View source for Bed-in

{{Short description|Anti-war demonstration by John Lennon and Yoko Ono}}
{{Infobox event
| title                    = Bed-in
| image                    = [[File:John Lennon en zijn echtgenote Yoko Ono op huwelijksreis in Amsterdam. John Lenn, Bestanddeelnr 922-2302.jpg|300px]]
| image_upright            = 
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| caption                  = John Lennon and Yoko Ono at the first day of their Amsterdam bed-in
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| date                     = {{start and end dates|1969|03|25|1969|03|31}} and<br>{{start and end dates|1969|05|26|1969|06|01}}<!-- {{start date|YYYY|MM|DD}} or {{start and end dates|YYYY|MM|DD|YYYY|MM|DD}} -->
| venue                    = 
| location                 = [[Amsterdam]], [[Netherlands]] and [[Montreal]], [[Canada]]
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| type                     = [[Occupation (protest)|Occupation protest]]
| theme                    = [[Peace movement]]
| cause                    = [[Vietnam War]]
| motive                   = 
| target                   = World media and political leaders
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| patron                   = <!-- or |patrons= -->
| organisers               = [[John Lennon]] and [[Yoko Ono]]
| filmed_by                = 
| participants             = [[Timothy Leary]], [[Tommy Smothers]], [[Derek Taylor]], [[Abraham Feinberg]], [[Dick Gregory]], [[Murray the K]], [[Al Capp]], [[Allen Ginsberg]], [[Paul Williams (Crawdaddy)|Paul Williams]]
| outcome                  = *"[[Give Peace a Chance]]" recorded during the Montreal bed-in
*Press attention
*Others inspired to throw bed-ins
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}}

A '''bed-in''' is a [[nonviolent]] protest against wars, initiated by [[Yoko Ono]] and her husband [[John Lennon]] during a two week period in Amsterdam and Montreal as an experimental test of new ways to promote peace. As the [[Vietnam War]] raged in 1969, artists Ono and Lennon held one bed-in protest at the [[Hilton Amsterdam|Hilton Hotel]] in [[Amsterdam]] and one at the [[Queen Elizabeth Hotel]] in [[Montreal]]. The idea is derived from a "[[sit-in]]", in which a group of protesters remain seated in front of or within an establishment until they are evicted, arrested, or their requests are met.

The public proceedings were filmed, and later turned into a documentary ''Bed Peace'', which was made available for free on [[YouTube]] in August 2011 by Yoko Ono,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRjjiOV003Q |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211213/mRjjiOV003Q |archive-date=2021-12-13 |url-status=live|title=BED PEACE starring John Lennon & Yoko Ono|website=[[YouTube]]|date=Aug 12, 2011}}{{cbignore}}</ref> as part of her website "Imagine Peace".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://imaginepeace.com/archives/15702|title=Watch the film #BEDPEACE starring John Lennon & Yoko Ono ✩✩✩ FREE ✩✩✩|date=September 3, 2011 |author=Yoko Ono Lennon|publisher=ImaginePeace.com}}</ref> Other bed-ins have since taken place - the most recent in 2018, when Ono was joined by former Beatle [[Ringo Starr]], actor [[Jeff Bridges]] and then-New York City Mayor [[Bill de Blasio]], to participate in a bed-in  at New York City Hall.

== Amsterdam bed-in ==
Knowing their March 20, 1969 marriage would be a huge press event, Lennon and Ono decided to use the publicity to promote [[world peace]]. They spent their honeymoon in the presidential suite (Room 702)<ref>*{{cite web |author1=johnlennon |title=A PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT FROM JOHN & YOKO |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHoCWHGk6uY |website=youtube.com |access-date=17 November 2023 |language=en |date=25 March 1969}} *{{cite web |author1=Hilton Honors |title=Room 702 Amsterdam - John Lennon & Yoko Ono's Bed in for peace |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Clx0KpRELdk |website=youtube.com |access-date=17 November 2023 |language=en |date=March 21, 2019}}</ref> at the [[Hilton Amsterdam|Amsterdam Hilton Hotel]] 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.

