The Story Behind John and Yoko's "Happy Christmas (War Is Over)"

Among the rock-era holiday standards with genuine staying power is the song "Happy Christmas (War Is Over)," recorded by John Lennon and Yoko Ono with the Harlem Community Choir and released as a single in late 1971. The song wasn't a huge hit at the time of its first release, barely cracking the bottom positions of the Top 40. But over the past 50 years, it's surely earned a spot among the most popular and iconic holiday tunes of the period. The folks at Parlogram, which celebrates the music of The Beatles and other music of the 1960s, offer an engaging look at the creation of this enduring release that's well worth a look:

Happy Christmas, Kyoko. Happy Christmas, Julian.

Hey! You! Get Off of My Roof! - Part 7

Today we take a look at Tracks 19-22 of this year's holiday mix, Hey! You! Get Off of My Roof!

Track 22
Yoko Ono Holiday Album Parody (2008)

I've always been a big Beatles fan — whether the exuberant innocence of "I Want to Hold Your Hand," the trippy psychedelia of "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds," or the long medley on the second side of "Abbey Road," I love them all. I like most of their solo stuff, too, with the one sad exception of Paul's "Wonderful Christmastime," which I find utterly unlistenable. In fact, not only do I love everything by The Beatles, I like songs that feature Linda McCartney's vocals. And I'll do you one better. I'm a big fan of Yoko Ono.

I figure most people think I'm joking when I make that claim but it's the God's honest truth. Unfortunately, Ono has been ridiculed and slandered almost constantly since she first became famous worldwide as John Lennon's lady, To some, she's the dragon lady who broke up the Beatles. To others, she's a talentless social climber who used Lennon's wealth and fame to promote her inferior art and atrocious "music." In fact, Ono was a highly respected conceptual artist before she ever met Lennon and her work has long been celebrated in avant gard circles for its originality, insight and wit. She certainly isn't responsible for the disbanding of the Beatles. And while some of her music can be an acquired taste, much of it is profoundly moving and meaningful. You can dance to a lot of it, too. From 2003-2016, remixed versions of 13 of Ono's songs topped the Billboard Dance Club chart. Not bad for a woman who turns 90 years old in February.

Anyway, Track 22 is a short parody purporting to be a commercial for a Yoko Ono holiday album. Clips of the various holiday standards are played and they all consist of a woman screaming indecipherably for five or six seconds. Terrible. So why did I include this track? Well, for one thing it gives me a chance to sing Yoko's praises and I like such opportunities. It's also sort of funny if you're aware enough to see through the preposterous claim that her music sounds alike and sounds awful. Finally, I know Yoko's got a sense of humor and likes to deal with criticism head-on. I doubt she'd be offended.

Watch the "The Case for Yoko Ono" from PBS Digital Studios

Listen to the Album "Between My Head and the Sky" by Yoko Ono and the Plastic Ono Band

Track 21
I Want a Beatle for Christmas, The Fans (1964)

One measure of the size of the cultural tidal wave that hit with the arrival of the Beatles in February 1964 is the number of holiday novelty songs about the group that were released later that same year. I've featured half a dozen on my previous mixes as listed a bunch more in previous posts about the phenomenon, and I've got two more on this year's compilation. 

Track 21 is by a London-based duo called The Fans, which is made up of two friends named Gita Renik and Jeanette Ross. I haven't been able to find out much more about the song or the group than that, however — the song can be found all over the internet but it typically appears with nothing more than the song, artist and year of release.

Hear "I Want a Beatle for Christmas," by The Fans

Track 20
Christmas Song (A John and Yoko Parody), Guppy Pie Productions (2014)

I don't have much of anything to offer about this track either. It's a clip I found on YouTube featured on The Great Movie Channel page. According to the clip itself, it was created by Guppy Pie Productions, which is apparently affiliated with a North Hollywood outfit called Pie Town Productions. I don't know that the singer sounds or looks too much like John Lennon, but it's a cute little clip that suggests both the movie industry and the Bush family are impediments to world peace and I think that's something John and Yoko would probably endorse.

Track 19
(I Want) a Beatle for Christmas, Patty Surbey and The Canadian VIPs (1964)

The last of this year's four Beatles-related tracks (actually the first of the four since we list each day's tracks in reverse order) is by Canadian Patty Surbey, who has been described by the Canadian music website Canuckistan Music as a "perky amalgam of Connie Francis and Brenda Lee, with maybe a bit of Annette Funicello or Cathy Carroll thrown in for good measure." The website gives high marks to this record, too. "Buoyed by a rollicking backbeat supplied by the Canadian V.I.P.s and peppered with Surbey's hiccupy vocals, "(I Want) a Beatle for Christmas" is a fine record on its own and could probably have done well enough without the Xmas or Beatles references."

The song did well in some parts of Canada, but delays in mailing the production master prevented a timely pressing in the United States and Christmas arrived before the record caught on in this country. 

Surbey followed-up this record with another single recorded with The Canadian VIPs called "Hey Boy" that was released in early 1965, but that was pretty much the end of Surbey's music career. She eventually resurfaced in Ontario as an active member of a born-again Christian church.

I'll be back sometime soon with the start of the second half of this year's mix. How's your holiday shopping going?

