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Song still resonates, 35 years after Lennon's "bed-in"
The couple chose the venerable Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal to recreate a stunt debuted in Amsterdam, in a rarely matched feat of media manipulation aimed at the US war in Vietnam.
Today, a plaque on the door of Room 1742 soberly spells out the name John Lennon. "It's not the most luxurious suite in the hotel, but it's all that was available at the time," said hotel public relations director Johanne Papineau.
Newlyweds Lennon and Ono had planned to hold their second bed-in in New York, but the former Beatle was barred at the time from the city where he would later live and die, due to a marijuana conviction.
The couple then looked at the Bahamas, but Lennon, a son of Liverpool, in damp and misty northern England, found the heat there too oppressive.
When the couple landed in starchy Toronto, immigration officers suggested they head to Montreal, which, with a whiff of European permissiveness, enjoyed a more liberal reputation.
So they were led by fans to the stately Queen Elizabeth, Montreal's grandest and most traditional hotel, which had certainly seen nothing quite like their May 26 to June 2, 1969, stay before.
"They came in, dumped all the furniture in the corridor and put the mattress on the ground under the window," said Papineau.
Then, pyjama-clad John and Yoko welcomed hundreds of journalists, political types and fans to their public boudoir.
"They greeted everyone who came into the room as though they were the most important person they were waiting to see, whether it was a kid or whether it was a top journalist," said Life magazine photographer Gerry Deiter.
It was a "feeling of warmth, of acceptance, of inclusiveness that was quite extraordinary."
In the "controlled chaos" which followed, Deiter confesses he lost all semblance of objectivity.
"I went in as a photographer very objective as a journalist, and within a short time, I became more than an objective journalist, I became very much involved in everything that was going on, in the emotion, in the beauty of the experience."
Deiter can still identify his voice on "Give Peace a Chance" -- the ballad recorded in an impromptu studio set up in the hotel room -- which has since become an anthem of peace the world over.
In the seminal moment of the bed-in, Lennon and Ono were joined by an eclectic backing group, including singer Petula Clark and a group of Hare Krishna devotees.
As the bed-in's momentum built, the hotel's serenity was disturbed by a constant flow of fans and complaints from affronted guests, prompting management to post a security guard to Room 1742.
That guard, George Urquhart, remembers "the most fun week" of his career.
"John was talking peace all the time, and for me, who had done my time in the army in Korea, the words 'Give Peace a Chance' are very significant -- and are even more relevant today, given what is going on in Iraq," he said. But Lennon's utopian vision did not impress some of the hotel's domestic staff. In the hotel log, one cleaner complained of having to vacuum Lennon's room several times a day, after he threw petals in the air. Even though the room today bears little trace of its time as a haven of peace, a few fans have stumped up the asking price of 1,969 dollars (1,200 US dollars) for an overnight stay. Their package comes complete with evocative bed-in pyjamas, a complimentary CD and a trip in a luxury limousine. Thirty-five years on, Iraq has replaced Vietnam as the war on everyone's lips. In partnership with Amnesty International, Gerry Deiter's photos will be put on show by the Queen Elizabeth Hotel from May 26 to June 2. And Suite 1742 will be, as it was in 1969, open to visitors. |
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