![]() John Lennon and Yoko Ono at the first day of their Amsterdam bed-in | |
Date | March 25–31, 1969 and May 26 – June 1, 1969 |
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Location | Amsterdam, Netherlands and Montreal, Canada |
Type | Occupation protest |
Theme | Peace movement |
Cause | Vietnam War |
Target | World media and political leaders |
Organised by | John Lennon and Yoko Ono |
Participants | Timothy Leary, Tommy Smothers, Derek Taylor, Abraham Feinberg, Dick Gregory, Murray the K, Al Capp, Allen Ginsberg, Paul Williams |
Outcome |
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A bed-in is a nonviolent protest against wars, initiated by Yoko Ono and her husband John Lennon during a two week period in Amsterdam and Montreal as an experimental test of new ways to promote peace. As the Vietnam War raged in 1969, artist Ono and Lennon held one bed-in protest at the Hilton Hotel in Amsterdam and one at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal. The idea is derived from a "sit-in", in which a group of protesters remain seated in front of or within an establishment until they are evicted, arrested, or their requests are met.
The public proceedings were filmed, and later turned into a documentary Bed Peace, which was made available for free on YouTube in August 2011 by Yoko Ono, [1] as part of her website "Imagine Peace". [2] Other bed-ins have since taken place - the most recent in 2018, when Ono was joined by former Beatle Ringo Starr, actor Jeff Bridges and then-New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, to participate in a bed-in at New York City Hall.
Knowing their March 20, 1969, marriage would be a huge press event, Lennon and Ono decided to use the publicity to promote world peace. They spent their honeymoon in the presidential suite (Room 702) [3] at the Amsterdam Hilton Hotel for a week between March 25 and 31, inviting the world's press into their hotel room every day between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m.
Due to the couple's very public image, the Amsterdam bed-in was greeted by fans, and received a great deal of press coverage. [4] [5] Following the event, when asked if he thought the bed-in had been successful, Lennon became rather frustrated. He insisted that the failure of the press to take the couple seriously was part of what he and Ono wanted: "It's part of our policy not to be taken seriously. Our opposition, whoever they may be, in all manifest forms, don't know how to handle humour. And we are humorous." [6] Ono also earned controversy in the Jewish community for saying during the press conference that Jewish women could have changed Adolf Hitler by becoming his girlfriend and sleeping with him for 10 days. [7] It was acknowledged that some Nazi officials, including Nazi "First Lady" Magda Goebbels, had at one point in their lives had Jewish lovers. [7]
After their nonconformist artistic expressions (cf. Bari: 33), [8] such as the nude cover of the Two Virgins album, the press were expecting them to be having sex, but instead the couple were just sitting in bed, wearing pyjamas—in Lennon's words "like angels"—talking about peace with signs over their bed reading "Hair Peace" and "Bed Peace". After seven days, they flew to Vienna, Austria, where they held a bagism press conference.
During April 1969, Lennon and Ono sent acorns to the heads of state in various countries around the world in hopes that they would plant them as a symbol of peace. Their marriage ("You can get married in Gibraltar near Spain"), the first bed-in ("Talking in our beds for a week"), the Vienna press conference ("Made a lightning trip to Vienna...The newspapers said..."), and the acorns ("Fifty acorns tied in a sack") were all mentioned in the song "The Ballad of John and Yoko". [9]
Their second bed-in was planned to take place in New York, but Lennon was not allowed into the U.S. because of his 1968 cannabis conviction. [10] Instead they intended to hold the event in the Bahamas at the Sheraton Oceanus Hotel, flying there on May 24, 1969, but after spending one night in the heat, they decided to move to Canada. They first landed in Toronto and stayed at the King Edward Hotel. They interviewed with Canadian Immigration and were granted a 10 Day Visitor Status. The choice was between Toronto and Montreal. Since they needed the New York press coverage, they decided to move it to Montreal because of its proximity to New York. [11]
They flew to Montreal on May 26 where they stayed in Rooms 1738, 1740, 1742 and 1744 at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel. During their seven-day stay, they invited Timothy Leary, Tommy Smothers, Dick Gregory, Murray the K, Al Capp, Allen Ginsberg and others, [12] and all but the hostile Capp [13] sang on the peace anthem "Give Peace a Chance", recorded by André Perry in the hotel room on June 1, 1969. Perry also recorded Lennon and Ono performing Ono's song "Remember Love" after everyone else had left the room. [14] [15] The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation conducted interviews from the hotel room. [16] The event received mixed reaction from the American press. [17] [18]
In December 1969, Lennon and Ono spread their messages of peace with billboards reading "WAR IS OVER! If You Want It – Happy Christmas From John and Yoko". These billboards went up in eleven major world cities.