Is There Really a Santa Claus, Part 8

We've been reviewing the 39 tracks on my latest annual holiday mix, and today's installment features a three-pack of hits especially for Beatles fans:

Track 22
I Want a Beatle for Christmas, by Becky Lee Beck (1964)
It was 50 years ago this past February that the Beatles first stormed American shores, kicking off the nationwide epidemic known as Beatlemania. Their famed performance on the Ed Sullivan variety program took place on February 9, 1964, and within two months the group had twelve records on Billboard magazine's Hot 100 singles chart, including all of the top five spots.



Beatlemania remained in full effect as the 1964 holiday season began, and you can bet that there were thousands of Beatles records under this nation's Christmas trees that year. There were also a number of novelty records that celebrated the Beatles that year, including Becky Lee Beck's "I Want a Beatle for Christmas," Track 22 on Is There Really a Santa Claus?



Beck doesn't seem to have released many other records, but quite a few other singers released Beatle-related songs that Christmas. I featured "Ringo Bells," by Three Blond Mice on my 2008 mix, Home for the Holidays. Here are some of the others:

Hear "(I Want a) Beatle for Christmas," by Patty Surbey and the Canadian VIPs 

Hear "All I Want for Christmas Is a Beatle," by Dora Bryan

Hear "I Want a Beatle for Christmas," by The Fans

Hear "Bring Me a Beatle for Christmas," by Cindy Rella

Hear "Santa, Bring Me Ringo," by Christine Hunter


Track 21
Silent Night, by The Fab Four (2002)

The Fab Four

From 1963-69, the Beatles celebrated each holiday season by releasing a new holiday single to the members of their fan club. These were primarily comedy records that featured mostly informal banter as opposed to actual Christmas carols. But for those who'd like to hear John, Paul, George and Ringo belting out some standards, the California-based Beatles tribute band The Fab Four have released two albums of holiday classics sung Beatles style.
What makes these songs so much fun is that each one starts out sounding like an actual Beatles original only to magically morph into a familiar carol without missing a beat. The following clip from Good Morning America introduces the group:



Buy the Fab Four's Holiday Albums

Listen to the real Beatles' Christmas Singles

Hear "Silent Night" by the Fab Four Holiday Ensemble


Track 20
Holiday Greetings from John and Yoko (1971)

John Lennon and Yoko Ono honeymooning in Amsterdam

John Lennon and Yoko Ono first met in the mid-1960s, and while there are two conflicting stories about the circumstances of their meeting, it seems pretty clear that the two were quickly taken with one another. Ono apparently began calling Lennon at home, which aroused the suspicions of John's wife, Cynthia. Lennon explained that Ono was calling to try to get him to invest in some of her "avant-garde bulls**t." However, Lennon and Ono took their relationship to a new level in May 1968 while Cynthia was on vacation in Greece. As Lennon later explained:

Well, after Yoko and I met, I didn't realize I was in love with her. I was still thinking it was an artistic collaboration, as it were – producer and artist, right? ... My ex-wife was away ... and Yoko came to visit me. ... instead of making love, we went upstairs and made tapes. I had this room full of different tapes where I would write and make strange loops and things like that for the Beatles' stuff. So we made a tape all night. She was doing her funny voices and I was pushing all different buttons on my tape recorder and getting sound effects. And then as the sun rose we made love and that was [the album we later released called] Two Virgins.

Some time later, Cynthia Lennon walked in on the pair while they were in a compromising position, and divorce proceedings were soon begun. John and Yoko were married in Gibraltar on March 20, 1969. They celebrated their honeymoon at the Amsterdam Hilton Hotel by staging a weeklong "Bed-In for Peace." These events are recounted in "The Ballad of John and Yoko," which was recorded by Lennon and Paul McCartney without band members George Harrison and Ringo Starr and released by the Beatles as a single in May 1969. This little holiday greetings clip was recorded by Lennon and Ono in 1971.

Yoko Ono and the Flaming Lips Celebrate "Happy Xmas" 43 Years Later

I'm crazy about Yoko Ono, who has to be one of the most underappreciated artists of the 20th century. Fortunately, she's faring better in the 21st century. At the age of 81, she's working on a string of something like ten consecutive #1 Dance Club hits, not to mention a couple of well-received studio albums (including 2009's Between My Head and the Sky, which is a genuine masterpiece). I'm sorry not to have known about this one sooner, but I've just learned that Yoko has released a new version of the classic she and John Lennon released in 1971 — 43 years ago! — Happy Xmas (War Is Over). The original version was recorded with the Harlem Children's Choir. The new version was recorded with the Flaming Lips. Here's the new one:




 And here, of course, is the classic from 1971:

 

Sad to think how many people have needlessly been killed in one war or another during the past 43 years. Pray for peace.

New Holiday Song from Yoko Ono!

Many people don't believe me when I say I'm a big fan of Yoko Ono and her music, but it's true. I've loved her stuff since the '70s, and I admire her as much as any public figure I can think of. I mean, can you imagine any other 78-year-old woman who's been through everything she's been through who could still maintain her loving and optimistic view of the world? Or top the Billboard Dance Music charts with each of her past seven records?! I'm sorry, but this woman ROCKS! I was thrilled to learn that she's released a new holiday tune this season with the Flaming Lips, and that she's scheduled to perform a couple of New Year's Eve shows with them in their home town of Oklahoma City. The new song is called "Atlas Eets Christmas" (pronounced "at last it's Christmas" -- get it?) and while it took me a couple of listens to really get into it, it's a neat song with a beautiful message:




By the way, you can celebrate the 40th anniversary of "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)" by visiting Yoko's Download Page and picking up a War is Over poster for your window, car or office. Give peace a chance.