Give Peace a Chance 40th Anniversary Celebrated With Commemorative Digital Single

Posted on November 3, 2009

To celebrate the 40th anniversary of "Give Peace a Chance," Yoko Ono, Sean Lennon and Julian Lennon have partnered with EMI Music and Sony/ATV Music Publishing to donate net proceeds from the sale of a commemorative 40th Anniversary digital single to the United Nations Peacebuilding Fund (PBF). Beginning today, iTunes will exclusively offer the single's special anniversary edition for download purchase, with net proceeds benefiting the PBF through December 31. The song can be found on iTunes.com.

Yoko Ono says, "I am thrilled that so many in the music business are readily supporting 'Give Peace a Chance' on its 40th anniversary. It is indeed a time when we are all getting more aware of the necessity of doing something to achieve world peace, no matter how small. Thank you, thank you, thank you. I feel deeply that we are all one, regardless of where we stand."

"Give Peace a Chance" was written during John Lennon and Yoko Ono's 1969 honeymoon bed as a protest against the Vietnam War. It was inspired by Lennon's off-the-cuff explanation to a visiting reporter of the couple's purpose for protesting the war by remaining in their honeymoon bed. From March 25 to March 31, the couple invited media to visit and interview them daily between the hours of 9am and 9pm in their bed at the Amsterdam Hilton Hotel. The song was recorded live on June 1, 1969 in a room at Montreal's Queen Elizabeth Hotel.

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