May 26, 2023 • 9 mins
On this day in 1969, John Lennon and Yoko Ono began a week-long bed-in for peace at a hotel in Montreal, Canada.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
This Day in History Class is a production of iHeartRadio,
Hello and Welcome to This Day in History Class, a
show that uncovers a little bit more about history every day.
I'm Gabe Lucier, and in this episode, we're looking at
how a pair of celebrity newlyweds exploited their fame for
(00:20):
a good cause without ever getting out of bed. The
day was May twenty sixth, nineteen sixty nine. John Lennon
and Yoko Ono began a week long bed in for
peace at a hotel in Montreal, Canada. The performance artist
(00:42):
power couple checked into Sweet seventeen forty two of the
Queen Elizabeth Hotel and remained there in bed, wearing their
pajamas for the better part of the next seven days.
During that time, they were visited by a steady stream
of Canadian and American journey lists, local well wishers, and
fellow stars of the counterculture. And while the event didn't
(01:06):
achieve world peace as the couple had hoped, it did
give rise to the anti war anthem Give Piece a Chance,
which was written and recorded on site in their crowded
hotel room. Lying in bed all week doesn't seem like
the kind of thing you could get away with more
than once if that. But the Montreal bed in was
(01:27):
actually the second staged by Lennon and Ono. The couple
had gotten married in Gibraltar earlier that year, and as
part of their honeymoon, they held what they called a
bed in for Peace at the Amsterdam Hilton Hotel in
the Netherlands. They sat in bed all week from March
twenty fifth to March thirty first, and fielded questions from
(01:50):
the press between the hours of nine am and nine
pm each day. The idea was inspired by the sit
in protests of the civil rights movement, was intended to
send a message of peace and to call for an
end to the Vietnam War. John Lennon later explained the
couple's reasoning, saying, quote, we knew whatever we did was
(02:11):
going to be in the papers. We decided to utilize
the space we would occupy anyway by getting married with
a commercial for peace. We would sell our product, which
we call peace. And to sell a product you need
a gimmick, and the gimmick we thought was bed. And
we thought bed because bed was the easiest way of
doing it. Because we're lazy, still lazy or not. The
(02:35):
Amsterdam bed in garnered a ton of media coverage, so much,
in fact, that the couple decided to stage a second
similar event just two months later. They initially planned to
hold it in New York City, but John Lennon wasn't
allowed to enter the US at the time due to
a prior conviction for marijuana possession. The couple tried hosting
(02:57):
the event in the Bahamas instead, but after after arriving,
they decided it was probably too far outside the US
for most major media outlets to cover. Not only that,
it was also much hotter than the couple had realized,
and the prospect of spending a sweaty week in bed
talking to reporters didn't sound fun, and so after an
(03:17):
overnight stop in Toronto, a city ruled out for being
too conservative, Lenin and Ono continued on to Montreal. They
checked into the stately Queen Elizabeth Hotel on the morning
of May twenty sixth, and promptly got to work by
climbing into bed. Although it sounds a bit underwhelming, the
second bed in received even more attention than the first.
(03:41):
Lenin and Ono were interviewed by as many as one
hundred and fifty reporters a day, and back in the US,
roughly three hundred and fifty radio stations reported on the
event all week long. When they weren't fielding questions, the
couple passed the time by reading, ordering room service, and
making him and drawn signs with sketches and slogans such
(04:02):
as bedpiece and hair piece. Some of those posters were
hung on the walls behind their bed and can readily
be seen in the many photos taken over the course
of that week. Because of their prominence, those original signs,
which the couple left behind at the end of the week,
later became highly sought after on the collector's market. For example,
(04:24):
the bed piece poster that hung behind John Lennon later
sold at auction for one hundred and fifty four thousand dollars.
Lennon and Ono made themselves at home during their stay
by pushing their queen sized bed up against the window
and surrounding it with bouquets of white chrysanthemums and carnations.
They were also joined by Ono's five year old daughter, Kyoko,
(04:48):
and by several fans who somehow managed to slip past
security and make their way all the way up to
the couple suite. On the seventeenth floor. In terms of
authorized house guests, they welcomed a variety of high profile figures,
including beat poet Alan Ginsberg, civil rights activist and comedian
Dick Gregory, psychologist and LSD guru Timothy Leary, and musicians
(05:13):
Tommy Smothers and Petula Clark. They also met with several
prominent Canadians, including Toronto rabbi Abraham Feinberg, Quebec separatist Jacques
Larreau Langlois, and several members of a Canadian hare Krishna temple.
The couple's most contentious guest by a rather wide margin,
(05:33):
was American cartoonist Al Capp, the creator of Lil Abner.
