Five Days Until Christmas: “Happy Xmas (War is over)” (John & Yoko)

Today it is perhaps the song that best summarizes three fundamental issues when talking about Christmas. The denunciation of the hypocrisy of those who send greetings but then don’t lift a finger to give meaning to the word Christmas, the ability of pop to center “Christmas” feelings, and the role of civil conscience that music can have.
But at the beginning no one was interested in “Happy Xmas”…
Let’s go in order.
1969: many cities are invaded by posters reading «War is over (If you want it): Happy Christmas from John and Yoko».
The Beatles’ adventure is coming to an end, Lennon is increasingly taken by the projects (often with sociopolitical implications) that he has with his partner Yoko Ono. And so he attacks the war in Vietnam.
1971: the artist would like to write a Christmas song. What can be done to avoid ruining the busy image it has? The idea comes suddenly: starting from those billboards. Ultimately, it’s a good title.
Thus, “Happy But could this be the reason why it was initially a flop? Can be. People warn them about the matters at the table.

But the song sends important messages, the melody (which owes a lot to the traditional song “Stewball” in the Peter, Paul & Mary version) remains. And perhaps the success of “Imagine”, a little earlier, also influenced the public at the time, which was already a little too “bombarded” by Lennon. What is certain is that, as too often happens, the song only becomes a hit when Lennon is killed, and they immediately reissue it. Then it becomes, indeed, a classic. A Christmas classic, a pacifist classic.

Yoko Ono said that the lack of success of “Happy In the end Lennon won. And who cares now if there’s a slogan behind it, if it was written “on paper”, if it’s not melodically very original, if – like so many things in certain “busy” circles – it’s even a bit pandering.
“So this is Xmas and what have you done?”
Let’s stop every battle because only in this way will we be able to answer the initial question: by saying that “something” we have done. Which really was Christmas. If we want, we can.
«War is over, if you want it»: the war ends too, if you, if we want it.

This song is taken from the book “Le musiche del Natale” by Andrea Pedrinelli, courtesy of the author and publisher Ancora.