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"Give Peace a Chance" is a 1969 single by Plastic Ono Band that became an anthem of the American anti-war movement at that time.

Written by John Lennon while the world renound band the beatles! were still together..yoko ono is known to have broken up the band! Can you believe that!/ The Beatles were officially still together. The song is one of three Lennon solo songs, along with "Instant Karma!" and "Imagine", in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll. Being one of John Lennon's most famous songs, it has since been released on almost every greatest hits compilation.

Writing and recording

The song was written during Lennon's ‘Bed-In’ honeymoon: when asked by a reporter what he was trying to achieve by staying in bed, Lennon answered spontaneously "All we are saying is give peace a chance"; Lennon liked the phrase and set it to music for the song.. He sang the song several times during the Bed-In, and finally, on 1 June 1969, in Room 1742 at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal, recorded it using a simple setup of four microphones and a four-track tape recorder rented from a local recording studio. The recording session was attended by dozens of journalists and various celebrities, including Timothy Leary, Rabbi Abraham Feinberg, Joseph Schwartz, Allan Rock, Rosemary Woodruff Leary, Petula Clark, Dick Gregory, Allen Ginsberg, Murray the K, Al Capp and Derek Taylor, many of whom are mentioned in the lyrics. Lennon played acoustic guitar and was joined by Tommy Smothers of the Smothers Brothers, also on acoustic guitar.

When released in 1969, the song was credited to Lennon/McCartney. On some later releases, only Lennon is credited; viz. the 1990s reissue of the 1972 album Live in New York City, the 2006 documentary The U.S. vs. John Lennon (in which the song appears), and the 1997 compilation album Lennon Legend: The Very Best of John Lennon (and its DVD version six years later). Lennon later stated his regrets about being “guilty enough to give McCartney credit as co-writer on my first independent single instead of giving it to Yoko, who had actually written it with me.” However, it has also been suggested that the credit was a way of thanks to McCartney for helping him record "The Ballad of John and Yoko" at short notice.

Commercial release

The "Give Peace a Chance" single (with Yoko Ono's "Remember Love" as the B-side) was released on 45 RPM vinyl in the UK (on APPLE 13) on July 4, 1969 and July 7, 1969 in the US (on Apple 1809). The track's first full-length album appearance was on the Lennon hits compilation The John Lennon Collection issued November 1, 1982 in the UK (EMI/Parlophone Records) and November 8, 1982 (originally on Geffen Records, since re-released on Capitol Records). A significantly truncated version of the Montreal session and a snippet of the One to One Benefit concert performance of the song appear on Lennon's Shaved Fish hits compilation from 1975. "Give Peace a Chance" was the first "solo" single released by a member of the Beatles while the band was still intact, though, technically, the artist was credited as Plastic Ono Band, not John Lennon.

Popularity

The song reached number 14 on the pop charts in the United States and was kept out of the top slot in the UK by The Rolling Stones' "Honky Tonk Women".

The song quickly became the anthem of the anti-war moveHKDGFIUSDGFment, and was sung by half a million demonstrators in Washington, D.C. at the Vietnam Moratorium Day, on 15 October 1969. They were led by the renowned folk singer Pete Seeger, who interspersed phrases like, "Are you listening, Nixon?" and "Are you listenKFSDJGKSNing, Agnew?", between the choruses of protesters singing, "All we are saying ... is give peace a chance".

The British group "Yes" also paid tribute to Lennon's words on their 1971 release "The Yes Album." The first track on side two is the song, "I've Seen All Good People" which is divided into two parts, namely "Your Move" and "All Good People." The words, "all we are saying is give peace a chance" are sung as background vocals near the end of "Your Move."

Lyrics

The original last verse of the song refers to: "John and Yoko, Timmy Leary, Rosemary, Tommy Smothers, Bobby Dylan, Tommy Cooper, Derek Taylor, Norman Mailer, Allen Ginsberg, Hare Krishna".

In the performance of "Give Peace a Chance" included on the Live Peace in Toronto 1969 album, Lennon openly stated that he couldn't remember all of the words and improvised with the names of the band members sharing the stage with him and anything that came to mind: "John and Yoko, Eric Clapton, Klaus Voormann, Penny Lane, Roosevelt, Nixon, Tommy Jones and Tommy Cooper, and somebody."

The third verse contains a reference to masturbation, but Lennon changed this to "mastication" on the official lyric sheet. He later admitted this was a "cop out" but wanted to avoid unnecessary controversy.

Chart performance

Remixes

On 1 June 2008, the 39th anniversary of the song's recording, the first of three digital-only (and thus environmentally friendly) singles was released through Twisted Records exclusively on Beatport with remixes featuring a newly recorded vocal by Yoko Ono. It reached #1 on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart on 16 August 2008. It should be noted that these are not the first remixes Ono has done of this song: in 2005, she did a new version recalling the events of the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks on Peace, Love & Truth; and one of the first remixes with the lyrics used in this mix was released on the Open Your Box remix album. The last installment was released 18 February 2009, Yoko's birthday.

