Miley Cyrus has teamed with Mark Ronson and Sean Ono Lennon for a new version of John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s classic holiday staple “Happy Xmas (War is Over).” The original song was released in 1971.
In the new rendition, Cyrus passionately sings the lyrics over a subtle backbeat as Lennon adds buoyant harmonies of “War is over/ If you want it” into the mix, before their singing intertwines at the chorus.
Cyrus, who has been collaborating with Ronson (they recently debuted the “Nothing Breaks Like a Heart” video for their song that will appear on Ronson’s forthcoming LP), told Jimmy Fallon during The Tonight Show on Thursday that the cover came together while at New York’s famed Electric Lady Studios, where she and Ronson had been working.
“So, we went to Electric Lady with Sean Ono Lennon and we got to cut ‘War is Over,’” Cyrus said. “And so we’re also doing it on SNL – we want to do a Christmas song, and I don’t think anything could speak louder than what’s going on right now than about ‘War is Over.’”
Fallon also asked Cyrus if Lennon sounded like his father during their recording. “I mean, he’s just such an incredible being to be in the room with because that magic just radiates and I have always loved John and Yoko, I’m such a big Yoko fan, and so it’s just been amazing to work with him and his voice is just so special,” she explained. “And I think more than just inheriting the voice, or you know the way he looks or whatever, that is it’s about the magic that you know he has and I think that’s what he’s really inherited more than anything, it’s just this radiant magic.”