John Lennon Songs - Happy Xmas (War Is Over) Lyrics

John Lennon - Happy Xmas (War Is Over)

John Lennon - Happy Xmas (War Is Over) Youtube Music Videos and Lyrics

Album: Shaved Fish
Released: 1971

Happy Xmas (War Is Over) Lyrics

(Happy Christmas Kyoko)
(Happy Christmas Julian)

So this is Christmas
And what have you done
Another year over
And a new one just begun
And so this is Christmas
I hope you have fun
The near and the dear one
The old and the young

A very Merry Christmas
And a happy new year
Let's hope it's a good one
Without any fear

And so this is Christmas
For weak and for strong
For rich and the poor ones
The world is so wrong
And so happy Christmas
For black and for white
For yellow and red ones
Let's stop all the fight

A very Merry Christmas
And a happy new year
Let's hope it's a good one
Without any fear

And so this is Christmas
And what have we done
Another year over
A new one just begun
And so happy Christmas
We hope you have fun
The near and the dear one
The old and the young

A very Merry Christmas
And a happy new year
Let's hope it's a good one
Without any fear
War is over, if you want it
War is over now

Happy Christmas

Writer/s: Ono, Yoko / Lennon, John
Publisher: Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Happy Xmas (War Is Over)

John Lennon and Yoko Ono wrote this in their New York City hotel room and recorded it during the evening of October 28 and into the morning of the 29th, 1971 at the Record Plant in New York. It was released in the US for Christmas, but didn't chart. The next year, it was released in the UK, where it did much better.

John and Yoko spent a lot of time in the late '60s and early '70s working to promote peace. In 1969, they put up billboard advertisements in major cities around the world that said, "War is over! (If you want it)." Two years later this slogan became the basis for this song when Lennon decided to make a Christmas record with an anti-war message. John also claimed another inspiration for writing the song: he said he was "sick of 'White Christmas.'"

The children's voices are the Harlem Community Choir, who were brought in to sing on this track. They are credited on the single along with Yoko and The Plastic Ono Band.

Lennon and Ono produced this with the help of Phil Spector. Spector had worked on some of the later Beatles songs and also produced Lennon's "Instant Karma." It was not Spector's first foray into Christmas music: he and his famous session stars (including a 17-year-old Cher) spent 6 weeks in the summer of 1963 putting together A Christmas Gift for You from Phil Spector, featuring artists like The Ronettes and Darlene Love. Unfortunately, the album was released on November 22, 1963, which was the same day US president John F. Kennedy was assassinated, and the album sold poorly as America was focused on news of the killing.

This was originally released on clear green vinyl with Yoko Ono's "Listen, The Snow Is Falling" as the B-side.

At the beginning of the song, two whispers can be heard. Yoko whispers: "Happy Christmas, Kyoko" (Kyoko Chan Cox is Yoko's daughter with Anthony Cox) and John whispers: "Happy Christmas, Julian" (John's son with Cynthia). (thanks, Martin - Rostock, Germany)

This being a Phil Spector production, four guitarists were brought in to play acoustic guitars: Hugh McCracken, Chris Osbourne, Stu Scharf and Teddy Irwin. McCracken had recently played on the Paul McCartney album Ram. Jim Keltner played drums and sleigh bells, Nicky Hopkins played chimes and glockenspiel. Keltner and Hopkins were part of Lennon's Plastic Ono Band, and a third member, Klaus Voorman, was supposed to play bass on this track, but got stuck on a flight from Germany. One of the guitarists brought in for the session cover the bass - which one nobody seems to remember.

Lennon was shot and killed less than three weeks before Christmas in 1980. The song was re-released in the UK on December 20th of that year.

This has been covered by The Alarm, The Cranes, The December People, and Melissa Etheridge (in a medley with "Give Peace a Chance"). The Australian artist Delta Goodrem also covered this in 2003. She received special permission from Yoko Ono to record the song. (thanks, Katie - Australia)

This was covered by a group called Street Drum Corps. Bert McCracken, the frontman for rock band The Used, supplied vocals for their cover. It appears on the album Taste Of Christmas, released in the winter of 2005. The album is a compilation of classic and original Christmas songs as done by artists on the Taste Of Chaos tour. (thanks, Chris - Andover, MN)

The chord sand melody borrow heavily from the traditional English folk standard "Skewball," in particular the 1963 version (titled "Stewball") by Peter, Paul and Mary.

When Lennon first played his demo for Phil Spector, the producer remarked that the song's opening line, "So this is Christmas...", was rhythmically identical to the Paris Sisters' 1961 hit "I Love How You Love Me," which he produced.

Though now a Christmas standard, Lennon originally penned this as a protest song about the Vietnam War, and the idea "that we're just as responsible as the man who pushes the button. As long as people imagine that somebody's doing it to them and that they have no control, then they have no control."