THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

456-John Lennon and Yoko Ono. The Plastic Ono Band with the Harlem Community Choir-Happy Xmas (War Is Over.)

1972-Number 4 single. It has since charted on many other occasions at around Christmas, notably in 1980 when peaking at Number 2.

Best Bit-At 3.00. John Lennon once claimed that an inspiration for writing the song (presumably tongue in cheek) was that he was ‘Sick of White Christmas’ (see also best songs 457.)

John Lennon (see also best songs-solo 927-473-168 and 20, and with the Beatles 599-319-238-218-141-80-51-10 and 5) and Yoko Ono spent a lot of time working on promoting peace in the late 1960’s, and early 1970’s. In 1969 they paid for 12 black and white billboards to be erected in major cities around the world that said ‘War is over (if you want it’) Two years later the slogan became the basis for this song.

‘Happy Xmas (War Is Over’) was co-written by John Lennon and Yoko Ono, although how much input was from Ono is in doubt as she was not there to participate in the early stages of the songs demo. The song is essentially a protest song against American involvement in the Vietnam War, and was a way of elaborating upon the themes of social unity, and a continuation of the earlier billboard campaigns.

Lennon brought in Phil Spector (1939-2021) (see also best songs 782-737 and 192) to produce, Spector had already worked with the Beatles, and with Lennon as a solo artist, and had previous experience with working on a Christmas record, having produced the 1963 classic Album ‘A Christmas Gift for You from Phil Spector.’ The children singing on the track were hired from the ‘Harlem Community Choir’ in New York, the 30 children were aged between four to 12 years old.The songs melody borrows from two sources, one is the traditional English ballad ‘Skewball,’ where the verses of the song are close in structure to the 1963 rendition by the Folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary. Lennon also instructed the guitarists to incorporate mandolin style riffs similar to the ones heard in ‘Try Some, Buy Some,’ a song Phil Spector had produced for his wife Ronnie Spector, and written by George Harrison.

At the very start of the song Lennon and Ono can be heard whispering a Christmas greeting, Ono says ‘Happy Christmas Kyoko,’ followed by Lennon ‘Happy Christmas Julian,’ these are the children from their previous marriages.

‘Happy Xmas (War Is Over’) was first released in America in 1971, but failed to reach the Billboard top 40, probably because it was released too close to Christmas and therefore was not picked up by the radio stations in time. In the UK there was a dispute between Lennon and the music publishers ‘Northern Songs,’ meaning that the song wasn’t released until November 1972.

‘A very merry Xmas and a happy New Year, let’s hope it’s a good one without any fear.’