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Bed-in

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Bed-in
John Lennon and Yoko Ono at the first day of their Amsterdam bed-in
DateMarch 25–31, 1969(1969-03-25–1969-03-31)and
May 26 – June 1, 1969(1969-05-26–1969-06-01)
LocationAmsterdam,NetherlandsandMontreal,Canada
TypeOccupation protest
ThemePeace movement
CauseVietnam War
TargetWorld media and political leaders
Organised byJohn LennonandYoko Ono
ParticipantsTimothy Leary,Tommy Smothers,Derek Taylor,Abraham Feinberg,Dick Gregory,Murray the K,Al Capp,Allen Ginsberg,Paul Williams
Outcome
  • "Give Peace a Chance"recorded during the Montreal bed-in
  • Press attention
  • Others inspired to throw bed-ins

Abed-inis anonviolentprotest against wars, initiated byYoko Onoand her husbandJohn Lennonduring a two week period in Amsterdam and Montreal as an experimental test of new ways to promote peace. As theVietnam Warraged in 1969, artist Ono and Lennon held one bed-in protest at theHilton HotelinAmsterdamand one at theQueen Elizabeth HotelinMontreal.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 documentaryBed Peace,which was made available for free onYouTubein 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 BeatleRingo Starr,actorJeff Bridgesand then-New York City MayorBill de Blasio,to participate in a bed-in at New York City Hall.

Amsterdam bed-in

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Knowing their March 20, 1969, marriage would be a huge press event, Lennon and Ono decided to use the publicity to promoteworld peace.They spent their honeymoon in the presidential suite (Room 702)[3]at theAmsterdam Hilton Hotelfor 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 theJewish communityfor saying during the press conference that Jewish women could have changedAdolf Hitlerby becoming his girlfriend and sleeping with him for 10 days.[7]It was acknowledged that someNazi 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 theTwo Virginsalbum, 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 toVienna,Austria, where they held abagismpress conference.

During April 1969, Lennon and Ono sentacornsto 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]

Montreal bed-in

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Recording "Give Peace a Chance".Left to right: Rosemary Leary (face not visible),Tommy Smothers(with back to camera),John Lennon,Timothy Leary,Yoko Ono,Judy Marcioni, andPaul Williams.

Their second bed-in was planned to take place inNew York,but Lennon was not allowed into the U.S. because of his 1968cannabis conviction.[10]Instead they intended to hold the event inthe Bahamasat the Sheraton Oceanus Hotel, flying there on May 24, 1969, but after spending one night in the heat, they decided to move toCanada.They first landed in Toronto and stayed at theKing Edward Hotel.They interviewed with Canadian Immigration and were granted a 10 Day Visitor Status. The choice was betweenTorontoandMontreal.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 theQueen Elizabeth Hotel.During their seven-day stay, they invitedTimothy Leary,Tommy Smothers,Dick Gregory,Murray the K,Al Capp,Allen Ginsbergand others,[12]and all but the hostile Capp[13]sang on the peace anthem "Give Peace a Chance",recorded byAndré Perryin 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]TheCanadian Broadcasting Corporationconducted 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.

Others

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The bed-in performance has since been re-interpreted and re-used in protests by a number of artists since 1969, most notablyMarijke van Warmerdamwith 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 2006Viva Vocemusic 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 BeatleRingo Starr,actorJeff Bridgesand then-New York City MayorBill 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]

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A bed-in is in the song "Don't Look Back in Anger"byOasis.Lead singerNoel Gallaghersings "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, perRevolution 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 atThe Dakota.[20]

In the music video for theMarcy Playground1999 song, "It's Saturday",the group finds their way to the bed of Lennon and Ono during their bed-in.

Wax figures of the Lennon's Montreal bed-in at the formerMusée Grévin Montreal

Linkin ParkmembersChester BenningtonandMr. Hahnimitated the incident in a photograph taken by Greg Watermann in their bookFrom the Inside: Linkin Park's Meteora.

In late 2006,Billie Joe Armstrong,lead singer of Californian rock bandGreen Dayand wife Adrienne did a similar bed-in with a poster above their heads saying "Make Love Not War" in Spanish.

