Single:
Happy Xmas (War is Over) entered the Australian singles chart* on 18 December 1972 and peaked at #9. The song was #80 on the Top 100 of 1973.
Songwriters:
John Lennon, Yoko Ono
Producers:
Phil Spector, John Lennon, Yoko Ono
Record label of Australian release:
Apple
*Kent Music Report / Australian Chart Book. See About.
Wikipedia:
Happy Xmas (War Is Over) was the culmination of more than two years of peace activism undertaken by John Lennon and Yoko Ono that began with the bed-ins they convened in March and May 1969, the first of which took place during their honeymoon. The song’s direct antecedent was an international multimedia campaign launched by the couple in December 1969 – at the height of the counterculture movement and its protests against America’s involvement in the Vietnam War – that primarily consisted of renting billboard space in 12 major cities around the world for the display of black-and-white posters that declared “WAR IS OVER! If You Want It – Happy Christmas from John & Yoko”.
Read more: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Happy_Xmas_(War_Is_Over)
Songfacts:
This is a very unusual Christmas song. Instead of evoking sleigh bells and mistletoe, it asks us to think about those who live in fear, and collectively bring about the end of war. The call to action is the refrain “war is over, if you want it.”
It’s an esoteric but not unfounded concept that John Lennon and Yoko Ono also put forth in Imagine: If enough people want something to happen, it will. So the idea was to get us to actively desire peace, which could bring about the end of war.
Read more: www.songfacts.com/facts/john-lennon/happy-xmas-war-is-over
Lyrics:
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
Click for full lyrics
This song is also on our Spotify playlist Bang a Gong – the 70s
Also on Bang a Gong: Happy Xmas (War is Over) by The Incredible Penguins
Find more songs to enjoy: Bang a Gong song finder
BONUS CLIP: PEACE ON EARTH AT CHRISTMAS
John and Yoko’s peace activism: War is over (if you want it)
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