During the
Vietnam WarThe Vietnam War or the Second Indochina War was a Cold War military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1959 to 30 April 1975...
, in 1969,
John LennonJohn Winston Ono Lennon, MBE was an English rock musician, singer-songwriter, author, and peace activist who gained worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles...
and
Yoko Ono, , is a Japanese-American artist and musician. She is known for her marriage to John Lennon and for her work as an avant-garde artist and musician.-Early life:...
held two week-long
Bed-Ins for Peace in
AmsterdamAmsterdam is the capital and largest city of the Netherlands, located in the province of North Holland in the west of the country...
and
MontrealMontreal is the second-largest city in Canada and the largest city in the province of Quebec. Originally called Ville-Marie , the city takes its present name from Mont-Royal, the triple-peaked hill located in the heart of the city, whose name was also initially given to the island on which the...
, which were their non-violent ways of protesting wars and promoting peace.
Amsterdam bed-in
Knowing their March 20 1969 marriage would be a huge press event, John and Yoko decided to use the publicity to promote
world peaceWorld peace is an ideal of freedom, peace, and happiness among and within all nations and/or peoples. World peace is a Utopian idea of planetary non-violence by which nations willingly cooperate, either voluntarily or by virtue of a system of governance which prevents warfare...
. They spent their honeymoon in the presidential suite (Room #702) at the
Amsterdam Hilton HotelThe Amsterdam Hilton Hotel is a five star hotel in Amsterdam, in the Netherlands. It is located at Apollolaan 138 along the Amstel Canal. The hotel opened officially in 1962 and is a branch of the Hilton Hotels chain.It is famous for John Lennon and Yoko Ono's "Bed-In" for peace which was staged in...
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. After their other stunts, such as the nude cover of the
Two Virgins album, the press were expecting them to be having
sexSexual intercourse, also known as copulation or coitus, commonly refers to the act in which the male reproductive organ enters the female reproductive tract. The two entities may be of opposite sexes or not, or they may be hermaphroditic, as is the case with snails...
, but instead the couple were sitting in bed—in John's words "like Angels"—talking about peace with signs over their bed reading "Hair Peace" and "Bed Peace". After seven days, they flew to
ViennaVienna is the capital of the Republic of Austria and also one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.7 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre. It is the 10th largest city by...
,
AustriaAustria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.3 million people in Central Europe. It borders both Germany and the Czech Republic to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the west...
, where they held a
BagismBagism is a term which was created by John Lennon and Yoko Ono as part of their extensive peace campaign in the late 1960s. The intent of bagism was to satirize prejudice and stereotyping. Bagism involved literally wearing a bag over one's entire body...
press conference.
During April 1969, John and Yoko sent
acornThe acorn, or oak nut, is the nut of the oak tree . It usually contains a single seed , enclosed in a tough, leathery shell, and borne in a cup-shaped cupule. Acorns vary from 1–6 cm long and 0.8–4 cm broad...
s to the heads of state in various countries around the world in hopes that they would plant them as a symbol of peace. For eight months, the couple was not granted a single visit with any world leader. 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.
Drove from
ParisParis is the capital of France and the country's most populous city. It is situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
to the Amsterdam Hilton
Talking in our beds for a week
The newspapers said
say what're you doing in bed
I said we're only trying to get us some peace.
Montreal Bed-in
Their second Bed-In was planned to take place in
New YorkNew York is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States and is the nation's third most populous. The state is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, but John was not allowed into the country because of his 1968
cannabisCannabisalso known as marijuana or marihuana, and ganja , among many other namesrefers to any number of preparations of the Cannabis plant intended for use as a psychoactive drug...
conviction. Instead they held 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
MontrealMontreal is the second-largest city in Canada and the largest city in the province of Quebec. Originally called Ville-Marie , the city takes its present name from Mont-Royal, the triple-peaked hill located in the heart of the city, whose name was also initially given to the island on which the...
.
Eventually, they flew to
MontrealMontreal is the second-largest city in Canada and the largest city in the province of Quebec. Originally called Ville-Marie , the city takes its present name from Mont-Royal, the triple-peaked hill located in the heart of the city, whose name was also initially given to the island on which the...
on May 26 where they stayed in Room 1738 and 1742 at the
Queen Elizabeth Hotelright|thumb|Queen Elizabeth Hotel, with [[Mary, Queen of the World Cathedral]] in the foregroundThe Queen Elizabeth Hotel is a grand hotel in Montreal, Quebec. Completed in 1958, it was built by the Canadian National Railway, but was later sold to Canadian Pacific Hotels, now Fairmont Hotels and...
