MONTREAL – Yoko Ono has posted a video online of her 1969 Montreal bed-in with John Lennon in the hope that it might inspire people to give peace a chance once again.
“Bed Peace,” which was shot over the course of the week-long protest at Montreal’s upscale Queen Elizabeth Hotel, isn’t commercially available at the moment but Ono posted it online in the wake of the riots in Britain.
Beside attempting to rally pacifists from their metaphorical pulpit between the sheets, the controversial performance artist and the former Beatle also recorded “Give Peace A Chance,” which became an anthem of the anti-war movement.
During their stay in the Queen Elizabeth Hotel’s Room 1742 between May 26 and June 2, 1969, the famous couple pontificated on peace, did slews of interviews and debated with celebrities including LSD guru Timothy Leary, conservative cartoonist Al Capp and comedian Tom Smothers.
The video runs at slightly more than an hour and shows many of the mundane moments of the couple’s stay, including eating breakfast and having playful chats in bed as they try to ignore the ever-present camera.
Get daily National news
The posting, which people can view for free, will be taken down on Sunday.
Ono didn’t make any direct connection between her decision to post the video on her website and YouTube and the recent nights of violence in Britain following the shooting of a youth by police.
In an open letter on YouTube, Ono wrote that she and Lennon were naive in 1969 to think their bed-in would change the world.
“Well, it might have,” she wrote. “But at the time, we didn’t know.”
She said she’s glad they filmed it because the message in the footage remains powerful and applies today as much as it did 42 years ago.
“In fact, there are things that we said then in the film, which may give some encouragement and inspiration to the activists of today. Good luck to us all.
“Let’s remember WAR IS OVER if we want it. It’s up to us, and nobody else.
“John would have wanted to say that.”
Lennon was shot to death outside his New York home in 1980 by a mentally disturbed gunman.
The room where they stayed was shrunk a few years ago as part of renovations to the downtown hotel although a gold plaque on the door recalls its history.
Pictures of the bed-in dot the large, sunlit sitting room where Lennon positioned the couple’s mattress and held court.
While the reaction to the YouTube posting was overwhelmingly positive, judging by viewer comments, there was obviously some lingering bitterness toward the woman who has been accused of breaking up the iconic Beatles.
Comments