'' is a song by English Singer-songwriter John Lennon with his wife Yoko Ono . It was recorded at Record Plant Studios in New York City in late October of 1971 , with the help of producer Phil Spector . It features soaring, heavily echoed vocals, and a sing-along chorus. The children singing in the background were from the Harlem Community Choir and are credited on the song's single.
Although the song is a Protest Song about the Vietnam War , it has become a Christmas Standard and has appeared on several Christmas albums.
The lyrics are based on a campaign in late , Tokyo , Rome , Athens , Amsterdam , and London . At the time the United States was deeply entrenched in the unpopular Vietnam War . The line "War is over/If you want it/War is over/Now!", as sung by the background vocals, was taken directly from the billboards.
The song's melody is partly derived from the folk standard known as " Skewball " or "Stewball". "Ger Tillekens, Baroque and folk and ... John Lennon" , Soundscapes
The record starts with a barely-audible whisper of Christmas greetings to their children: Yoko whispers "Happy Christmas, Kyoko ," then John whispers "Happy Christmas, Julian ." The lyric sheet from the 1982 release The John Lennon Collection erroneously gives this introduction as "Happy Christmas, Yoko. Happy Christmas, John."
The single was released on December 6 1971 in the US; the UK release was delayed until the following November due to a publishing dispute. Directly following John Lennon's death on December 8 1980 , the song was re-released in the UK on December 20 1980 . It is known as the "secret number one", as it featured top in the Singles Chart for the week ending January 3 1981 , which was unpublished (as was usual for the Christmas week at that time). Thus, it is rarely (if ever) credited as a number one single. http://www.everyhit.com/number1quirks.html ''Everyhit.com''
Musicians on the original recording were:
- Vocals: John Lennon, Yoko Ono, and the Harlem Community Choir
- Guitar and Bass Guitar: Hugh McCracken , Chris Osborn, Teddy Irwin, Stuart Scharf
- Keyboards, Chimes, Glockenspiel: Nicky Hopkins
- Drums, Sleigh Bells: Jim Keltner
Klaus Voorman was supposed to play bass guitar on the song, but was unable to attend the session when his plane was delayed. One of the four guitarists played the bass part, but it is unknown which one.Chip Madinger and Mark Easter, Eight Arms To Hold You: The Beatles Solo Compendium (Chesterfield, MO: 44.1 Productions, 2000), 65-66.
- A Swedish version of the song is known as ''Låt julen förkunna'', and that text was written by Py Bäckman and recorded by Tommy Körberg and Sissel Kyrkjebø in 1989 .
- In 1990 this song was covered by the Welsh band The Alarm , using the title "Happy Christmas (War is Over)" on the album " Standards "
- In 1993, The K Foundation and the Red Army Choir produced " K Cera Cera " which was built around the songs "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)" and " Que Sera Sera "
- The song is heavily covered in rock circles by bands such as Maroon 5 , Thrice , The Fray , The Polyphonic Spree , An Angle , Street Drum Corps , The Used and Acceptance .
- Jimmy Buffett covered the song on his 1996 album '' Christmas Island ''.
- An instrumental version of the song was recorded by Tomoyasu Hotei and appears on the first " Merry Axemas " instrumental guitar Christmas album, organized by Steve Vai and released in 1997.
- Céline Dion covered the song on her 1998 album '' These Are Special Times ''.
- Melissa Etheridge recorded a live version.
- A Darkwave cover was recorded by The Crüxshadows and released on a 1999 Christmas compilation by Projekt Records .
- The Corrs included a live version as a bonus track on the "Live in London" dvd (2001).
- In 2003, it was covered in 2003 by the finalists of Pop Idol 2 , and by Rebecca St. James on her '' Christmas '' album
- Delta Goodrem recorded her own version as a B-side for her single " Predictable ", where she changed the lyrics "war is over" to "let the war be over".
- Los Angeles based artist John Romano scored a hit with the song during the 2005 holiday season.
- Shinedown has a single of the song on ITunes .
- Sarah McLachlan led off her 2006 Christmas album, '' Wintersong '' with a cover of this song.
- The Used has a single of the song available on Limewire
- The Fray released a cover of the song on ITunes on 2006-12-12 , recorded just nine days earlier at The Palms. The Fray's version was able to chart on the Billboard Hot 100 at #50, marking the first time the song has appeared on the charts.
- Joey Tempest and Mic Michaeli from the rock band Europe performed the song live on Swedish TV on December 17, 2006.
- The Moody Blues performed the song on their Christmas album " December (album) ".
- A cover by former Nightwish lead singer Tarja Turunen appears on her 2006 album Henkäys Ikuisuudesta .
- In 2007, ''.
- A cover performed live by Masayuki Suzuki , Skoop on Somebody, and Matsuura Aya at the 2006 Happy XMAS show on 12-24-2006
- The late Boston singer Brad Delp did a live cover version for a Christmas charity concert in New Hampshire for WZID .
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