. During their seven day stay, they invited
Timothy LearyDr. Timothy Francis Leary was an American writer, psychologist, futurist, advocate of psychedelic drug research, and one of the first people whose remains have been sent into space. An icon of 1960s counterculture, Leary is most famous as a proponent of the therapeutic, spiritual and emotional...
, Tommy Smothers,
Dick GregoryDick Gregory is an American comedian, social activist, social critic, writer, and entrepreneur....
, and
Al CappAlfred Gerald Caplin , better known as Al Capp, was an American cartoonist and humorist best known for the satirical comic strip Li'l Abner. He also wrote the comic strips Abbie an' Slats and Long Sam...
and all but Capp sang on the peace anthem
Give Peace a Chance"Give Peace a Chance" is a 1969 single by Plastic Ono Band that became an anthem of the American anti-war movement at that time.A different song with the same name, written by Leon Russell and Bonny Bramlett, was sung by Joe Cocker....
, recorded in the hotel room on June 1. The
Canadian Broadcasting CorporationThe Canadian Broadcasting Corporation , a Canadian crown corporation, is the country’s national public radio and television broadcaster. In French, it is called la Société Radio-Canada...
conducted interviews from the hotel room.
In December 1969 John and Yoko 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.
In popular culture and later bed-ins
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 AttentionThe Centre of Attention is a London-based contemporary art organisation set up in 1999. Projects are shown internationally and constitute an ongoing enquiry into the phenomenon of art production, presentation and consumption....
in 2005 in Miami. A fictional Bed-In protest was also featured in a 2006
Viva VoceViva Voce is an American indie rock band from Portland, Oregon formed by Kevin Robinson and Anita Robinson. Their music draws on several influences including psychedelic rock, classic rock, folk, and R&B.-History:...
music video.
The event was referenced in the
OasisOasis were an English rock band that formed in Manchester in 1991. Originally known as The Rain, the group was formed by Liam Gallagher , Paul Arthurs , Paul McGuigan and Tony McCarroll , who were soon joined by Liam's older brother Noel Gallagher...
song "
Don't Look Back in Anger"Don't Look Back in Anger" is a song by British rock band Oasis, released in 1996 as the fourth single from their hit second album Morning Glory?. The song was written by the band's guitarist and chief songwriter, Noel Gallagher. The song became the band's second single to reach #1 in the UK...
", in which leader singer
Noel GallagherNoel Thomas David Gallagher is an English musician, best known as the former principal songwriter, lead guitarist, and occasional vocalist of British rock band Oasis...
sings "
I'm gonna start a revolution from my bed / 'Cause you said the brains I had went to my head ". The latter lyric was supposedly said by Lennon during a taped conversation he had at his room at the Dakota Hotel.
In the music video for the
Marcy PlaygroundMarcy Playground is an American alternative rock band consisting of three members: John Wozniak , Dylan Keefe , and Shlomi Lavie...
song, "
It's Saturday"It's Saturday" is the name of the fifth single by alternative rock/post-grunge band Marcy Playground. It was originally titled "Teenage Hypochondriac" but was changed before the release date of the album...
", the group finds their way to the bed of John Lennon and Yoko during their bed in.
Linkin ParkLinkin Park is an American rock band from Agoura Hills, California, formed in 1996. Since their formation, the band has sold more than 50 million albums and won two Grammy Awards. It achieved mainstream success with its debut album, Hybrid Theory, which was certified Diamond by the RIAA in 2005...
members
Chester BenningtonChester Charles Bennington is an American musician, singer-songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. He is the lead vocalist in the rock band Linkin Park and Dead By Sunrise, he was previously associated with the band Grey Daze, among others...
and
Mr. HahnJoe Hahn, better known as Mr. Hahn, is an American turntablist and director best known as the DJ for the band Linkin Park.-Linkin Park:...
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 ArmstrongBillie Joe Armstrong is the lead vocalist, chief songwriter and guitarist for the rock band Green Day. He is also a guitarist and vocalist for the rock band Pinhead Gunpowder and sings for garage rock band Foxboro Hot Tubs...
, lead singer of Californian rock band
Green DayGreen Day is an American rock trio formed in 1987. The band has consisted of Billie Joe Armstrong , Mike Dirnt , and Tré Cool for the majority of its existence....
, and his wife, Adrienne Armstrong, did a similar bed-in, featuring Billie Joe and Adrienne lying on the bed, 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 mimick Lennon and Yoko's original bed in, he climbs into the bed of an Asian woman, who sprays Daly with pepper spray.