John Lennon – Happy Xmas (War Is Over)

 I was at the grocery store this morning buying some water to take to work. A girl around 18-20 rang me up and this song started to play. She told me…”I know it’s Christmas when I hear this song.” I picked a good day to post it. 

This is my favorite Christmas song hands down. This song gets me in the Christmas mood like no other. The song is highly idealistic but that is alright. It was the early seventies and the time for idealism.

In 1969 John and Yoko had rented billboard spaces 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”. Two years later this slogan became the basis for this song when Lennon decided to make a Christmas record with an anti-war message…plus John said he was sick of White Christmas.

War is Over - John & Yoko Billboard - Time Square - NYC 1969. | Yoko, War, John lennon

John’s voice goes so well with this song. The song peaked at #2 in the UK charts in 1971….the song did peak at #42 in the Billboard 100 in 2019.

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, charting at #2. Eventually, the song became a Christmas classic in America, but it took a while.

Lennon originally wrote 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.”

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.

I think of High School when I hear this song. Our school had a Christmas poster contest and a buddy and I made a poster as a joke and wrote “So this is Christmas and what have you done another year over, and a new one just begun” and won first prize…with an assist from John.

This didn’t appear on an album until 1975, when it was included on Lennon’s Shaved Fish singles compilation. This is one of the first Lennon albums I bought.

Happy Xmas (War is Over)

(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

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Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, Alternative music, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player. Not the slightest bit interested in politics at all.

34 thoughts on “John Lennon – Happy Xmas (War Is Over)”

    1. I’m sorry Shelia! I just checked my spam filter and many were caught for some stupid reason. Yes I sure wish John was here. If someone else hasn’t replied to you…spam might have got your comment.

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      2. I think I would rather have a Christmas hit song…than a regular hit song…the royalities afterward Christmas would be huge…like with the Brenda Lee song this year.

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  4. a decent-sounding song in its own right but raised to greatness by the timeless, yet too oft forgotten message that really coincides so well with the time of year. One of John’s best works. I heard a cover of it, I thought it was Celine D (and someone else mentioned her I see), I kind of thought it was… well, not good… but I rethought and figured, hey, I might not like her take on it but it’s a great song and it’s so worth repeating, maybe some of her fans aren’t Lennon ones and therefore are hearing it anew, so it’s worthwhile.

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    1. I was blown away when that young girl said that this morning….I wrote that as soon as I got to work on it. That was cool that someone that young said it.

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  9. “Happy Xmas (War Is Over) definitely remains one of my all-time favorite pop/contemporary Christmas songs. Admittedly, the pool has shrunk over time, and there’s a good deal of other such songs that to me don’t hold up very well when you hear them again and again each season. “Happy Xmas” has a beautiful melody and I agree John’s vocals are a great fit!

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  11. We had one of their billboards in Dallas for a while. A nice tune with all the kids singing, but as you say, idealistic. It was the 70s and the Hippies were still holding on for dear life after Manson ruined their decade. I was in H.E.B. scrounging for groceries a few days ago and this played, then the next tune was ” All I Want For Christmas” by Vince Vance and the Valiants, then Run Run Rudolph, Then the Eagles Christmas song, then Brenda Lee’s “Rocking Around The Christmas Tree”, good Lord, I was in gingerbread overload. One of the food ladies gave me a bite of BBQ to counteract the sugar and I was able to finish buying my meager provisions.

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    1. That is getting hit with both barrels. I’m glad that BBQ balanced everything out Phil!
      Yea it’s very idealistic but I guess at the time it worked for many.

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  12. Pingback: Slade – Merry Xmas Everybody – PowerPop… An Eclectic Collection of Pop Culture

  13. I bought this in 1972 – Wikipedia isn’t always good for chart positions as they just list the peak, regardless of when it peaked. It hit 4 in 1972, then charted again in 1975, and hit 2 after his murder in 1980, kept off the top by a school choir! It charted again in the 80’s and 90’s and really got going with downloads and streaming, charting every year pretty much over the last 15 years = currently 22 and on well over 120 weeks on the chart, in slightly different versions = the original 70’s version is not the one charting in the 21st century though it’s more or less identical.

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  14. Pingback: John Lennon – Happy Xmas (War Is Over) – MobsterTiger

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