FMS-Blog : The Wildly Whimsical, Mostly Musical WebLog
Saturday, July 29, 2006
John & Yoko's Bed-in for Peace
Most of the main events that took place during John Lennon and Yoko Ono's famous weeklong bed-in for peace back in late March 1969 were thankfully recorded on film and it was an absolute pleasure for me recently to get the opportunity to watch the resulting documentary, particularly because I was not yet born when the ex-Beatle and his wife pulled off this anti-war stunt in Canada.
The circumstances surrounding their success in getting the peace message out lies in a very cleverly planned chain of events : firstly, at the end of the previous year, John and Yoko released their first album called Two Virgins, which featured a cover comprised of two naked pictures of the couple, then they got married in Gibraltar and informed the media that they would be spending a week's honeymoon in bed, inviting many international journalists to join them over the course of that week. Of course, many people jumped to the conclusion that this would descend into the photo-opportunity of a lifetime : two of the world's most famous celebrities naked in bed together. But, that's where they were wrong - it soon became clear that the Lennons had manipulated the world's press, turning the system on it's head and using their stardom to launch an advertising campaign for peace and, specifically, the end of the Vietnam war.
The basic concept for the Bed-In was to point out that the men of war have all the tools at their disposal to keep their message alive, including control of media based news that continues even today to pump out stories designed to scare the masses into believing that aggression, violence and killing is justified. The Lennon's plan from the beginning was to take away some of this airtime and use it to talk about pacifism - a mindset that they believe is the only way to lasting peace on earth. Interview after interview took place and gave John and Yoko the opportunity to get quoted all over the world's press as saying that acts of war have been used repeatedly as a supposed method of restoring peace and the evidence was such that these tactics were clearly not working. The only alternative was to put down weapons, look for common ground and use non-violent means to settle disputes. Personally, I feel that that message is as relevant today as it was at the at the end of 1969, when John and Yoko launched their "War Is Over - if you want it" poster campaign.
Interestingly, during their week in bed (in the Amsterdam Hilton Hotel, Montreal) John and Yoko also recorded what was to become an anthem of pacifism, the song Give Peace a Chance. Musically, it ain't much cop but I think the message behind it is crystal clear.
The circumstances surrounding their success in getting the peace message out lies in a very cleverly planned chain of events : firstly, at the end of the previous year, John and Yoko released their first album called Two Virgins, which featured a cover comprised of two naked pictures of the couple, then they got married in Gibraltar and informed the media that they would be spending a week's honeymoon in bed, inviting many international journalists to join them over the course of that week. Of course, many people jumped to the conclusion that this would descend into the photo-opportunity of a lifetime : two of the world's most famous celebrities naked in bed together. But, that's where they were wrong - it soon became clear that the Lennons had manipulated the world's press, turning the system on it's head and using their stardom to launch an advertising campaign for peace and, specifically, the end of the Vietnam war.
The basic concept for the Bed-In was to point out that the men of war have all the tools at their disposal to keep their message alive, including control of media based news that continues even today to pump out stories designed to scare the masses into believing that aggression, violence and killing is justified. The Lennon's plan from the beginning was to take away some of this airtime and use it to talk about pacifism - a mindset that they believe is the only way to lasting peace on earth. Interview after interview took place and gave John and Yoko the opportunity to get quoted all over the world's press as saying that acts of war have been used repeatedly as a supposed method of restoring peace and the evidence was such that these tactics were clearly not working. The only alternative was to put down weapons, look for common ground and use non-violent means to settle disputes. Personally, I feel that that message is as relevant today as it was at the at the end of 1969, when John and Yoko launched their "War Is Over - if you want it" poster campaign.
Interestingly, during their week in bed (in the Amsterdam Hilton Hotel, Montreal) John and Yoko also recorded what was to become an anthem of pacifism, the song Give Peace a Chance. Musically, it ain't much cop but I think the message behind it is crystal clear.
