John Lennon Estate Releases New ‘Sunday Bloody Sunday’ Video
The freshly produced visual powerfully complements Lennon & Yoko Ono’s 1972 protest anthem.
In 1972, John Lennon and Yoko Ono wrote and recorded a lively protest song called “Sunday Bloody Sunday.” The couple created the music on Jan. 31, 1972 in response to Bloody Sunday, the previous day’s massacre in which British soldiers killed 13 unarmed civilians, including six children, during a protest march in Derry. (Eleven years later, the same event inspired a classic U2 single, also titled “Sunday Bloody Sunday.”) Now the John Lennon Estate has released a stirring visual accompaniment for Lennon and Ono’s anthem.
A new music video for “Sunday Bloody Sunday” illustrates, via a flurry of text and statistics, the human and financial cost of war, guns, and political violence. The clip cycles through conflicts and tragedies from around the world, including The Troubles in Ireland, the Vietnam War, the Iran-Iraq War, Lebanon, Tiananmen Square, the Lockerbie bombing, the Bosnian War, the Rwanda and Darfur genocides, the Chechen Wars, 9/11, the Iraq War, Syria, the Ukraine War, the War in Gaza, and from mass shootings in the United States. It ends, pointedly, by pointing out that 1.5 million people have been killed by guns in the U.S. since Lennon was gunned down outside his New York apartment building on Dec. 8, 1980.
Directed by Simon Hilton and David Frearson — and produced by Sean Ono Lennon, Delphine Lamandé-Frearson, Sophie Hilton, Faye Jordan, and Grace Davyd — the video is not just a fresh act of protest, it’s a call to action. The YouTube upload includes links to dozens of charitable efforts combating the effects of war and violence around the world.
“Sunday Bloody Sunday” first appeared on Sometime In New York City, John & Yoko/Plastic Ono Band with Elephant’s Memory 1972 album, which was designed to function as an “audio newspaper,” illuminating important happenings around the world. The song will be included on Power to the People, a new 12-disc, 123-track box set commemorating John & Yoko’s legacy of nonviolent protest in NYC.
The box set transforms material from Sometime In New York City with new Ultimate Mixes that have been rejuvenated and resequenced under the title New York City. The focal point of the package is a full live recording of the One To One Concert from Aug. 30, 1972. The One To One Concerts, a two-night event at Madison Square Garden featuring John & Yoko/Plastic Ono Band with Elephant’s Memory and a cast of special guests.
