1991.01.12 - The New York Times - Lennon's Son Expands a Song of Peace (Duff)

Lennon's Son Expands a Song of Peace

By Stephen Holden
Jan. 12, 1991

An all-star recording and music-video of John Lennon's antiwar anthem, "Give Peace a Chance," with new lyrics by the slain Beatle's 15-year-old son, Sean, will be released Tuesday by Virgin Records. Among the more than 20 stars participating on the record, which was conceived and produced by Lenny Kravitz, are M. C. Hammer, Bonnie Raitt, Tom Petty, Peter Gabriel and L. L. Cool J.

The new version of the song retains the original chorus, "All we are saying is give peace a chance," but includes four new verses, the second of which addresses the Persian Gulf crisis and pleads indirectly against going to war and in favor of giving the United Nations' sanctions against Iraq more time to work. It goes like this: "Everybody's talkin' 'bout/ Civil war/ Revolution/ Armageddon/ No solution/ Are we facing Vietnam?/ We don't want to drop the bomb."

Mr. Kravitz conceived the idea for the record the day after the United Nations voted to impose a deadline of Jan. 15, which will be Tuesday, for Iraq to withdraw from Kuwait, said his manager Danny Goldberg.

Ten days ago, Mr. Kravitz telephoned Yoko Ono with the concept, and a week ago yesterday, they and Sean Lennon stayed up most of the night discussing the situation, and Sean wrote the lyrics.

The instrumental track was recorded the next day at a studio in Hoboken, and the first vocals were recorded Monday in Manhattan. Sessions took place in Los Angeles on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday and in London on Thursday. The music-video was supervised by Nigel Dick, who six years ago directed the video of the Band Aid charity single, "Do They Know It's Christmas?"

The other New York participants are Run D.M.C., Cyndi Lauper, Skid Row, Little Steven and the rapper Q-Tip. The others in the Los Angeles continent are Bruce Hornsby, Iggy Pop, Duff McKagan (of Guns 'n' Roses), Michael McDonald, Randy Newman, Little Richard, Teena Marie, Terence Trent D'Arby and Ofra Haza (an Israeli singer singing in Hebrew). The other London participants are Jazzy B. (of Soul 2 Soul), Dave Stewart and Amina, a Moroccan pop singer singing in Arabic.

https://www.nytimes.com/1991/01/12/arts/lennon-s-son-expands-a-song-of-peace.html

And from Springfield News Leader, January 16, 1991:



Transcript:
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Led by Sean Lennon, musicians unite to ‘Give Peace a Chance’

By Marilyn Beck
Tribune Media Services

HOLLYWOOD - Its been round-the-clock editing and sound mixing for the crew working on Sean Lennon’s new version of his father John’s "Give Peace a Chance.’’ Recorded in London, New York, and Los Angeles last week, the "Peace’’ record/video was an all-volunteer enterprise, according to line producer Rob Newman.

Al Jarreau, Duff McKagan of Guns n’ Roses and Tom Petty be came 11th-hour additions to the project at the L.A. session, according to Newman.

"Tom was really tired, he’d been working all day on his own recording, but he wanted to be part of it. Everyone did. Everyone wants to do something relevant to what’s happening in the world right now; this is something we could do.’’ The new "Give Peace a Chance” — with lyrics pertaining to the current world situation — also features an al ready-announced lineup of stars including 15-year-old Sean Lennon, Yoko Ono, Lenny Kravitz, M.C. Hammer, Peter Gabriel, Cyndi Lauper, Michael McDonald, Randy Newman, Dave Stewart, Bonnie Raitt, Bruce Hornsby, Run D.M.C. and more. Profits are earmarked for the Spirit Foundation charity founded by John and Yoko 20 years ago.

Duff appears in the video:

Dizzy would later sign a banner in support of the U.S. troops in the Gulf War:

From the "L.A. Dee Da" column in L.A. Weekly, March 1, 1991:



Transcript (excerpt):
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One artist in support of Desert Storm is Maxine Miller, who’s done cover art for the band L.A. Guns and T-shirts for Bon Jovi and Cher, among others. Maxine recently donated her services to create a 3-foot-square, red, white & blue banner bearing the words “English Acid Nightclub of Hollywood says thanks for fighting for our freedom to rock n' roll.” Signed by English Acid patrons as well as local aggregations Rain on Fire, China Doll Deluxe, Liquid Jesus and Pigmy Love Circus as well as celeb types such as Alice in Chains (whose drummer was reportedly rushed to the hospital just moments before the hand’s Cathouse gig); Guns N’ Roses' new member, keyboardist Dizzy; former Gene Loves Jezebel twinster, now one of The Immigrants, Michael Aston; and the Bullet Boys, who asked to do a couple of songs, but vanished by the time club owner Janice De Soto talked band Sonic 13 into letting the Boys borrow their instruments. Later this week, the morale-boosting banner will be forwarded to Riyadh, where a nephew of one of the club’s security guards is posted.

During the show at Deer Creek Music Center in Indiana on May 29, 1991, Axl would dedicate "Civil War" to the troops fighting in the Gulf War, saying (paraphrasing) that nobody wanted the war but now that the country was in it they should support the troops.

Later, though, in 1992, he would talk from the stage against the Bush government for bringing the country into war:

[...] They keep everything away from the fucking people, so that they can run it the way they want and it’s safe. And they can send you to war to fight for their fucking oil and their money deals, and that blowing down another country. [...] [Onstage in San Diego, CA, USA, January 27, 1992]

[...] Anybody here voting? What do you think of politics? It’s really kind of fucked. I did manage to register to vote, but, goddamn, as far as the president is concerned, there’s nobody to fuckin’ vote for. We’ve got Bush, who sold our ass out in the Gulf War for billions of dollars and lots of people killed. [...] [onstage in Seattle, WA, USA, October 6, 1992]

Slash would also say in 1992 that he thought the war was "stupid":

I thought it was pretty f**king stupid. I know how the whole thing came about, but I thought it was f**ing stupid [Kerrang! May 16, 1992].

I remember from the time that the 1991 "Give Peace A Chance" version was banned in the U.S.

According to this Associated Press report (February 17, 1991), several US radio stations, but also the BBC, chose to ban both the original version by John Lennon and the 1991 version:

Blackstar wrote:Duff appears in the video:

This really hasn't aged well

Soulmonster wrote:

Blackstar wrote:Duff appears in the video:

This really hasn't aged well

Yes, like other similar stuff, "We Are The World," "Do They Know It's Christmas," etc.