Due to the couple's very public image, the Amsterdam bed-in was greeted by fans, and received a great deal of press coverage.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Heizenberg |first1=Niek |author1-link=:nl:Lijst van personen overleden in april 2023 |title=John Lennon and Yoko Ono being interviewed |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6tpbKVlpsc |website=youtube.com |publisher=[[NCRV]] television ("Hier en Nu" program) |access-date=17 November 2023 |location=Amsterdam |language=en |date=March 25, 1969}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | author= Kruse, Robert J. II|chapter=Geographies of John and Yoko's 1969 Campaign for Peace: An Intersection of Celebrity, Space, Art, and Activism|editor1=Johansson, Ola |editor2=Bell, Thomas L. | title=Sound, Society and the Geography of Popular Music | publisher=Ashgate | year=2009 | isbn=978-0-7546-7577-8 | pages=15–16}}</ref> Following the event, when asked if he thought the bed-in had been successful, Lennon became rather frustrated. He insisted that the failure of the press to take the couple seriously was part of what he and Ono wanted: "It's part of our policy not to be taken seriously. Our opposition, whoever they may be, in all manifest forms, don't know how to handle humour. And we are humorous."<ref>Wiener, Jon: ''Come Together: John Lennon in His Time'', page 91. Illini Books, 1991.</ref> Ono also earned controversy in the [[Jews|Jewish community]] for saying during the press conference that Jewish women could have changed [[Adolf Hitler]] by becoming his girlfriend and sleeping with him for 10 days.<ref name="sexnotcoolhere">{{Cite web|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190707222206/jewishweek.timesofisrael.com/yoko-ono-if-only-hitler-had-sex-with-jewish-women/|title=Yoko Ono: If Only Hitler Had Sex with Jewish Women|website=[[The Jewish Week]]|date=17 May 2023}}</ref> It was acknowledged that some [[List of Nazi Party leaders and officials|Nazi officials]], including Nazi "First Lady" [[Magda Goebbels]], had at one point in their lives had Jewish lovers.<ref name="sexnotcoolhere" />

After their nonconformist artistic expressions (cf. Bari: 33),<ref>Bari, Martha Ann. 2007. The Mass Media is the Message. UMI: Ann Arbor</ref> such as the nude cover of the ''[[Two Virgins]]'' album, the press were expecting them to be having sex, but instead the couple were just sitting in bed, wearing pyjamas—in Lennon's words "like angels"—talking about peace with signs over their bed reading "Hair Peace" and "Bed Peace". After seven days, they flew to [[Vienna]], Austria, where they held a [[bagism]] press conference.

During April 1969, Lennon and Ono sent [[acorn]]s to the heads of state in various countries around the world in hopes that they would plant them as a symbol of peace. 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]]".<ref>1967–1970 lyric booklet</ref>

== Montreal bed-in ==
[[File:John Lennon performing Give Peace a Chance 1969.jpg|300px|thumbnail|Recording "[[Give Peace a Chance]]". Left to right: Rosemary Leary (face not visible), [[Tommy Smothers]] (with back to camera), [[John Lennon]], [[Timothy Leary]], [[Yoko Ono]], Judy Marcioni, and [[Paul Williams (Crawdaddy)|Paul Williams]].]]

Their second bed-in was planned to take place in [[New York City|New York]], but Lennon was not allowed into the U.S. because of his 1968 [[Legal history of cannabis in the United States|cannabis conviction]].<ref>Kruse, p. 16.</ref> Instead they intended to hold 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 [[Canada]]. They first landed in Toronto and stayed at the [[The Omni King Edward Hotel|King Edward Hotel]]. They interviewed with Canadian Immigration and were granted a 10 Day Visitor Status. The choice was between [[Toronto]] and [[Montreal]]. Since they needed the New York press coverage, they decided to move it to Montreal because of its proximity to New York.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.thestar.com/news/insight/2015/10/10/beatlemania-and-bed-ins-when-john-and-yoko-came-to-canada.html|title = Beatlemania and bed-ins: When John and Yoko came to Canada|website = [[Toronto Star]]|date = 10 October 2015}}</ref>