In a comment dripping with sarcasm, capp applauded the couple
for including a series of nude photos of themselves on
their recent album. I think that everybody owes it to
the world to prove they have pubic air, he said,
and I tell you that's one of the greatest contributions
(05:55):
to enlightenment and culture of our time. That host conversation
devolved into a shouting match at one point, with Al
Capp calling the bed in nothing but a gimmicky publicity stunt. However,
on that point, John Lennon kind of agreed. The couple
always said they approached the project as a form of marketing,
(06:16):
except in their case the product on offer was supposedly
Piece itself. As Lenin told Cap in an attempt to
win him over, quote, we're trying to sell it like soap,
you know, and the only way to sell is to
focus attention and sell every day. Of course, another great
way to sell a product or an idea is with
(06:37):
a catchy jingle. So on the night before checkout, Lenin
and Ono recorded one for their Piece promotion. All week long,
Lenin had been asked what he hoped to achieve by
staying in bed, and one of his most frequent answers was,
just give Piece a chance. That off the cuff response
ultimately became the basis for one of the era's most
(06:59):
enduring anti war anthems, which Lennon wrote in bed during
his stay. On June first, Local music producer Andre Perry
was enlisted to record the performance, which he did using
nothing but four microphones and a four track tape recorder.
The resulting track featured plenty of clapping, stomping, and choral
(07:20):
singing from everyone who happened to be in the room
at the time, and as you might expect, it didn't
sound so hot. Luckily, Perry was later able to work
some studio magic overdub a few voices, and presto, a
new protest song was born. Give Piece a Chance was
released as a single on July seventh, nineteen sixty nine,
(07:41):
and went on to peak at number fourteen on the
Billboard Hot one hundred. It was the first solo single
released by John Lennon, who was still technically a member
of the Beatles at the time. You've probably heard it before,
but in case it's been a while, here's a taste
(08:02):
day it's today, more than fifty years later, you can
relive John and Yoko's bed in experience for yourself by
(08:25):
booking the same two bedroom suite in downtown Montreal. It's
adorned with archival photos and clippings of the couple, as
well as faithful reproductions of the protest signs they made,
and even the security logs from their week long stay.
That said, with nightly raids starting at nearly four thousand dollars,
(08:46):
it's probably about as hard to sell as World Peace,
But hey, at least the soap is complimentary. I'm Gabe
Lucier and hopefully you now know a little more about
history today than you did yesterday. You can learn even
more about history by following us on Twitter, Facebook, and
Instagram at TDI HC Show, and if you have any
(09:10):
comments or suggestions, feel free to send them my way
by writing to this Day at iHeartMedia dot com. Thanks
to Chandler Mays and Ben Hackett for producing the show,
and thanks to you for listening. I'll see you back
here again soon for another day in history class.
This Day in History Class is a production of iHeartRadio,
Hello and Welcome to This Day in History Class, a
show that uncovers a little bit more about history every day.
I'm Gabe Lucier, and in this episode, we're looking at
how a pair of celebrity newlyweds exploited their fame for
(00:20):
a good cause without ever getting out of bed. The
day was May twenty sixth, nineteen sixty nine. John Lennon
and Yoko Ono began a week long bed in for
peace at a hotel in Montreal, Canada. The performance artist
(00:42):
power couple checked into Sweet seventeen forty two of the
Queen Elizabeth Hotel and remained there in bed, wearing their
pajamas for the better part of the next seven days.
During that time, they were visited by a steady stream
of Canadian and American journey lists, local well wishers, and
fellow stars of the counterculture. And while the event didn't
(01:06):
achieve world peace as the couple had hoped, it did
give rise to the anti war anthem Give Piece a Chance,
which was written and recorded on site in their crowded
hotel room. Lying in bed all week doesn't seem like
the kind of thing you could get away with more
than once if that. But the Montreal bed in was
(01:27):
actually the second staged by Lennon and Ono. The couple
had gotten married in Gibraltar earlier that year, and as
part of their honeymoon, they held what they called a
bed in for Peace at the Amsterdam Hilton Hotel in
the Netherlands. They sat in bed all week from March
twenty fifth to March thirty first, and fielded questions from
(01:50):
the press between the hours of nine am and nine
pm each day. The idea was inspired by the sit
in protests of the civil rights movement, was intended to
send a message of peace and to call for an
end to the Vietnam War. John Lennon later explained the
couple's reasoning, saying, quote, we knew whatever we did was
(02:11):
going to be in the papers. We decided to utilize
the space we would occupy anyway by getting married with
a commercial for peace. We would sell our product, which
we call peace. And to sell a product you need
a gimmick, and the gimmick we thought was bed. And
we thought bed because bed was the easiest way of
doing it. Because we're lazy, still lazy or not. The
(02:35):
Amsterdam bed in garnered a ton of media coverage, so much,
in fact, that the couple decided to stage a second
similar event just two months later. They initially planned to
hold it in New York City, but John Lennon wasn't
allowed to enter the US at the time due to
a prior conviction for marijuana possession. The couple tried hosting
(02:57):
the event in the Bahamas instead, but after after arriving,
they decided it was probably too far outside the US
for most major media outlets to cover. Not only that,
it was also much hotter than the couple had realized,
and the prospect of spending a sweaty week in bed
talking to reporters didn't sound fun, and so after an
(03:17):
overnight stop in Toronto, a city ruled out for being
too conservative, Lenin and Ono continued on to Montreal. They
checked into the stately Queen Elizabeth Hotel on the morning
of May twenty sixth, and promptly got to work by
climbing into bed. Although it sounds a bit underwhelming, the
second bed in received even more attention than the first.
