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 3.01. 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.)

Yoko Ono (Japanese: 小野 洋子) (see also best songs 168) was born on February 18th, 1933, in Tokyo, Empire of Japan, she is an artist, singer, songwriter, and peace activist, the Japanese translation of ‘Yoko’ means ‘ocean child.’ Yoko Ono and John Lennon (1940-1980) (see also best songs 927-473-168 and 20) first met on November 7th, 1966, at the ‘Indica Gallery,’ in London, where she was preparing ‘Unfinished Paintings,’ her conceptual art exhibit about interactive painting and sculpture, Lennon was intrigued by her work. In a 2002 interview Yoko Ono said, ‘I was very attracted to him. It was a really strange situation.’ On March 20th, 1969, John Lennon and Yoko Ono were married at the registry office in Gibraltar, and spent their honeymoon in Amsterdam, campaigning with a week-long ‘bed-in’ for peace, then on April 22nd, 1969, Lennon changed his name by deed poll, switching out ‘Winston’ for Ono as a middle name, Although official documents referred to him as John Winston Ono Lennon. After the Beatles disbanded in 1970, Ono and Lennon lived together in London, and then moved permanently to Manhattan to escape tabloid racism towards Ono. Their relationship became strained because Lennon was facing deportation due to drug charges that had been filed against him in England, and because of Ono’s separation from her daughter. The couple separated in July 1973, with Ono pursuing her career, and Lennon living between Los Angeles and New York with personal assistant May Pang, (see also best songs 927) Ono had given her blessing to Lennon and Pang’s relationship. John Lennon and Yoko One reconciled in 1974, and on October 9th, 1975, their son Sean was born. Following the birth of Sean, both Lennon and Ono took a hiatus from the music industry, with Lennon becoming a stay-at-home dad to care for his infant son. Lennon and Ono released their first new music in five years in November 1980, with the release of their joint Album ‘Double Fantasy.’ On the evening of December 8th, 1980, Lennon and Ono were at the ‘Record Plant Studio,’ and working on Ono’s song ‘Walking on Thin Ice.’ When they returned to ‘The Dakota’ (their home in Manhattan), Lennon was shot dead by Mark David Chapman, who had been stalking Lennon for two months. Yoko cradled the dying Lennon in her arms, and for a time afterwards, lived in constant fear of her own, and her son Sean’s assassination. The English press dubbed Yoko Ono ‘The woman who broke up the Beatles’ (see also best songs 599-319-238-218-141-80-51-10 and 5.) In an interview John Lennon explicitly denied that Yoko Ono broke up the Beatles, and George Harrison (1943-2001) (see also best songs 737 and 726) has said that the problems within the group began long before Ono came onto the scene. Yoko Ono herself has said that the Beatles broke up without any direct involvement from her, adding “I don’t think I could have tried even to break them up.’ In 2012, Paul McCartney (see also best songs 646 and 107) revealed that he did not blame Yoko Ono for the breakup of the Beatles, and credited her with inspiring much of John Lennon’s post-Beatles work.

John Lennon 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.

John Lennon brought in Phil Spector (1939-2021) (see also best songs 782-737-192 and 127) 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, (1943-2022) 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.’