Skip to main content

TL;DR:

  • George Harrison explained his opinion of John Lennon’s “Give Peace a Chance.”
  • “Give Peace a Chance” became a hit in the United States and the United Kingdom.
  • Aerosmith covered “Give Peace a Chance” for an album that benefited Amnesty International.
"Give Peace a Chance" singer John Lennon with George Harrison in black-and-white
John Lennon and George Harrison | Keystone Features / Stringer

John Lennon‘s “Give Peace a Chance” is one of the most famous anti-war songs ever written. George Harrison didn’t think it was going to make the world a better place. In addition, he explained his attitude toward the song in the context of his personal philosophy.

George Harrison said his goal was to liberate himself from his own body

The book George Harrison on George Harrison: Interviews and Encounters features an interview from 1970. In it, George gave fans a lot of advice. “The only purpose for being alive is to get yourself straight,” he said.

“Each soul is potentially divine; the goal is to manifest that divinity,” George added. “And liberation, that’s really what I wanna do — is liberate meself from this chaos and of this body. I wanna be God-conscious. That’s really my only ambition, and incidental is everything else.”

George Harrison disagreed with the message of John Lennon’s ‘Give Peace a Chance’

George contrasted himself with John. “This is where I really disagreed with John, because I want peace too,” he said. “But I don’t think you get peace by goin’ around shouting, ‘Give peace a chance, man!’ For a forest to be green, each tree must be green. You don’t get peace by talking about peace. You don’t get any sort of peace until you really stop talking and be more on the road to peace.”

George compared this phenomenon to LSD. “It’s like acid: people took acid in order to have some higher state of consciousness, but it doesn’t work,” he added. “To get God-conscious, you have to stop taking pills and stop all that scene.”

Related

Why Petula Clark Sang on John Lennon’s ‘Give Peace a Chance’

‘Give Peace a Chance’ was a hit in the United States and the United Kingdom

“Give Peace a Chance” became a modest hit in the United States. It reached No. 14 on the Billboard Hot 100 and stayed on the chart for nine weeks. The tune appeared on the compilation album Shaved Fish, which peaked at No. 12 on the Billboard 200 and remained on the chart for 32 weeks.

According to The Official Charts Company, “Give Peace a Chance” reached No. 2 in the United Kingdom and lasted on the chart for 18 weeks. On the other hand, The Official Charts Company says Shaved Fish peaked at No. 8 in the U.K., spending a total of 29 weeks on the chart.

Aerosmith covered “Give Peace a Chance.” The tune appeared on a compilation album Instant Karma: The Amnesty International Campaign to Save Darfur. The album was designed to raise money for Amnesty International. Lana Del Rey released a song called “Yes to Heaven” on her album Ultraviolence, which includes the phrase “give peace a chance.”

“Give Peace a Chance” was an international hit but George felt it wasn’t going to make the world more peaceful.

Best in Entertainment