Let's Give Peace A Chance

05/25/09 11:51am

by Kate Harper (CHARTattack)

Tomorrow marks the 40th anniversary of the beginning of John Lennon and Yoko Ono's Montreal Bed-In for peace.

Lennon and Ono's first Bed-In was held in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The couple spent their honeymoon (they married on March 20, 1969) in Gibraltar) at the Amsterdam Hilton Hotel and invited the press to their hotel room every day.

Although the press first suspected some kind of ridiculous and obscene publicity stunt (having sex in front of them, for instance) the couple were found wearing pyjamas, sitting up in their bed and instead spent the time talking to the press about peace every day.

Lennon and Ono wanted to hold a second Bed-In in New York City, but Lennon could not because of a previous (dubious) marijuana possession conviction. They opted for Montreal instead.

Lennon and Ono held their Bed-In at in Room 1738 and 1742 at Montreal's Queen Elizabeth Hotel from May 26 to June 2, 1969. On June 1, they invited acid enthusiast and psychologist Timothy Leary, comedians Tommy Smothers and Dick Gregory (also a civil rights activist) and humourist and cartoonist Al Capp to their hotel room.

Leary, Smothers and Gregory appear on "Give Peace A Chance," which was recorded that day in the room. Toronto rabbi Abraham Feinberg, Petula Clark and members of the Canadian Radha Krishna Temple are also on the track. Allan Rock (later Canada's justice minister and health minister under prime minister Jean Chretien), Allen Ginsberg, Petula Clark and many others were also present when the track was recorded.

You can watch a CBC video interview with Lennon and Ono here.

Here is a video with some of "Give Peace A Chance" and Lennon and Ono talking about what they're doing: