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10. Happy Xmas (War is over) by John Lennon with Yoko Ono. One of my Christmas rituals is to praise this song and to moan about Paul McCartney's execrable attempt at a Christmas number (Wonderful Christmas time). Actually as songs they are equal. The real difference is in the production and the sentiment. McCartney's features a tinny eighties synthesizer and sleigh bells and is all about having a nice time at Christmas. Lennon, on the other hand, has got Phil Spector in to do a massive production number with mandolins and children and choirs and who knows what else and with the genuine if naive aim of bringing the Vietnam War and indeed all wars to an end. As is apparent already I like a bit of seriousness in my holiday music (cf Greg Lake, The Pogues, also Jackson Browne's The Rebel Jesus on the Chieftains album I mentioned) and this one gives it in bucketfuls. Even Yoko Ono is bearable on this track. Here on wikipedia there is some more info, including the fact that at the beginning of the song the whispered words are not "Happy Christmas, Yoko. Happy Christmas, John" as I'd always assumed (giving it a rather self-indulgent flavour) but "Happy Christmas, Kyoko. Happy Christmas, Julian" ie to their kids.
