Post by New York City on Jul 10, 2009 20:39:49 GMT 1
A History: Give Peace a Chance
"Give Peace a Chance" is a song written by John Lennon and originally credited to Lennon/McCartney. However, when Lennon's posthumous live album with Elephant's Memory, Live in New York City (recorded in 1972), was reissued in the 1990s, "Give Peace a Chance" was credited solely to Lennon. End credits of the 2006 documentary The U.S. vs. John Lennon (in which the song appears) and its appearance on the 1997 compilation album Lennon Legend: The Very Best of John Lennon (and its DVD version six years later) also list Lennon as the sole writer of this song. On the topic of co-writing credits 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.”
Early in the Bed-In, a reporter asked John what he was trying to do. John said, "All we are saying is give peace a chance," spontaneously, but he 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, recorded it using a simple setup of four microphones and a four-track Ampex tape recorder rented from RCA Victor in Montreal.
It was recorded by John Lennon and issued as a single under the name Plastic Ono Band. To maximize media exposure, newlyweds John Lennon and Yoko Ono originally intended to host their second "Bed-In" event in New York City (the first was held in Amsterdam), but U.S. immigration officials refused to allow Lennon in the country because of his November 1968 drug conviction in London. The couple instead chose Montreal because it was close to the U.S. border. The song was recorded on 1 June 1969 in Room 1742 at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal, Canada. 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.
"Give Peace a Chance" is a song written by John Lennon and originally credited to Lennon/McCartney. However, when Lennon's posthumous live album with Elephant's Memory, Live in New York City (recorded in 1972), was reissued in the 1990s, "Give Peace a Chance" was credited solely to Lennon. End credits of the 2006 documentary The U.S. vs. John Lennon (in which the song appears) and its appearance on the 1997 compilation album Lennon Legend: The Very Best of John Lennon (and its DVD version six years later) also list Lennon as the sole writer of this song. On the topic of co-writing credits 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.”
Early in the Bed-In, a reporter asked John what he was trying to do. John said, "All we are saying is give peace a chance," spontaneously, but he 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, recorded it using a simple setup of four microphones and a four-track Ampex tape recorder rented from RCA Victor in Montreal.
It was recorded by John Lennon and issued as a single under the name Plastic Ono Band. To maximize media exposure, newlyweds John Lennon and Yoko Ono originally intended to host their second "Bed-In" event in New York City (the first was held in Amsterdam), but U.S. immigration officials refused to allow Lennon in the country because of his November 1968 drug conviction in London. The couple instead chose Montreal because it was close to the U.S. border. The song was recorded on 1 June 1969 in Room 1742 at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal, Canada. 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.