The bed-in performance has since been re-interpreted and re-used in protests by a number of artists since 1969, most notably Marijke van Warmerdam with her gallerist Kees van Gelder at the same Amsterdam Hilton in 1992 and the Centre of Attention in 2005 in Miami. A fictional bed-in protest was also featured in a 2006 Viva Voce music video. In 2010 a main Liverpool's centre for the contemporary arts staged a 62-day event, Bed-in at the Blue-coat, which used Lennon & Ono's event as a template for 62 daily performances by artists, activists, community groups and others to do "something for a better world." Ono gave her blessing and sent a video message. The project started on 9 October, on what would have been Lennon's 70th birthday, and ended on 9 December, which marked 30 years since his death.
On September 13, 2018, Ono who was joined by former Beatle Ringo Starr, actor Jeff Bridges and then-New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, to participate in a bed-in which was held at New York City Hall and which focused on promoting support for New York City schools. [19]
A bed-in is in the song "Don't Look Back in Anger" by Oasis. Lead singer Noel Gallagher sings "I'm gonna start a revolution from my bed / 'Cause you said the brains I had went to my head / step outside, summertime's in bloom". The first two lines, per Revolution in the Head: The Beatles' Records and the Sixties (which Noel was reading), were said by Lennon during a taped conversation he had at his room at The Dakota. [20]
In the music video for the Marcy Playground 1999 song, "It's Saturday", the group finds their way to the bed of Lennon and Ono during their bed-in.
Linkin Park members Chester Bennington and Mr. Hahn imitated the incident in a photograph taken by Greg Watermann in their book From the Inside: Linkin Park's Meteora.
In late 2006, Billie Joe Armstrong, lead singer of Californian rock band Green Day and wife Adrienne did a similar bed-in with a poster above their heads saying "Make Love Not War" in Spanish.
On Lewis Black's Root of All Evil , comedian Andy Daly exhibits a video clip showing that he has also attempted a bed-in to protest the War in Iraq. Trying to mimic Lennon and Ono's original, he climbs into the bed of an Asian woman, who pepper-sprays him.
Japanese pop duo Puffy AmiYumi made a homage to the bed-in on the cover of their 2003 album Nice.
American singer Jhené Aiko imitated the image with Childish Gambino of Lennon and Ono in their bed for her single "Bed Peace" off her 2013 EP Sail Out .
In 2010, the city of Montreal unveiled a commemorative artwork in Mount Royal Park commemorating the famous bed-in. The work by Linda Covit and Marie-Claude Séguin is entitled Give Peace a Chance and features the words "Give peace a chance" in forty languages. [21]
John Winston Ono Lennon was an English singer, songwriter and musician. He gained worldwide fame as the founder, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of the Beatles. His work included music, writing, drawings and film. His songwriting partnership with Paul McCartney remains the most successful in history as the primary songwriters in the Beatles.
Yoko Ono is a Japanese multimedia artist, singer, songwriter, and peace activist. Her work also encompasses performance art and filmmaking.
Wedding Album is the third and final in a succession of three experimental albums by John Lennon and Yoko Ono. It followed Unfinished Music No. 1: Two Virgins and Unfinished Music No. 2: Life with the Lions. In Britain, the album was released credited by "John and Yoko", without last names mentioned. In the United States, it was released credited by "John Ono Lennon & Yoko Ono Lennon."
Fairmont The Queen Elizabeth is a historic grand hotel in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. With 950 rooms and 21 floors it is the largest hotel in Quebec, and the second largest Fairmont hotel in Canada after the Fairmont Royal York in Toronto. Located at 900 René Lévesque Boulevard West, in Downtown Montreal, it is connected to Central Station and to the underground city. The hotel is known for being the location for John Lennon and Yoko Ono recording "Give Peace a Chance" in Room 1742 during their 1969 anti-war Bed-In.
"Give Peace a Chance" is an anti-war song written by John Lennon, and recorded with the participation of a small group of friends in a performance with Yoko Ono in a hotel room in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Released as a single in July 1969 by the Plastic Ono Band on Apple Records, it is the first solo single issued by Lennon, released while he was still a member of the Beatles, and became an anthem of the American anti-war movement during the 1970s. It peaked at number 14 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 2 on the British singles chart.
The Plastic Ono Band was a rock band formed by John Lennon and Yoko Ono in 1969 for their collaborative and solo projects based on their 1968 Fluxus conceptual art project of the same name.
"Yer Blues" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles, from their 1968 double album The Beatles. Though credited to Lennon–McCartney, the song was written and composed by John Lennon during the Beatles' retreat in Rishikesh, India. The song is a parody of blues music, specifically English imitators of blues.
