A Brief History
On March 25, 1969, John Lennon and Yoko Ono came up with a unique way to celebrate their honeymoon, by inviting friends and reporters to spend the day in their hotel bedroom each day for a week!
Digging Deeper
Digging deeper, we find soon to be Ex-Beatle John Lennon married to the love of his life, Yolo Ono, on honeymoon in Amsterdam, The Netherlands (Holland).
In accordance with Lennon and Ono’s avowed opposition to war (especially the Viet Nam War) they staged an event they called a Bed-In for Peace, where the lovebirds would spend a week in their Hilton hotel room bed entertaining guests and reporters from 9 am to 9pm each day. They planned to capitalize on the sure knowledge that their wedding would be huge entertainment news to push their message of peace and coincidentally provide an enormous platform to promote their latest record.
With a prurient lust for the bizarre, many people wondered if the couple would be engaged in public displays of sexual conduct, the event certainly got the publicity the couple had hoped for. So much so, that they decided to do it again!
Not permitted into the United States because of being caught with marijuana in 1968, Lennon and Ono had to look for another location rather than their intended New York venue. They chose the Bahamas, but after only one day of oppressive heat they moved their act to Montreal, Quebec Canada and began their next Bed-In on May 26, 1969 at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel.
The Bed-Ins have been frequently referred to in popular culture, appearing in films, music videos, and songs, and even parodied by comedians! Green Day lead singer Billie Armstrong and his wife even made their own Bed-In poster in 2006 and Linkin Park’s Chester Bennington and Mr. Hahn staged a similar photograph.
The city of Montreal revealed artwork commemorating the 1969 Bed-In in 2010, displaying the words “Give Peace A Chance” in forty languages. Not surprisingly, the piece it titled Give Peace a Chance!
Lennon and Ono failed to end war with their publicity stunts, but certainly added to the legend that is John Lennon. All they were saying was Give Peace a Chance!
Question for students (and subscribers): What would you stage to promote peace? Please let us know in the comments section below this article.
If you liked this article and would like to receive notification of new articles, please feel welcome to subscribe to History and Headlines by liking us on Facebook and becoming one of our patrons!
Your readership is much appreciated!
Historical Evidence
For more information, please see….
Athey, Joan, Paul McGrath, et al. Give Peace a Chance: John and Yoko’s Bed-in for Peace. Wiley, 2009.
<span class="dsq-postid" data-dsqidentifier="1585 http://www.crackedhistory.com/?p=1585">47 Comments
This is definitely an interesting way to handle reporters and get publicity!
I agree that this was an interesting way to gain publicity for their cause of promoting peace and their new record.
i think i could stage an ice cream eating sit in, to promote peace, of course.
Interesting way to handle the press!
Cleaver way to promote peace
Unfortunately, peace does not always work! — DAVID WARDLE
Brilliant way of get publicity and also promote peace
YOLO Ono!!! Love the article Dr. Z but theres a spelling error on the first sentence
No wonder people loved this couple so much! I think everyone needs to consider peace as an option.
Promoting peace is always good, but sometimes is does not work.
I feel like this is more for publicity then true feelings…
Did Hair Peace have some other meaning, or was it just a play on hair piece?
Lennon never struck me as a deep thinker, so I’m curious.
wow…I can’t believe I never heard of this. what a weird story
Thought this article was super interesting! I did not know anything about this and I think this is a clever idea. It is an interesting way to deviate the media to what is really going on in the world, which is what they wanted, I guess.
This was a very strange, but clever idea of Lennon and Ono. Not only did they divert the people’s attention away from war and to peace, but they also were able to gain media attention and promote their latest record.
I also have not heard of this before. It sounds a little strange, but I guess that it accomplished what they wanted to do–promote peace and their latest record.
What a great way to use the influence you have as a celebrity. Most of the celebrities today could stand to learn a lesson or two from Lennon.
Dear BB,
The author of http://listverse.com/2012/05/20/top-10-reasons-to-admire-john-lennon/ would agree with you!
Sincerely,
Dr. Zarzeczny
That’s a pretty good read, thanks for the post
Dear BB,
The same site has a counterpoint list as well at http://listverse.com/2012/05/12/top-10-unpleasant-facts-about-john-lennon/
Sincerely,
Dr. Zarzeczny
You’re welcome! 🙂
What is kind of interesting is that I once thought to myself that the world would be peaceful if we all simply slept for one day. I think in some ways I could be the modern day John Lennon.
Megan- that is a terrific idea! If the entire world slept for just one day, there would be no problems, fighting, worrying, overreacting, nothing, but sleep! It is crazy how people attempt to get their points across, like Lennon and Ono did.
I had never red about the Bed-In before but it seems to fit Lennon and Ono’s personas. I think it is great when a celebrity uses their platform to advocate for a cause, and this particular stunt had the added benefit of also promoting their album.
read* not red. I guess I had to keep with the pattern of making a spelling error (YOLO Ono)
Not your conventional honeymoon but a great way to get attention. Interesting read especially because lately the stories you hear about celebrities are negative. Good change
Great way to use their publicity to try and fight for a good cause.
Why would anyone want to spend their honeymoon sitting in a hotel bed for seven days straight with a bunch of people and reporters in their? This makes no sense at all.
I’ve never heard of a bed-in before but it sounds like a total waste of time!
Sounds like a fantastic honeymoon not. What he did sound like torcher. But I guess he had a good cause to do what he did.
I’ve never heard of such a thing before. Spending your honeymoon laying in bed while reporters are around sounds kind of weird.
Gotta love their passion for peace. One of the greatest musicians ever as well.
John Lennon was one of the most influential yet odd people of the 20th century. This is very much one of his odd ideas.
Idk why but ive always thought john lenon was out there
very odd person, the fact numerous people were in his hotel room for his honeymoon is strange to me.
Yoko Ono was a very interesting woman. She knew her and John Lennon had a voice in the media and could putting to promote her cause. The Bed-In thing was different and that is what made it so popular. I think Yoko Ono and John were a little bit crazy but that is just my opinion.
I love Yoko, she’s so interesting.
I HEard of them , they wore like a powerful couple and they came up with great ideas ad the guy died recently its sad they had a passionate love.
hmmm never heard of Yolo Ono… I have heard of Yoko Ono. hehe
That’s really dedicated to a cause at least they stood up for what they believed in.
I have learned a lot about Yoko Ono through the years, not very much about Yolo Ono, lol.
What an odd idea. Celebrities are crazy
What a cool name “Yolo Ono”
I thought what they did was amazing. It was a great way to spread peace around the world.
It’s nice that they spread peace around the world… that’s what we need more than anything.
I didn’t know that John Lennon and his wife did that, that’s interesting to hear about music artists and what they did back then that you don’t hear about.
I don’t know how laying in bed solves war but I will take any excuse to stay in bed all day.