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Officially written by
John Lennon and
Paul McCartney for contract reasons, the song was actually penned only by Lennon and attributed to the
Plastic Ono Band. It was recorded live in
Montreal's Queen Elizabeth Hotel during John and
Yoko's second Bed-In for Peace, on June 1,
1969. Those in attendance included
Timothy Leary,
Derek Taylor,
Petula Clark, and members of Canada's Radha Krishna Temple. The single was released in the U.S. on July 7, reached #14 on
Billboard's charts, and hit #2 in the United Kingdom. The line about "masturbation" was controversial, but Lennon claimed the group had used the word "
mastication" instead. Because the tape was unclear, the line was allowed to play.
Two, one two three four
Everybody's talking about
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
C'mon -
Everybody's talking about ministers,
Sinisters, banisters and canisters
Bishops and fishops and rabbis and pop-eyes,
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 about
Revolution, evolution, masturbation,
flagellation, regulation, integration,
meditation, United Nations,
Congratulations.
All we are saying is give peace a chance
All we are saying is give peace a chance
Everybody's talking about
John and Yoko, Timmy 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