a single, with Yoko Ono's "Remember Love" on the B-side, it appeared on album in a truncated form for the singles compilation Shaved Fish in 1975. The track's first full-length album appearance was on the compilation The John Lennon Collection. Although technically the first "solo" single released by a member of the Beatles while the band was still intact, the artist credit was to the Plastic Ono Band, not John Lennon.
The song reached number 2 in the UK Singles Chart where it was kept out of the top slot by The Rolling Stones' "Honky Tonk Women", and number 14 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the US.
The song quickly became the anthem of the anti Vietnam-war movement, and was sung by half a million demonstrators in Washington, DC at the Vietnam Moratorium Day, on 15 October 1969.[4] They were led by the renowned folk singer Pete Seeger, who interspersed phrases like, "Are you listening, Nixon?" and "Are you listening, Agnew?", between the choruses of protesters singing, "All we are saying ... is give peace a chance".[5]
The British group Yes also paid tribute to Lennon's words on their 1971 release "The Yes Album." The first track on side two is the song, "I've Seen All Good People" which is divided into two parts, namely "Your Move" and "All Good People." The words, "all we are saying is give peace a chance" are sung as background vocals near the end of "Your Move." The song also contains the lyric, "Send an instant karma to me." "Instant Karma!," released in 1970, was the name of the third single by John Lennon and Yoko Ono/The Plastic Ono Band.
Written by John Lennon while The Beatles were officially still together, the song is one of three Lennon solo songs, along with "Instant Karma!" and "Imagine", in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll. Being one of John Lennon's most famous songs, it has since been released on almost every compilation of his solo work.
In the single version of the song, the 4th verse was omitted, and there is a count off of 1, 2, 3, 4, in German on the single. 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 and The Beatles" (The Beatles were still together at that time until 1970).
In the performance of "Give Peace a Chance" included on the Live Peace in Toronto 1969 album, Lennon openly stated that he could not remember all of 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."
The third verse contains a reference to masturbation, but Lennon changed this to "mastication" on the official lyric sheet. He later admitted this was a "cop out" but wanted to avoid unnecessary controversy.[6]
| Chart (1969) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Canadian RPM Singles Chart | 8 |
| Germany | 4 |
| Netherlands | 1 |
| UK Singles Chart | 2 |
| US Billboard Hot 100 | 14 |
| "Give Peace a Chance" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
TW50070 |
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| Single by Yoko Ono | ||||
| Released | 1 June 2008 (TW50066) 1 July 2008 (TW50069) 18 February 2009 (Int'l Remixes) |
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| Format | Digital download | |||
| Genre | Electronica, Remix | |||
| Label | Mind Train, Twisted Records | |||
| Yoko Ono singles chronology | ||||
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On 1 June 2008, the 39th anniversary of the song's recording, the first of three digital-only (and thus environmentally friendly) singles was released through Twisted Records exclusively on Beatport with remixes featuring a newly recorded vocal by Yoko Ono.[7] It reached #1 on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart on 16 August 2008. These are not the first remixes Ono has done of this song: in 2005, she did a new version recalling the events of the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks on Truth; and one of the first remixes with the lyrics used in this mix was released on the Open Your Box remix album. The last instalment was released 18 February 2009, Yoko's birthday.
| Preceded by "Give It 2 Me" by Madonna |
US Billboard Hot Dance Club Play number-one single 16 August 2008 |
Succeeded by "I Decided" by Solange |
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