Happy Xmas (War is Over) - ( a case for Lennon Peace Day)
I was listening to my favorite AM radio show last month - the chatter was about a list of most disliked Christmas songs. What caught my ear was that John Lennon’s “Happy Xmas (War is Over)” had made the list. It must have been some sub-par list as I’ve checked others to find it scores very high on the list of Christmas favorites.
Musically it fits right into the Christmas music genre- has soft acoustic guitar strumming at the start, some tamborine (or jingle stick) later and has that nice swelling build up. Lyrically, it incorporates some new-agey “believe it and it will be so” (or more recently “creative visualization”) aspect - ”War is over, if you want it, war is over, now..”
I was nearly 14 years old when it was released (in the US) on December 1st, 1971. My adolecence up to then included the goulish nightly ritual of dinnertime newscasts featuring the recitation of death toll figures of our nations youth being ground up by the war industry, with the accompanying features of anti-war protests.
The song is a Vietnam protest song, so cleverly disquised as a Christmas song that it has indeed since been incorporated into the all-Christmas-music-all-the-time lineup on radio stations every year. The Vietnam was ended April 30th, 1975, approximately 3 years and 5 months after the release of Lennons song.
At the height of the war -1968- the death total for US soldier was 16,592. Totals for the following years were : 1969: 11,616 / 1970: 6,081 / 1971: 2,357. The biggest protest ever was in the fall of 1969 when 500,000 American’s marched on Washington. This was followed by the May 4th, 1970 Kent State massacre where national guard soldiers fired upon unarmed students-some protesters, some simply observers in the distance, killing 4 and injuring 9. In the aftermath, 4 million college and high school students went on strike.
In the years that followed the songs release, the US war casualties dropped significant’y: 1972: 641/ 1973: 168/ 1974: 178 and 1975: 161. The official ending date for the war was April 30th, 1975. (there were still deaths in following years.) The pressure of anti-war protests by the American public hastened the end of the war. Perhaps the collective voices of children and teens singing along with lyrics “War is Over If You Want It, War is Over Nowww” as it played on their parents car radio or lunchroom jukebox, in an act of unintended creative visualization (or for others, an act of prayer) helped to turn the tide.
John Lennon had been a voice for the peace movement through action and song. He returned his MBE award in 1969 in protest of Britians support for the war. He released “Give Peace a Chance the same year. By 1972 his anti-war activities garnered him the wrath of Nixon and a 5 year deportation battle.
Whatever Lennon’s shortcomings were as a human, you can’t say he didn’t suffer for his beliefs. With his murder, or perhaps execution (look into Hinkleys associations) in December 1980, he paid the ultimate price.
I try not to look back on all that when the song comes on my car radio. I usually just crank it up and sing along. I’ve learned not to reflect too deeply on it, at least not when I’m driving, or I choke up part way thru and tears start to flow. This year I’ll be visualizing a new holiday- Oct 9th - as Lennon Peace Day. We can celebrate it by flashing peace signs, handing out flowers and donating to charities. And just being nice.
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