OnLewis Black'sRoot 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 duoPuffy AmiYumimade a homage to the bed-in on the cover of their 2003 albumNice.

American singerJhené Aikoimitated the image withChildish Gambinoof Lennon and Ono in their bed for her single "Bed Peace"off her 2013 EPSail Out.

Commemoration

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In 2010, the city of Montreal unveiled a commemorative artwork inMount RoyalPark commemorating the famous bed-in. The work byLinda CovitandMarie-Claude Séguinis entitledGive Peace a Chanceand features the words "Give peace a chance" in forty languages.[21]

See also

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References

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  1. ^"BED PEACE starring John Lennon & Yoko Ono".YouTube.Aug 12, 2011.Archivedfrom the original on 2021-12-13.
  2. ^Yoko Ono Lennon (September 3, 2011)."Watch the film #BEDPEACE starring John Lennon & Yoko Ono ✩✩✩ FREE ✩✩✩".ImaginePeace.com.
  3. ^*johnlennon (25 March 1969)."A PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT FROM JOHN & YOKO".youtube.com.Retrieved17 November2023.*Hilton Honors (March 21, 2019)."Room 702 Amsterdam - John Lennon & Yoko Ono's Bed in for peace".youtube.com.Retrieved17 November2023.
  4. ^Heizenberg, Niek[in Dutch](March 25, 1969)."John Lennon and Yoko Ono being interviewed".youtube.com.Amsterdam:NCRVtelevision ( "Hier en Nu" program).Retrieved17 November2023.
  5. ^Kruse, Robert J. II (2009). "Geographies of John and Yoko's 1969 Campaign for Peace: An Intersection of Celebrity, Space, Art, and Activism". In Johansson, Ola; Bell, Thomas L. (eds.).Sound, Society and the Geography of Popular Music.Ashgate. pp. 15–16.ISBN978-0-7546-7577-8.
  6. ^Wiener, Jon:Come Together: John Lennon in His Time,page 91. Illini Books, 1991.
  7. ^ab"Yoko Ono: If Only Hitler Had Sex with Jewish Women".The Jewish Week.17 May 2023.
  8. ^Bari, Martha Ann. 2007. The Mass Media is the Message. UMI: Ann Arbor
  9. ^1967–1970 lyric booklet
  10. ^Kruse, p. 16.
  11. ^"Beatlemania and bed-ins: When John and Yoko came to Canada".Toronto Star.10 October 2015.
  12. ^Ono, Yoko(1969)."BED PEACE starring John Lennon & Yoko Ono (1969)".youtube.Retrieved17 November2023.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
  13. ^J. Keri Cronin; Kirsty Robertson (23 September 2011).Imagining Resistance: Visual Culture and Activism in Canada.Wilfrid Laurier Univ. Press. p. 61.ISBN978-1-55458-311-9.
  14. ^Brodeur, Nicole (August 23, 2009)."Lennon's room a draw in Montreal".Philadelphia Inquirer.p. N5.Retrieved2021-08-05– via newspapers.com.
  15. ^Brownstein, Bill (April 15, 2004)."All they were saying..."The Gazette.p. A4.Retrieved2021-08-05– via newspapers.com.
  16. ^Documentary seriesArchived2009-09-23 at theWayback MachineCBC Film
  17. ^Kruse, p. 17.
  18. ^"Travel – Montreal hotel celebrates 40th anniversary of John Lennon and Yoko Ono's" Bed-in for Peace "– Seattle Times Newspaper".seattletimes.com.
  19. ^"Yoko Ono, Ringo Starr, Mayor De Blasio And More Stage 'Bed-In' At City Hall To Support NYC Schools".CBS New York. September 13, 2018.RetrievedJanuary 7,2022.
  20. ^Simpson, Paul (2003).The Rough Guide to Cult Pop: The Songs, the Artists, the Genres, the Dubious Fashions.Rough Guides.p. 107.ISBN1-84353-229-8.Archivedfrom the original on 8 December 2019.Retrieved17 October2016.
  21. ^Montréal et Québec inaugurent l'œuvre 'Give Peace a Chance' sur le mont Royal.City of Montreal. Accessed October 8, 2010.
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