"Cold Turkey" is a song written by English singer-songwriter John Lennon, released as a single in 1969 by the Plastic Ono Band on Apple Records, catalogue Apples 1001 in the United Kingdom, Apple 1813 in the United States. It is the second solo single issued by Lennon and it peaked at number 30 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 14 on the UK Singles Chart. The song's first appearance on an album was Live Peace in Toronto 1969 where the song had been performed live on 13 September 1969 with Lennon reading the lyrics off a clip-board.
"The Ballad of John and Yoko" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles that was released as a non-album single in May 1969, with "Old Brown Shoe" as its B-side. It was written by John Lennon and credited to the Lennon–McCartney partnership, and chronicles the events surrounding the wedding of Lennon and Yoko Ono. The song was the Beatles' 17th UK number-one single and their last for 54 years until "Now and Then" in 2023. In the United States, it was banned by some radio stations due to the lyrics' reference to Christ and crucifixion. The single peaked at number 8 on the US Billboard Hot 100. The song, along with its B-side, has subsequently appeared on compilation albums such as Hey Jude, 1967–1970, and Past Masters. It was also included on the compilation 1.
Tittenhurst Park is a Grade II listed early Georgian country house in Sunningdale near Ascot, Berkshire. It was famously the home of musicians John Lennon and Yoko Ono from 1969 until 1971, and then the home of Ringo Starr and family from 1973 until 1988. Starr sold the property to Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the President of the United Arab Emirates, in 1989.
"Grow Old with Me" is one of the final songs written by John Lennon. It was first recorded by Lennon as a demo while in Bermuda. A handwritten lyric sheet for the song is dated July 5, 1980 Fairyland Bermuda. The song was first released on the posthumous album Milk and Honey in 1984. It was also rumored to be among the songs planned as a possible reunion single by his former bandmates during the making of The Beatles Anthology.
Imagine: John Lennon is a 1988 documentary film about English musician John Lennon. It was released on 7 October 1988, two days before Lennon's 48th birthday.
"Well Well Well" is a song by English musician John Lennon from his 1970 album John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band. The eighth and longest track on the album, "Well Well Well" features an aggressive guitar sound, screaming vocals and a pounding backing track.
John and Yoko: A Love Story is a 1985 American made-for-television biographical film that chronicles the lives of John Lennon and Yoko Ono, beginning just before they met in 1966 and concluding with Lennon's murder in 1980. The movie was made with the co-operation of Ono, who controlled the song rights. It was directed by Sandor Stern and stars Mark McGann as Lennon and Kim Miyori as Ono.
The Hilton Amsterdam is a historic hotel in Apollobuurt, in the Oud-Zuid district of Amsterdam, in the Netherlands. It is located at Apollolaan 138 along the Noorder Amstelkanaal, a canal connected to the Amstel river. The hotel opened in 1962 as the Amsterdam Hilton, part of the Hilton Hotels chain. It is known for John Lennon and Yoko Ono's "Bed-In" for peace which was staged in 1969 to protest the Vietnam War.
After the break-up of the Beatles in April 1970, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr enjoyed success as solo artists and collaborated with each other on numerous occasions, including on both studio and live recordings. However, only three of these collaborations included all four members: "Free as a Bird" (1995), "Real Love" (1996) and "Now and Then" (2023).
The Beatles Tapes from the David Wigg Interviews is an audio album of interviews with each of the four members of the Beatles: John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. British journalist David Wigg interviewed the individual Beatles at various points from December 1968 or January 1969 to December 1973, and excerpts from some of these recordings constitute the album's spoken words. Although he was a columnist for the London newspaper The Evening News, most of the interviews were recorded for the BBC Radio 1 series Scene and Heard. Interspersed among the interview excerpts are instrumental performances of Beatles songs played by other musicians. The Beatles tried to prevent the album's publication, but it was released in the United Kingdom on 30 July 1976 under the Polydor label and in the United States in 1978. Both George and Ringo did attempt to sue the Recording label, however, both of them lost the case because the interviews were done on public radio on the BBC.
"Touch Me" is a song written by Yoko Ono that was first released on her 1970 album Yoko Ono/Plastic Ono Band. An edited version was later released in the U.S. as the b-side to John Lennon's single "Power to the People."
"Remember Love" is a song written by Yoko Ono and initially released as the B-side of John Lennon's and Ono's 1969 single "Give Peace a Chance."
Blac Rabbit is an American psychedelic rock band based in Rockaway Beach, Queens, New York City. It is led by twin brothers, songwriters, singers, and guitarists Amiri and Rahiem Taylor, and backed by Patrick Starr (drums), Frank Corr (bass), and Michael Meneses (keyboards). The band has released one self-titled EP. Their first full-length album, Interstella, was released on March 8, 2022.
BED PEACE (directed by Yoko & John and filmed by Nic Knowland) is a document of the Montreal events from 26-31 May 1969, and features John & Yoko in conversation