• Writers: John Lennon and Yoko Ono
• Producer: John & Yoko and Phil Spector
• Recorded: October 28th & 29th, 1971, at the Record Plant East, New York City
• Released: December 1st, 1971
• Players:
  John Lennon — vocals, guitar
  Yoko Ono — vocals
  Klaus Voormann — bass
  Hugh McCracken — guitar
  Nicky Hopkins — piano, chimes, glockenspiel
  Jim Keltner — drums, sleigh bells
  The Harlem Community Choir — vocals
• Album: Shaved Fish (Apple, 1975)
• Also On:
  The John Lennon Collection (Capitol, 1982)
  Lennon (EMI, 1990)
  Anthology (Capitol, 1998)
  Sometime In New York City (Capitol, 2005)
• In an interview about “Happy Xmas (War Is Over),” John Lennon said, “I always wanted to write a Christmas record, something that would last forever.”
• The roots of the “Happy Xmas (War Is Over)” sentiments were found in billboards that Lennon and Yoko Ono put up in 11 cities around the world in December 1969. The billboards read, “War is Over if You Want It. Happy Xmas from John and Yoko.”
• A follow-up billboard declared “We Want It.”
• “Happy Xmas” and its B-side “Listen, The Snow Is Falling” were among the first recordings Lennon made after taking up residency in the U.S.
• Lennon told producer Phil Spector he wanted to replicate the backing arrangement for “Try Some Buy Some,” a Ronnie Spector hit that was written by George Harrison. Spector had joked at the time that Lennon had stolen the melody of Spector’s 1961 hit “I Love How You Love Me,” by the Paris Sisters, for the “Happy Xmas’” verses.
• “Happy Xmas” opens and closes with whispered holiday greetings to Lennon and Ono’s children, Julian and Kyoko.
• It was the first Lennon single not to feature the Apple Records logo on the label, and his first single fully recorded and produced in New York City.
• Although the song failed to make a dent on the Billboard charts, it peaked at Number 36 on Cashbox and Number 28 on the Record World charts in December 1971.
• Its U.K. release was delayed for a year due to publishing problems connected with Ono’s cowriting credit.
• Upon its release in the U.K., it peaked at Number Two — the Number One slot was filled by Little Jimmy Osmond‘s “Long Haired Lover From Liverpool.”
• After Lennon’s murder in December 1980, EMI received orders for more than 300,000 copies of the song.

FAST FORWARD:

• “Happy Xmas” remains one of the most-played holiday songs on rock radio stations between Thanksgiving and the end of the year.
• Lennon was shot dead outside his New York City apartment building by disturbed fan Mark David Chapman on December 8th, 1980. He and Ono had just released what became his comeback album, Double Fantasy. Chapman has been denied parole several times over the years.
• Lennon was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with the Beatles in 1988 and as a solo act in 1994.
• Both of his sons, Julian and Sean, have been recording artists, and Ono has continued her career.
• An Imagine Peace Tower dedicated to Lennon’s memory was unveiled on October 9th, 2007 in Reykjvik, Iceland.