Release
The single was released on Apple Records in the United States (catalogue Apple 1842) in December 1971 and reached number three on Billboard's Christmas Singles chart and number 36 on the Cash Box Top 100 Singles chart. Due to a publishing dispute with Northern Songs, the UK and worldwide release of the single (Apple R5970) was delayed until the following November. The single peaked at number four in the UK in late December 1972. Initial pressings featured green vinyl and either the standard Apple label or the custom "John and Yoko" label also used on the album Some Time in New York City. The single re-entered the UK chart on 20 December 1980, shortly after John Lennon's murder on 8 December, peaking at number two.
The song's first appearance on album was the 1975 compilation Shaved Fish; it has also been included on several subsequent Lennon compilation albums and several Christmas-themed compilations. The album cover for Shaved Fish featured a drawing of a plane dropping a Christmas ornament instead of a bomb.
Read more about this topic: Happy Xmas (War Is Over)
Famous quotes containing the word release:
“As nature requires whirlwinds and cyclones to release its excessive force in a violent revolt against its own existence, so the spirit requires a demonic human being from time to time whose excessive strength rebels against the community of thought and the monotony of morality ... only by looking at those beyond its limits does humanity come to know its own utmost limits.”
—Stefan Zweig (18811942)
“The near touch of death may be a release into life; if only it will break the egoistic will, and release that other flow.”
—D.H. (David Herbert)
“Come, thou long-expected Jesus,
born to set thy people free;
from our fears and sins release us,
let us find our rest in thee.”
—Charles Wesley (1707–1788)