Plastic Ono Band

Released: July 4, 1969

Songwriter: John Lennon

Producer: Yoko Ono John Lennon

[Intro]
Two
A-one, two, three four, ugh

[Verse 1]
Everybody's talking about
Bagism, Shagism, Dragism, Madism, Ragism, Tagism
This-ism, that-ism, ism ism ism

[Chorus]
All we are saying is give peace a chance
All we are saying is give peace a chance

[Verse 2]
(Come on)
Everybody's talking about
Minister, Sinister, Banisters and Canisters
Bishops, Fishops, Rabbis, and Pop Eyes, Bye bye, Bye byes

[Chorus]
All we are saying is give peace a chance
All we are saying is give peace a chance

[Verse 3]
(Let me tell you now)
Everybody's talking about
Revolution, Evolution, Masturbation, Flagellation, Regulation
Integrations, mediations, United Nations, congratulations

[Chorus]
All we are saying is give peace a chance
All we are saying is give peace a chance

[Verse 4]
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

[Chorus]
All we are saying is give peace a chance
All we are saying is give peace a chance

[Outro]
(Come on, come on, come on)
All we are saying is give peace a chance
([?])
All we are saying is give peace a chance
(Let's hear it for the hippies and the yippies)
All we are saying is give peace a chance
(Let's hear it for the people, now)
All we are saying is give peace a chance
(Let's hear it for Hare Krishna)
All we are saying is give peace a chance
(Everybody now, come on)
All we are saying is give peace a chance
([?])
All we are saying is give peace a chance
(Everybody now, come on)
All we are saying (It won't [?] unless you want it and we want it now) is give peace a chance
All we are saying (Come together) is give peace a chance
(Come together, all together)
All we are saying is give peace a chance
(Can everybody hear me? Yes!)
All we are saying (We can get it tomorrow or today) is give peace a chance
(Unless you want it now, I'll get it now)
All we are saying is give peace a chance
(Yes, yes)
All we are saying is give peace a chance
(Okay, beautiful, yes
We've made it!)

Plastic Ono Band is the moniker for John Lennon’s band with an amorphous membership (though there were some consistent musicians).

In The Word and Music of John Lennon, authors Ben Urish and Ken Bielen write:

To counter Lennon’s frustrations with The Beatles as a near magical entity, he simultaneously declared that the Plastic Ono Band was both a band with no members and a band where all who heard of it were the members; the band was “conceptual.” Publicity material for the band included plastic boxes with instruments and recording equipment in them, declaring the packaging and equipment to be the band itself.

more tracks from the album

Shaved Fish

From the albums

Shaved Fish (1975)
The John Lennon Collection (1982)
Live in New York City (1986)
Imagine: John Lennon (1988)
Lennon Legend (The Very Best Of John Lennon) (1997)
Power to the People: The Hits (2010)
GIMME SOME TRUTH. (2020)
Plastic Ono Band (The Ultimate Collection) (2021)

Plastic Ono Band popular songs

Give Peace a Chance

Give Peace a ChancePlastic Ono Band

Plastic Ono Band

Shaved Fish