“Happy Xmas (War Is Over)" by Sleeping At Last, Tuesday, December 19, 2023 (updated repost)

 Sleeping at Last is a band that almost made a song of the day two days ago for their cover of "Chasing Cars" until I made time to listen to the Snow Patrol version and their music, eventually settling on "You're All I Have." Like Snow Patrol, Sleeping at Last came to fame, albeit not Snow Patrol-level of fame, from a well-placed appearance in Season 3 of Grey's Anatomy. The indie-rock band turned solo project of singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Ryan O'Neal has had many songs included in the ABC drama and its spin-off, Private Practice. Their cover of "Chasing Cars" was used to add a dramatic counterpoint in the series, as the audience had already heard the original in the Season 2 finale. O'Neal stays busy producing lots of music, composing albums based on larger concepts, such as the solar system, the Enneagram, emotions, land, oceans, and many other topics. 


WAR IS OVER, IF YOU WANT IT. In the band's large scope of theme music, they have recorded several Christmas albums. Today's song is Sleeping At Last's cover of John Lennon and Yoko Ono's 1971 holiday hit, which was written in protest of America's involvement in the Vietnam War. My favorite version of the song is done by    Acceptance, but it's not available on Apple Music. My inclusion of this song comes with a prejudice that I'm reexamining. When I was young and influenced by far-right Christian rhetoric, I believed that this song was dangerous, as was his hit "Imagine," also released in '71. I was taught that war is a last resort, but often necessary, and Lennon's Marx-lifted lyrics in "Imagine" were driving people away from the very foundations of freedom: God, guns, and gold. "Happy Xmas" was a song that removed "Christ" from the title, and that was what the "War on Christmas" looked like in the '90s and probably earlier. The song wishes Lennon's son and Ono's daughter a Merry Christmas at the beginning of the track, and the song never says "X," but always "Christmas." The lyrics of "War is over, if you want it" strike me as hopeful, idealistic, and naive depending on my mood. Not knowing much about the Christian influence or backgrounds of The Beatles (which would be a fascinating study), I'm assuming that Lennon would have been well-acquainted with popular notions of faith and virtues typically attributed to Christianity. Lennon and the Beatles strayed from the state religion of their homeland, venturing into the realm of Hinduism, Hare Krishna, and other eastern religions; however, to me, today, "Happy Xmas" seems to be pleading with the Christian country of the United States, even using some Christianese, using Christmas as a platform of peace and ending the war. If you're in America and an evangelical, though, Lennon just sounds like a babbling heretic. After years of blatant racism and looking back at wars with no end game, it may be time to listen a little closer to the babbling.

LET'S HOPE IT'S A GOOD ONE. "Happy Xmas" is proceeding a holiday season full of uncertainty. War in Russia and Ukraine and between Israel and Hamas has the world itchy. So many problems are left unaddressed, and the greedy take it all. Do we trust our fate to leaders strategic in war or do we try our hand at diplomacy? Could war really be over if we want it? My Christian upbringing tells me conflict will only escalate until the end. But my secular education remembers the history of harrowing circumstances in which negotiation leads to times of peace. Are we our human desires wired against each other? Are we so self-interested and selfish that we cannot get along on this sphere? Is war inevitable or avoidable? As we grapple with these questions on the eve of an election year, maybe we should ask ourselves, what can I do to promote peace? What can I do to promote peace in my life and in those around me? What can I do to help my neighbor understand my other neighbor? What can I do to get to the root of the problem rather than using information in my favor? How can we both win in this situation? How can we reduce damage? Maybe then war can be over, but do we want it?

Check out the original with annotations



John Lennon & Yoko Ono version:


Sleeping at Last version:


Acceptance version:







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