Things you didn't know about John Lennon's Happy X-Mas (War is Over)! Behind the Christmas Hits

John Lennon wasn’t one to do things small.  Whether it was his activism or his music, he wanted to touch as many people as possible...which is probably why it’s no surprise that he set himself a goal to write a Christmas song that would last forever. 

Here’s the story of how a slogan from a billboard campaign would go on to fulfill Lennon’s lofty ambitions. Today, Behind the Christmas Hits features John Lennon’s Happy Xmas (War is Over).” 

All four Beatles have recorded solo Christmas songs but John Lennon’s was the first. According to Yoko Ono, she and John loved Christmas music. Whether it was Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer or White Christmas, there were always holiday songs playing when their son Sean was young. And it was John who’d put up most of the decorations.  
But this is a Christmas song that’s also a protest song.
 
It began with John and Yoko’s famous “bed ins” in March 1969 to protest the Vietnam War. The first was at the Amsterdam Hilton Hotel and the second was at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal.  
 
As Christmas drew closer that year, John & Yoko decided to take their campaign in a new direction. They would buy billboards in Toronto, New York, Hong Kong and nine other cities with the message: WAR IS OVER…IF YOU WANT IT. In smaller letters along the bottom it read “Happy Christmas from John & Yoko.”

That wasn’t a promotional campaign, teasing the release of a new song. It was simply a message to the world. War is Over...If You Want It was an anti-war slogan that had been used in other songs like The Unknown Solider by The Doors.  But still...there was no idea to record a song using that slogan...at least...not yet.
 
The song wouldn’t come for another two years, after Lennon’s biggest success as a solo artist. Imagine was John’s first #1 hit in Canada and around the world since leaving The Beatles.

When reflecting on Imagine’s success, John said he now understood what you had to do to make your viewpoints heard. Quote: “Put your political message across with a little honey."
 
He would go back to the words used in the billboard campaign as the foundation of a song that promoted unity and optimism for Christmas. 

The song was recorded in October of ’71. The legendary Phil Spector was the producer. Before dressing up in costume to go trick or treating on Halloween Day, 30 kids from the Harlem Community Choir, between the ages of 4 and 12, came in to record their backing vocals.  It was released just about a month later - on December 1 — not as part of an album, but as a green see-through vinyl single. However, because it came out just 3 1/2 weeks before Christmas, it wasn’t a hit that year at all. A year later, when the song was finally released in the UK, people started to take notice.  
 
John once said he always wanted to write a Christmas record that would last forever. That was during a radio interview in the mid-70’s and before the song had become what it is now.  

The song has been covered by countless other artists and Lennon’s original has re-entered the charts numerous times, including in 2019, peaking at #42 on Billboard’s Hot 100. John Lennon never did record another Christmas song, but that doesn’t matter - he succeeded in his goal to write one that would last forever. 

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