And so this is Christmas

almost. But the song I want to explore today is never out of season: John Lennon and Yoko Ono's "Happy Christmas (War is Over)." Like most Christmas songs worth a second hearing, this one has been covered by various artists, and their new takes can add to the overall beauty and community of the song. The harmonic progression of “Happy Christmas" is fairly simple but effective. Dissonances in the accompaniment and melody highlight the song’s attitude of hope in the face of the world’s concerns.

sung by John Lennon and Yoko Ono

One of the most touching moments of the song, whether rehearsed or candid, is Lennon and Ono’s whisper of Christmas wishes to their children before the music starts.  “War is Over", the song’s subtitle, is sung to the countermelody during the chorus. The theme of peace and hopes for a better world echo “Imagine,” released 2 months earlier in 1971. Lennon never stopped hoping for peace and this song, though beloved as a Christmas standard, is an eloquent protest of the war in Vietnam and war anywhere.

sung by Maroon 5

Of all the covers I have heard for this song, Maroon 5 makes the most interesting counterpart to Lennon's version. In contrast to most of the others I looked at (Celine Dion, U2, Sarah Maclachlan), their version begins plainly with the lead singer solo and a piano playing a single line, and does not get much more decorated with that. All the rest choose to begin with guitars strumming and perhaps add tambourines for rhythm, a stylistic choice which echoes Lennon's original recording.  The significance of the instrumentation here reflects the different emotional content in each version. Lennon and Ono are joined by a children's choir, and take the song up and up the scale through modulations, perhaps in a gesture of joy. Maroon 5 skips the upward modulation and chooses to keep the song in a medium-low vocal register for the majority of the song, which keeps the atmosphere intimate and hushed, nothing like the exuberant but deep emotion of Ono singing "war is over/if you want it."

The single line played against the soloist is the countermelody, later used in the chorus with the words “War is over/if you want it/now” with “nota cambiata” non-harmonic tones. The starkness of the piano line makes every dissonant interval in the countermelody stand out, and the vocal line is changed minutely to add emphasis to these dissonant notes. Instead of the tender and hopeful atmosphere of Lennon's version, Maroon 5 seems bittersweetly nostalgic and perhaps more world-weary than optimistic. At 2:55, the lyrics "let's hope it's a good one" are given a bitter cast by the dissonance in the melody over a minor chord (ii), which resolves to a major chord through passing notes in the bass. These notes are harmonized and brought out by strings, which have been added as the song gains momentum. In each repetition of the chorus the chords resolve in the same pattern, but the addition of the strings and the emphasis on the IV chord, bright and sunny, twists this chorus unexpectedly into optimism. Perhaps the singer does not really believe war is over, but by the end of the song we feel it may be possible.