2006-0203
John Lennon & Yoko Ono / The Plastic Ono Band with the Harlem Community Choir
Peak
50
Weeks
2
Score
164
Chart Year
2006
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. 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 #4. Eventually, the song became a Christmas classic in America, but it took a while. John and Yoko spent a lot of time in the late '60s and early '70s working to promote peace. In 1969, they put up billboards in major cities around the world that said, "War is over! (If you want it)." Two years later this slogan became the basis for this song when Lennon decided to make a Christmas record with an anti-war message. John also claimed another inspiration for writing the song: he said he was "sick of 'White Christmas.'" 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. Lennon and Ono produced this with the help of Phil Spector. Spector had worked on some of the later Beatles songs and also produced Lennon's "Instant Karma." It was not Spector's first foray into Christmas music: he and his famous session stars (including a 17-year-old Cher) spent six weeks in the summer of 1963 putting together A Christmas Gift for You from Phil Spector, featuring artists like The Ronettes and Darlene Love. Unfortunately, the album was released on November 22, 1963, which was the same day US president John F. Kennedy was assassinated. The album sold poorly as America was focused on news of the killing.
(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 road is so long And so happy Christmas For black and for white For yellow and red one 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 la, la, ah, ah Happy Christmas Happy Christmas (happy Christmas) Happy Christmas (happy Christmas)
| Week | Chart Date | Position | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dec 30, 2006 | 50 | 76 |
| 2 | Jan 6, 2007 | 89 | 37 |