To many people, the events surrounding the election of 2016 seemed like the culmination of a long, brutal war. A media war to be precise, but a war nonetheless. Before Thanksgiving, television, newspapers, magazines and Internet blogs were full of confusing (sometimes conflicting) psychobabble about how best to deal with awkward political discussions over turkey and stuffing between family members with opposing viewpoints. Those discussions may well carry over to Christmas gatherings. Political discourse is nothing new to any of us. True, situations, ideology, causes and personalities change, but discourse remains just the same.
Forty-seven years ago this Friday, a protest was started by two of the most recognizable music personalities of our generation — a protest that culminated in a cherished Christmas song whose original genesis and meaning has been lost and long ago forgotten by most who hear it today. On December 16, 1969, John Lennon and Yoko Ono flew to Toronto, Canada to kick off a global campaign protesting the Vietnam War they called “WAR IS OVER!”
The launch began when huge black and white billboards were revealed in 12 countries proclaiming “War is over! If you want it. Happy Christmas from John & Yoko”. The campaign was launched in 12 major cities: New York, Los Angeles, Toronto, Rome, Athens, Amsterdam, Berlin, Paris, London, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Helsinki. In some of the countries the message was translated into the native language. In Toronto, 30 roadside billboards were set up. The city was peppered with thousands of posters and handbills bearing the obverse holiday greeting from rock ‘n roll’s most famous newlyweds. Ironically, only in Lennon’s hometown of London were the posters defaced.
The night before the big reveal, Lennon performed with the Plastic Ono Band at UNICEF’s “Peace for Christmas” concert at the Lyceum Ballroom in central London. It was John’s first live performance in England in four years. The day of the show, Eric Clapton unexpectedly showed up with members of The Delaney and Bonnie Band, which included George Harrison at the time. Who drummer Keith Moon also tagged along. And even though it wasn’t planned, Lennon welcomed the newcomers, saying, “I thought it was fantastic. I was really into it. We were doing the show and George and Bonnie and Delaney, Billy Preston and all that crowd turned up.” This would be the first time that Lennon and Harrison performed together since the Beatles’ rooftop concert at Abbey Road studios on January 30, 1969. The performance itself turned into one massive supergroup jam. They played only two songs — “Cold Turkey” and “Don’t Worry Kyoko” — but those two songs stretched out for over 25 minutes.
The concert would tie John and Yoko’s “War is Over” campaign with the month of December and the Christmas holiday for the rest of their lives. In December of 1969, the Vietnam war was reaching it’s zenith as American deaths reached 40,000. The anti-war movement also reached a climax the month before when, on November 15, 1969, 250,000 people marched in Washington D.C. in the largest anti-war demonstration in the nation’s history. At the Washington Monument, Pete Seeger led the demonstrators singing Lennon’s song, “Give Peace a Chance.”
Like the enigmatic Lennon himself, not everyone understood John and Yoko’s “War Is Over!” campaign. Poet John Sinclair, the Michigan anti-war activist and White Panther leader (who would soon be sentenced to ten years in prison for selling two joints to an undercover cop) declared, “You are going to sound awfully f-ing stupid trying to tell the heroic Vietnamese people that ‘the war is over if you want it’ while they are being burned and bombed and blown out of their pitiful little huts and fields.” Far from being upset by the criticism, John Lennon wrote the song “John Sinclair” and recorded it for his next album, Some Time in New York City (1972). The lyrics lamented Sinclair’s heavy punishment with the chorus: “They gave him ten for two — what else can the bastards do? Gotta, gotta, gotta set him free.”
However, Lennon did note that Sinclair had missed the point; the campaign was directed at the American people, not the Vietnamese. “You’ve got the power,” Lennon told young Americans in an interview. “All we have to do is remember that: we’ve all got the power. That’s why we said ‘war is over if you want it.’ . . . . Don’t believe that jazz that there’s nothing you can do, ‘just turn on and drop out, man.’ You’ve got to turn on and drop in. Or they’re going to drop all over you.”
