Lennon's Christmas Message Worth Hearing All Year Long

I've returned from my Christmas travels, and now it's time for me to wind down, basking in the glow of the tree lights for a few more days, listening to festive tunes on CD. I have to stick with my own albums since, sadly, the glorious month of Christmas music on one of our local radio stations has ended. While the play list was in yuletide mode, I enjoyed most of the offerings, but there were a few that made me sit up straight, turn up the music and stop whatever I was doing to sing along. One of these was John Lennon's Happy Xmas.

I was first introduced to this song several years ago when we bought Neil Diamond's live Christmas album, which featured a faithful cover of the fallen Beatle's hit. I didn't hear the original until quite a bit later, and Diamond's version was so similar that at first I didn't notice that Lennon was the one doing the singing. I suppose that's why a Wikipedia list of significant covers of the song doesn't mention Neil Diamond; it's not distinct enough. But it sure is nice.

Still, it can't quite beat the original, in which John plaintively spreads a simple message of goodwill and optimism, backed by a soaring anti-war chorus delivered by a choir of children from Harlem. "War is over if you want it," they insist, and though it never seems to turn out quite that way, a little positive thinking isn't a bad start. This was John and Yoko's Christmas card to the world in the midst of the Vietnam war, and sadly it still is relevant today. But the tone is hopeful, so although listening to the song sparks thoughts of foreign conflicts and slain idealists, it also leaves one with a feeling of resolve.

I think of the Whos in How the Grinch Stole Christmas with this tune that "started in low, but it started to grow". I could just as easily see them all standing together singing this song, hands clasped, perhaps with the reformed Grinch taking John's part while the rest of the Whos back him up. Sometimes there is great power to be found in few words, and that's the case here. My only slight beef with the lyrics is "another year over, a new one's just begun." If, indeed, "this is Christmas," then the new year has not yet begun - unless, as my dad postulated, Lennon was going by the church calendar, which given his history of beefs with Christianity strikes me as highly unlikely.

Nonetheless, he managed to write an incredibly moving Christmas song, one which blows fellow Beatle Paul McCartney's fluffy Simply Having a Wonderful Christmastime out of the water. Next year, I'll look forward to hearing on the radio again, but I might not wait until then to give it another listen. His message is one that rings true any time of the year.