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Happy Xmas (War is over)

Actually one of my more favorite holiday tunes. The tone is cynical and difficult, sure. But there's real hope in it as well. I choose to hold onto the hope. And it's a rockin' tune, compared with most of the stuff you had to spin for the season.
 
TheBigA said:
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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I thought staggmovie was asking "why do you think it's a sad song?" about "Same Old Lang Syne," which the thread had wandered off to.
 
firepoint525 said:
Behooves us to stay on message. Aside from that, not everything that the Beatles (solo or otherwise) ever released reached #1. "Imagine" famously stalled at #3.
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Even in the heady Beatlemania years, that was true. "Please Please Me" also peaked at No. 3, "Do You Wanna Know A Secret" and "Twist And Shout" at No. 2. John only had one No. 1 Billboard post-Beatles hit, IIRC, "Whatever Gets You Through The Night." Not "Imagine," not "Mind Games," not "#9 Dream," or any of his other more complex, profound or controversial songs.
 
CTListener said:
John only had one No. 1 Billboard post-Beatles hit, IIRC, "Whatever Gets You Through The Night." Not "Imagine," not "Mind Games," not "#9 Dream," or any of his other more complex, profound or controversial songs.
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During his lifetime, maybe. But "Starting Over" was released around the time he died and it went to no. 1.
 
CTListener said:
Even in the heady Beatlemania years, that was true. "Please Please Me" also peaked at No. 3, "Do You Wanna Know A Secret" and "Twist And Shout" at No. 2. John only had one No. 1 Billboard post-Beatles hit, IIRC, "Whatever Gets You Through The Night." Not "Imagine," not "Mind Games," not "#9 Dream," or any of his other more complex, profound or controversial songs.
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And "Happy Christmas" (the subject of this thread) only got to #42 on Billboard.
 
firepoint525 said:
And "Happy Christmas" (the subject of this thread) only got to #42 on Billboard.
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Typically Christmas songs don't chart very well. Mariah Carey's All I Want For Christmas peaked at #86 in the Billboard Hot 100, and #20 in Holiday Songs. It peaked at #3 in AC. Not #1. Yet it's one of the most played Christmas songs ever. Chart position doesn't matter.

FYI Last Christmas by Wham peaked at #25 in Hot 100, #22 in AC, and #3 in Holiday 100.
 
firepoint525 said:
Yet earlier here, you said:
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Yes thank you I know what I said. As I also pointed out Christmas songs don't chart well.

Back Off Boogaloo was Top 10. Would it have charted that high if it had been sung by someone else? I doubt it. That's my point. Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey went to #1. Songs by former Beatles received more attention than if they'd been released by unknowns. But I also say chart position doesn't matter, especially with Christmas songs.
 
Fine. I will do just that. Instead, I will revisit my earlier comment (page 2 of this thread, I think) in which I mentioned that "Give Peace a Chance" (Reprise) had been tacked on to the end of "Happy Christmas" on the Shaved Fish compilation. I mentioned also that the original "Give Peace a Chance" had been truncated to about 30 seconds on that album. It is actually closer to a minute, but still quite short:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnBMgn7fYoY

This was the only place where you could find "Give Peace a Chance" at all when Lennon died. Geffen restored the full version on The John Lennon Collection around 1982-1983. I don't think that "Happy Christmas" is also on that album, but I would have to check.
 
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