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Music
submitted by Red_rose
This month i will talk about my favourit Christmas song: Happy Xmas (war is over) by John Lennon. It was recorded at
Record Plant Studios in New York City in late October of 1971, with the help of producer Phil Spector. 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 lyric is based on a campaign in late 1969 by John Lennon and his wife, Yoko Ono, who rented
billboards and posters in eleven cities around the world that read: "WAR IS OVER! (If You Want It) Happy Christmas
from John and Yoko". The cities included New York, Tokyo, Rome, Athens, Amsterdam, London, Paris, Toronto, and
some others. At the time the US 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 lyric is based on a
campaign in late 1969 by John Lennon and his wife, Yoko Ono, who rented billboards and posters in eleven cities around
the world that read: "WAR IS OVER! (If You Want It) Happy Christmas from John and Yoko". The cities included New
York, Tokyo, Rome, Athens, Amsterdam, London, Paris, Toronto, and some others. At the time the US 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 single was released on December 6, 1971, in the US, but
never charted on the Billboard Hot 100 charts; the UK release was delayed until the following November due to a
publishing dispute. Upon release, it reached #4 in the UK Singles Chart. 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as it featured top in the UK Singles Chart for the week ending January 3, 1981, which was unpublished, as was usual for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.
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