John Lennon and Yoko Ono have been involved in peace protests for years when they incorporated their message into a Christmas song in 1971. More than fifty years later it is one of the most famous Christmas songs of all time.
“War is over. If you want it. Happy Christmas from John & Yoko (War is over. If you want it. Merry Christmas from John & Yoko).” Lennon and Ono shared this text in 1969 on billboards in twelve major cities worldwide.
One of those cities is Amsterdam, where Lennon and Ono spent their honeymoon earlier that year. The couple spends most of their time in bed. Not because they find it difficult to keep their hands off each other, but to protest against the Vietnam War.
Two years after the legendary Bed-In Lennon scores a big hit with Imagine, making his message of peace accessible to large groups of listeners. “Now I know: you have to convey a political message with a little honey,” he said. And so it becomes Happy Xmas (War Is Over) born.
The song is about unity and enforcing social change in a peaceful way. Lennon says he tries to stay away from clichés – which many other Christmas songs fail to do.
Foto: Getty Images
Only a big hit after Lennon’s death
Where Mariah Carey, Wham! and Brenda Lee have consistently topped the charts in recent years, there was also a time when Christmas songs did a lot less well. This also applies in the first instance Happy Xmas (War Is Over). The song was released in 1971 in the United States. The release date is so close to Christmas that there is little time to promote the song on the radio, for example.
The song was not officially released until a year later in the United Kingdom, where it did achieve commercial success. The song reaches fourth place in the country’s official chart. Comes to the Netherlands Happy Xmas (War Is Over) It only entered the charts in 1973 and reached a not bad sixth place.
After Lennon’s death in December 1980, the song sold widely again. Achieved in the UK Happy Xmas (War Is Over) therefore second place. Lennons Imagine takes first place that week.
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Céline and Miley walk away with the hit
The song will appear again this year. Scores in the days before Christmas Happy Xmas (War Is Over) more than two million streams per day. This makes the song one of the fifty most listened to songs of the moment on Spotify.
World stars also walk away with the Christmas hit. Numerous cover versions of the song have already been made, by Céline Dion and John Legend, among others. Miley Cyrus also attempted a cover, together with Mark Ronson and Lennon’s son Sean.
“I always wanted to write a Christmas record, something that would last forever,” Lennon once said about the creation of Happy Xmas (War Is Over). And the fact that we are dealing with an evergreen here is clear from the now 500 million Spotify streams that the song has.
2023-12-24 11:01:08
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