John Lennon family members team up with EMI for 'Give Peace a Chance' digital single for UN charity

November 3, 9:42 AMBeatles ExaminerSteve Marinucci

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     John Lennon and Yoko Ono at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel.
     (Photo by IvorSharp/©Yoko Ono)

 Yoko Ono, Sean Lennon and Julian Lennon announced Tuesday they have partnered with EMI Music and Sony/ATV Music Publishing to donate the net proceeds from the sale of a commemorative 40th Anniversary "Give Peace a Chance" digital single to the United Nations Peacebuilding Fund (PBF).  The move is to "celebrate the unifying spirit and 40th anniversary of the Plastic Ono Band’s 'Give Peace a Chance,'" according to a statement.

iTunes is now offering a special anniversary edition of the single for download purchase with net proceeds through Dec. 31 benefiting the United Nations initiative, which helps to assist national authorities in post-conflict countries to build and sustain peace. It currently supports 100 efforts in 14 countries and relies on voluntary funding.

“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," Yoko Ono said in a statement. 

 

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“I am delighted to see that a song so closely identified with the pursuit of peace, will shine a light on the United Nations’ peacebuilding efforts and financially support PBF projects,” said Ambassador Heraldo Muñoz of Chile, chairperson of the United Nations Peacebuilding Commission.

The song was written during John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s 1969 honeymoon bed-in protest against the Vietnam War and 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. It was recorded live on June 1, 1969 in a room at Montreal’s Queen Elizabeth Hotel and first released on July 4, 1969.