Happy Xmas (War Is Over) –

I hope everyone is having a fine Christmas so far! Here’s a rather short, quick, and simple LP Monday choice, but I hope you enjoy it ^^

“Happy Xmas (War Is Over)” (1971), John & Yoko/Plastic Ono Band. The first Christmas-related release by a Beatle after their breakup. They used to send an annual Christmas single to their fans in the Beatle fan club, and each one of them would write a Christmas tune during their solo years, beginning with this song by John.

One of Lennon’s many anti-war Vietnam songs, he said he took a lot of what he learned with his hit “Imagine” to write this song. “Put your political message across with a little honey,” he discovered. The song would release in the US in December 1971, but it wouldn’t chart or achieve much success initially. Due to its later release it received less radio play and wasn’t given an appropriate amount of time to gain popularity before the season was over. However, with its delayed release in the UK till the following year, it would do quite well over there since it would release with plenty of time before the holidays. Ultimately it would chart its highest though shortly following Lennon’s death in 1980. Since then it has slowly become a Christmas classic.

One more fun fact about the song is the commonly misheard beginning. At the start of the song Yoko whispers “Happy Christmas, Kyoko” followed by John whispering “Happy Christmas, Julian”. This was mistakenly listed as “Happy Christmas, Yoko” and “Happy Christmas, John” on the lyrics sheet for their compilation album which this single appears on. The actual names spoken are Kyoko and Julian, Ono’s and Lennon’s children, respectively.

I’ll end this short entry with this Christmas short film, directed by Wes Anderson and featuring Adrian Brody. Yes, technically it’s an advertisement for H&M, but it shows off the style and charm of a normal Wes Anderson feature film. It also features this song in its closing ^^