(03:41):
Lenin and Ono were interviewed by as many as one
hundred and fifty reporters a day, and back in the US,
roughly three hundred and fifty radio stations reported on the
event all week long. When they weren't fielding questions, the
couple passed the time by reading, ordering room service, and
making him and drawn signs with sketches and slogans such
(04:02):
as bedpiece and hair piece. Some of those posters were
hung on the walls behind their bed and can readily
be seen in the many photos taken over the course
of that week. Because of their prominence, those original signs,
which the couple left behind at the end of the week,
later became highly sought after on the collector's market. For example,
(04:24):
the bed piece poster that hung behind John Lennon later
sold at auction for one hundred and fifty four thousand dollars.
Lennon and Ono made themselves at home during their stay
by pushing their queen sized bed up against the window
and surrounding it with bouquets of white chrysanthemums and carnations.
They were also joined by Ono's five year old daughter, Kyoko,
(04:48):
and by several fans who somehow managed to slip past
security and make their way all the way up to
the couple suite. On the seventeenth floor. In terms of
authorized house guests, they welcomed a variety of high profile figures,
including beat poet Alan Ginsberg, civil rights activist and comedian
Dick Gregory, psychologist and LSD guru Timothy Leary, and musicians
(05:13):
Tommy Smothers and Petula Clark. They also met with several
prominent Canadians, including Toronto rabbi Abraham Feinberg, Quebec separatist Jacques
Larreau Langlois, and several members of a Canadian hare Krishna temple.
The couple's most contentious guest by a rather wide margin,
(05:33):
was American cartoonist Al Capp, the creator of Lil Abner.
In a comment dripping with sarcasm, capp applauded the couple
for including a series of nude photos of themselves on
their recent album. I think that everybody owes it to
the world to prove they have pubic air, he said,
and I tell you that's one of the greatest contributions
(05:55):
to enlightenment and culture of our time. That host conversation
devolved into a shouting match at one point, with Al
Capp calling the bed in nothing but a gimmicky publicity stunt. However,
on that point, John Lennon kind of agreed. The couple
always said they approached the project as a form of marketing,
(06:16):
except in their case the product on offer was supposedly
Piece itself. As Lenin told Cap in an attempt to
win him over, quote, we're trying to sell it like soap,
you know, and the only way to sell is to
focus attention and sell every day. Of course, another great
way to sell a product or an idea is with
(06:37):
a catchy jingle. So on the night before checkout, Lenin
and Ono recorded one for their Piece promotion. All week long,
Lenin had been asked what he hoped to achieve by
staying in bed, and one of his most frequent answers was,
just give Piece a chance. That off the cuff response
ultimately became the basis for one of the era's most
(06:59):
enduring anti war anthems, which Lennon wrote in bed during
his stay. On June first, Local music producer Andre Perry
was enlisted to record the performance, which he did using
nothing but four microphones and a four track tape recorder.
The resulting track featured plenty of clapping, stomping, and choral
(07:20):
singing from everyone who happened to be in the room
at the time, and as you might expect, it didn't
sound so hot. Luckily, Perry was later able to work
some studio magic overdub a few voices, and presto, a
new protest song was born. Give Piece a Chance was
released as a single on July seventh, nineteen sixty nine,
(07:41):
and went on to peak at number fourteen on the
Billboard Hot one hundred. It was the first solo single
released by John Lennon, who was still technically a member
of the Beatles at the time. You've probably heard it before,
but in case it's been a while, here's a taste
(08:02):
day it's today, more than fifty years later, you can
relive John and Yoko's bed in experience for yourself by
(08:25):
booking the same two bedroom suite in downtown Montreal. It's
adorned with archival photos and clippings of the couple, as
well as faithful reproductions of the protest signs they made,
and even the security logs from their week long stay.
That said, with nightly raids starting at nearly four thousand dollars,
(08:46):
it's probably about as hard to sell as World Peace,
But hey, at least the soap is complimentary. I'm Gabe
Lucier and hopefully you now know a little more about
history today than you did yesterday. You can learn even
more about history by following us on Twitter, Facebook, and
Instagram at TDI HC Show, and if you have any
(09:10):
comments or suggestions, feel free to send them my way
by writing to this Day at iHeartMedia dot com. Thanks
to Chandler Mays and Ben Hackett for producing the show,
and thanks to you for listening. I'll see you back
here again soon for another day in history class.