Give Peace a Chance

Listen while you read:  Plastic Ono Band

Everybody's talking 'bout
Bagism, Shagism, Dragism, Madism, Ragism, Tagism
This-ism, that-ism, is-m, is-m, is-m

All we are saying is give peace a chance
All we are saying is give peace a chance

Everybody's talking 'bout
Ministers, sinisters, banisters, and canisters 
Bishops and Fishops and Rabbis and Popeyes and bye-bye, bye-byes

All we are saying is give peace a chance
All we are saying is give peace a chance

Let me tell you now
Everybody's talking 'bout
Revolution, evolution, masturbation, flagellation, regulation, integrations
Meditations, United Nations, congratulations

All we are saying is give peace a chance
All we are saying is give peace a chance

Everybody's talking 'bout 
John and Yoko, Timothy Leary, Rosemary, Tommy Smothers, Bobby Dylan, Tommy Cooper
Derek Taylor, Norman Mailer, Allen Ginsberg, Hare Krishna, Hare Hare Krishna

All we are saying is give peace a chance
All we are saying is give peace a chance

~  John Lennon

On May 31, 1969, John Lennon and Yoko One staged a "Bed-In" in Room 1472 of the Queen Elizabeth's Hotel in Montreal to draw attention to the need for peace in the world. They stayed in bed for eight days. "Give Peace a Chance" was recorded live in that room, with vocal help from, among others, Tommy Smothers, Timothy Leary, Allen Ginsberg, and . . . wait for it . . . Petula Clark. Despite the efforts of the Plastic Ono Band, we are still waiting to give peace a chance. (And from what I can gather, making Jerusalem the capital of Israel is not going to get us any closer to peace.)

Thirty-seven years ago today, John Lennon was murdered outside his NYC residence, the Dakota, by Mark David Chapman. Aside from the assassinations of the Kennedys and Martin Luther King, Jr., I generally do not let celebrity deaths get to me. But Lennon's death did. I still remember, a day or two after his death, WNEW (in NYC) held a moment of silence at noon. I was in my home in northwestern New Jersey on that day. The weather was mild. But at that moment of silence, all of a sudden, a snow squall reared up out of nowhere, and as suddenly as it appeared, it disappeared. I will never forget that moment.

I can't help but wonder what John would say to us these days. Could he impart some wisdom to help us deal with our dysfunctional political situation? In a moment of silence, I channeled him and before I knew it, a revision of the song appeared in my handwriting! I offer it to you here:

Everybody's talking 'bout
Steve Bannon, loose cannons, V. Putin, darn-tootin', KellyAnn, Erdogan, 
Robert Mueller, Ferris Bueller, (who's cooler?)

All we are saying is give peace a chance
All we are saying is give peace a chance

Everybody's talking 'bout
Al Franken, offshore banking, James Comey, Moore homies, 
Wall pushers, Jared Kushner and Ivanka, Willy Wonka

All we are saying is give peace a chance
All we are saying is give peace a chance

Everybody's talking 'bout
McConnell, O'Donnell, Melania, melancholia, 
Papadopoulos, Stephanopoulos, and who will topple us?

All we are saying is give peace a chance
All we are saying is give peace a chance

Peace all.