Lennon began to realize that perhaps he too had missed the point. John never forgot the adverse publicity the Fab Four garnered back in 1966 when he declared that “The Beatles are more popular than Jesus.” Lennon was asked about the controversy during that trip to Canada to kick of the “War is Over” campaign. Rather than back off that caustic statement, he repeated his opinion that the Beatles were indeed more influential on young people than Christ, adding that some ministers had agreed with him. He called the protesters in the U.S. “fascist Christians,” saying he was “very big on Christ. I’ve always fancied him. He was right.” In 1978, he credited his perceived blasphemous malaprop for an end to the Beatles’ touring, saying “if I hadn’t said [that] and upset the very Christian Ku Klux Klan, well, Lord, I might still be up there with all the other performing fleas! God bless America. Thank you, Jesus.”
Make no mistake about it, John Lennon was very aware of his image and regardless of his churlish impromptu Jesus statement, he didn’t want his “War is Over” campaign to meet the same fate as The Beatles. Lennon concluded, “Now I understand what you have to do: Put your political message across with a little honey.” After two years of public and private protests, Lennon decided to encapsulate his views the way he knew best, in a song: A Christmas song he deftly titled “Happy Xmas (War Is Over).” Though now a Christmas standard, Lennon originally penned this as a protest song about the Vietnam War, and the idea “that we’re just as responsible as the man who pushes the button. As long as people imagine that somebody’s doing it to them and that they have no control, then they have no control.”
Lennon first recorded a home demo of the song in early October 1971. Few of the words were in place, but the melody and structure was nearly complete. Although “Happy Xmas (War Is Over)” is a song about the Vietnam war, it featured a universal message. Lennon wrote the song building on the commercially successful messages he had conveyed in songs such as “Give Peace A Chance” and “Power To The People.” Lennon skillfully penned a catchy, simple lyrical refrain which he hoped anyone could understand. Unlike the billboards two years previous, this message would last.
Both Lennon and the song’s producer, Phil Spector, claimed the song’s melody was based on The Paris Sisters’ 1961 Spector produced hit “I Love How You Love Me.” However, some music fans say the verses are more closely related to Peter, Paul and Mary’s version of the American folk song “Stewball.” “Happy Xmas (War Is Over)” was recorded at the Record Plant East in New York City on October 28, 1971 in a session that ended around 4 a.m.
On October 31 the Harlem Community Choir, featuring around 30 children, was brought in to add backing vocals. It’s interesting that a Christmas song was finished by children on Halloween. Lennon evidently had trouble singing the high notes of the middle section, so Yoko sang them in the final version. The sleeve photography for the single was taken during this final session. The label for the single featured a five-shot sequence of Lennon’s face morphing into Ono’s. It was the first time the Apple Records logo had not been used on a Lennon single. The photographs were taken by Ian Macmillan, who also took the iconic cover shots for The Beatles’ Abbey Road album.
Released in the U.S. in 1971 and in the UK the following year, “Happy Xmas (War Is Over)” was not a commercial success initially. Mainly because, since the song was recorded so late in the year, there was very little time to promote it. The single, which was issued on both green and black vinyl, failed to make the U.S. charts but reached number four in the UK in 1972.
On December 8, 1980, almost 11 years to the day after the “War is Over” campaign began, John Lennon was murdered by a crazed fan whose perception of Lennon was that of a “faker.” After his death, the song was reissued in the UK and reached number two. The year he died, John said, “’War is over if you want it.’ It was still that same message — the idea that we’re just as responsible as the man who pushes the button. As long as people imagine that somebody’s doing it to them, and that they have no control, then they have no control.” A statement that, with only minor editing, could easily be applied to the 2016 election outcome to be sure.
Yoko Ono is still carrying on the “War is Over” campaign today using a modern crowd-sourcing approach. Posters are available to download and print in over 100 languages on the WAR IS OVER! website, and Yoko has taken to social media to push the campaign in a modern age. John Lennon’s estate has continued working with UNICEF as well. This year, you can download an app that lets you create and share your own version of “Imagine” to promote the charity. Make your own video for the #IMAGINE Project and see others here. Every video upload “unlocks” $1 for UNICEF. With peace in mind, Happy Christmas to everyone and as far as the 2016 election is concerned, the war is over.
Al Hunter is the author of the “Haunted Indianapolis” and co-author of the “Haunted Irvington” and “Indiana National Road” book series. His newest books are “Bumps in the Night. Stories from the Weekly View.” and “Irvington Haunts. The Tour Guide.” Contact Al directly at Huntvault@aol.com or become a friend on Facebook.
