Besides me doesn't anybody else think that Happy Xmas (War is over) sounds more of an after Christmas song. The original version was done by John & Yoko/Plastic Ono Band with the Harlem Community Choir. And other singers have covered the song. Even in the lyrics of the song where it is sung that another year is over and a new one just begun. I want to see as many people thoughts on this song, as I possibly can.
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Happy Xmas (War is over)
- Thread starter staggmovie
- Start date
There is no "After Christmas" music on the radio. Either it gets played before Christmas, or it doesn't get played at all.
I don't personally care for the song, or really anything John Lennon & Yoko Ono did. But I can see the appeal to some who see the holidays as a ponderous time.
I don't personally care for the song, or really anything John Lennon & Yoko Ono did. But I can see the appeal to some who see the holidays as a ponderous time.
"The 12 Days of Christmas" would beg to differ. And right here in Connecticut, there's a station run by the Archdiocese of Hartford, WJMJ, that plays Christmas music for 11 whole days after everyone else has stuffed Frosty, Grandma and Snoopy in the closet for another year.
There are songs that are clearly about days leading up to Christmas ("It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas," "Christmas Time's a Comin'," "Silver Bells") that still get played on Christmas Day itself, though. And, of course, there are cold-weather songs that don't mention Christmas at all ("Winter Wonderland," "Sleigh Ride") that could be about Jan. 25 or Feb. 25 just as much as being about Dec. 25, but as you say, they generally disappear after Christmas Day, too.
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Yes, and that song gets played before the day itself even though it is theologically wrong. Presumably for that reason, I've heard plenty of kids who think the 12 Days of Christmas start next week, not on Dec. 25 leading into the Epiphany.
Christmas Day plus the 11 days after it leading to Epiphany, as PTBoardOp explained. It's more of a Catholic thing than something celebrated across all the various splinters of Christianity. The Hispanic R.C. churches here, especially, make a very big deal of it.
Jesus was born on Christmas Day. The 12 days of Christmas ends after the 3 kings visit the manger 12 days after his birth. That is when the Christmas season officially ends.
“Same Old Lang Syne” is often played as a Christmas song, though I would argue it’s not a Christmas tune at all. The title, of course, is based on a New Year’s song. A handful of stations used to play that one only the last week of the year.
Too much of a sad song for this time of year. It's alright, but not on my favorites.
The entire song takes place on Christmas Eve. It's right there in the second line. They drained the six-pack in the car because no bars were open. The title and "Auld Lang Syne" sax solo at the end are out of place, contextually, as that song is associated with New Year's Eve.
It doesn't have anything to do with the religious holiday at all, but it's more of a Christmas song than "Winter Wonderland" or "Sleigh Ride," which are merely celebrations of cold weather. I put it in the same category as Jim Croce's "It Doesn't Have To Be That Way," which happens sometime before Christmas -- there's tinsel around, and Santa Claus, and a "sidewalk band," most likely Salvation Army -- but is more about its protagonist's desire for make-up sex with his old girlfriend.
So why do you think it is a sad song?
Because he's listened to it and understood the lyrics?
Barbara Mandrell was. Jesus wasn't. And no one knows how long it took the Magi to arrive.
Steve Wariner, too. The country singer's middle name is Noel.
And yes, I think everyone knows by now that much of the Christmas story was cut-and-pasted onto Saturnalia and other winter festivals' place on the calendar long after the events portrayed in it.
Supposedly Jesus was born in spring sometime but they figured it was easier to celebrate it during the winter solstice.
And Christianity had neatly fit Easter and the special days leading up to it into the springtime calendar to coordinate it with other pagan festivals that celebrated the rebirth of flowers, grass, trees, etc. after the long, bleak winter. Why jam Jesus' birthday into that same symbolic time slot when it was better suited as a ray of hope for humanity at the coldest, darkest time of year? Those early Christians were smart marketers!
"Happy Christmas (War Is Over)"/"Give Peace a Chance (Reprise)"
Never understood why this gibberish was tacked onto the end of the Shaved Fish version (last minute or so of this clip):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ruXwa_-1spE
Never mind that the original "Give Peace a Chance" on Shaved Fish was truncated down to about 30 seconds, and once the single went out of print, the full version was not available again until The John Lennon Collection came out in 1983.
Never understood why this gibberish was tacked onto the end of the Shaved Fish version (last minute or so of this clip):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ruXwa_-1spE
Never mind that the original "Give Peace a Chance" on Shaved Fish was truncated down to about 30 seconds, and once the single went out of print, the full version was not available again until The John Lennon Collection came out in 1983.
The way it's presented and sung, the melody.
A little context helps. The song was written and released while the Vietnam War was still going on, and Richard Nixon was president. Anti-war demonstrations were taking place all over the world. Meanwhile Lennon had found it difficult to enter the US because of an earlier drug conviction. So he was living in Toronto, sort of in exile. This was also before his song Imagine, but very much on the same theme. War is over (if you want it.). Imagine there's no war, its easy if you try. So it's that kind of juxtaposition of subjects that might be a bit on the sad side. His life was a bit of a struggle at the time, and he was just hoping to convince people to have the faith that all the negativity could be overcome with positive thoughts. What makes it popular and so enduring after almost 50 years? Probably the fact that it was sung by a Beatle, and at that time, any of the Beatles could release anything and it would go to #1.
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