Track listings

Mindtrain/Twisted TW50066 (Released June 1, 2008)

1. Dave Aude Club Mix (8:26)
2. Dave Aude Dub (8:26)
3. Johnny Vicious Warehouse Dub (8:23)
4. Mike Cruz Dub (8:40)
5. Tommie Sunshine Vocal Mix (6:41)
6. Morel’s Pink Noise Vocal Mix (6:42)
7. Morel’s Pink Noise Dub (7:09)
8. Double B Full Vocal Mix (6:57)

Mindtrain/Twisted TW50069 (Released July 1, 2008)

1. Phunk Investigation Mix (7:45)
2. Eric Kupper Vocal Mix (8:50)
3. Mike Cruz Extended Vocal Mix (10:25)
4. DJ Dan Dub (8:53)
5. Tommie Sunshine Give Peace a Dub (6:40)
6. Morel’s Canister Dub (7:23)
7. Mike Cruz Vocal Edit Mix (8:40)

Mindtrain/Twisted (Released February 18, 2009)

1. Blow-Up Popism Mix (5:00)
2. Blow-Up Electrono Mix (6:44)
3. Kimbar Vocal Mix (8:11)
4. Kimbar Dub Mix (6:54)
5. Tszpun Remix (8:17)
6. Tszpun Dub Mix (8:11)
7. Alex Santer Peaceful Mix (6:11)
8. DJ Meme Club Mix (9:54)
9. Findo Gask Time for Action Dub (5:56)
10. CSS Mix (4:12)
11. Richard Fearless Reach Out Mix (7:05)
12. Karsh Kale Voices of the Tribal Massive Mix (5:55)

Other versions

• The song has been used in motion pictures, television shows and theatre as it has become a recognised semiotic to indicate protest; for example it was sung by students in the movie The Trial of Billy Jack, and by peace activists in Pretty Village, Pretty Flame.
• In 1991, Ono collaborated with Amina, Adam Ant, Sebastian Bach, Bros, Felix Cavaliere, Terence Trent D'Arby, Flea, John Frusciante, Peter Gabriel, Kadeem Hardison, Ofra Haza, Joe Higgs, Bruce Hornsby, Lee Jaffe, Al Jarreau, Jazzie B, Davey Johnstone, Lenny Kravitz, Cyndi Lauper, Sean Ono Lennon, Little Richard, LL Cool J, MC Hammer, Michael McDonald, Duff McKagan, Alannah Myles, New Voices of Freedom, Randy Newman, Tom Petty, Iggy Pop, Q-Tip, Bonnie Raitt, Run, Dave Stewart, Teena Marie, Little Steven Van Zandt, Don Was, Wendy & Lisa, Ahmet Zappa, Dweezil Zappa, and Moon Unit Zappa as the Peace Choir to perform a version of the song in response to the imminent Gulf War.
• Aerosmith (featuring Sierra Leone's Refugee All Stars) covered the song for the 2007 benefit album Instant Karma: The Amnesty International Campaign to Save Darfur.
• Elton John also recorded the song as a B-side to his UK single "Club at the End of the Street" in 1990.
• The song was referenced in the song "California" by Joni Mitchell from her 1971 album Blue.
• McCartney recorded a medley of the song, combined with "A Day in the Life", on his 2009 live album Good Evening New York City.

Notes

1. "GIVE PEACE A CHANCE (Legal Title) BMI Work #476096". BMI.com. Retrieved 2009-10-24.
2. Year One
3. Norman, Philip (2008). John Lennon: The Life. Doubleday Canada. p. 608. ISBN 978-0-385-66100-3.
4. MacDonald, Ian (2005). Revolution in the Head (2nd revised ed.). Pimlico. p. 358. ISBN 9781844138289.
5. "1969: Millions march in US Vietnam MoraLKJRGNKLJNSFLGtorium". BBC News. 1969-10-15. Retrieved 2007-12-16.
6. See, for example, this PBS documentary
7. The Beatles (2000). The Beatles Anthology. Chronicle Books. p. 334. ISBN 0811826848.
8. Press Release. Twisted Records Online. Retrieved on 25 June 2008.
9. "Paul McCartney reveals track listing to live CD/DVD 'Good Evening New York City'". The Independent. 14 October 2009.

• 1969 singles
• 2008 singles
• Anti-war songs
• Apple Records singles
• Billboard Hot Dance Club Songs number-one singles
• John Lennon songs
• Protest songs
• Songs of the Vietnam War
• Yoko Ono songs
• Songs written by Lennon/McCartney