They flew to Montreal on May 26 where they stayed in Rooms 1738, 1740, 1742 and 1744 at the [[Queen Elizabeth Hotel]]. During their seven-day stay, they invited [[Timothy Leary]], [[Tommy Smothers]], [[Dick Gregory]], [[Murray the K]], [[Al Capp]], [[Allen Ginsberg]] and others,<ref>{{cite web |last1=Ono |first1=Yoko |author1-link=Yoko Ono |title=BED PEACE starring John Lennon & Yoko Ono (1969) |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRjjiOV003Q |website=youtube |access-date=17 November 2023 |language=en |date=1969 |quote=BED PEACE (directed by Yoko & John and filmed by Nic Knowland) is a document of the Montreal events from 26–31 May 1969, and features John & Yoko in conversation}}</ref> and all but the hostile Capp<ref>{{cite book|author1=J. Keri Cronin|author2=Kirsty Robertson|title=Imagining Resistance: Visual Culture and Activism in Canada|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TgjaAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA61|date=23 September 2011|publisher=Wilfrid Laurier Univ. Press|isbn=978-1-55458-311-9|pages=61}}</ref> sang on the peace anthem "[[Give Peace a Chance]]", recorded by [[Le Studio|André Perry]] in the hotel room on June 1, 1969. Perry also recorded Lennon and Ono performing Ono's song "[[Remember Love (Yoko Ono song)|Remember Love]]" after everyone else had left the room.<ref>{{cite news|title=Lennon's room a draw in Montreal|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/82851380/the-philadelphia-inquirer/|access-date=2021-08-05|date=August 23, 2009|newspaper=Philadelphia Inquirer|author=Brodeur, Nicole|page=N5|via=newspapers.com}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=All they were saying...|via=newspapers.com|access-date=2021-08-05|newspaper=The Gazette|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/82851928/the-gazette/|author=Brownstein, Bill|page=A4|date=April 15, 2004}}</ref> The [[Canadian Broadcasting Corporation]] conducted interviews from the hotel room.<ref>[http://www.mobovivo.com/store/programs/john-and-yoko-bed-in Documentary series] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090923030340/http://www.mobovivo.com/store/programs/john-and-yoko-bed-in |date=2009-09-23}} CBC Film</ref> The event received mixed reaction from the American press.<ref>Kruse, p. 17.</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://seattletimes.com/html/travel/2009389267_trmontreal28.html|title=Travel – Montreal hotel celebrates 40th anniversary of John Lennon and Yoko Ono's "Bed-in for Peace" – Seattle Times Newspaper|work=seattletimes.com}}</ref>
[[File:WarIsOver BillboardSlogan 1969.jpg|alt=The words "WAR IS OVER!" written in large black text on a white background. Beneath it in smaller letters is written: "If You Want It – Happy Christmas From John and Yoko"|thumb|Billboard posted by Lennon and Ono in eleven major cities]]
In December 1969, Lennon and Ono 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.{{Citation needed|date=December 2024}} The posters were designed by Apple creative director [[John Kosh]].

== Others ==
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 Attention in 2005 in Miami. A fictional bed-in protest was also featured in a 2006 [[Viva Voce (band)|Viva Voce]] music video. In 2010 a main Liverpool's centre for the contemporary arts staged a 62-day event, Bed-in at the Blue-coat, which used Lennon & Ono's event as a template for 62 daily performances by artists, activists, community groups and others to do "something for a better world." Ono gave her blessing and sent a video message. The project started on 9 October, on what would have been Lennon's 70th birthday, and ended on 9 December, which marked 30 years since his death.

On September 13, 2018, Ono who was joined by former Beatle [[Ringo Starr]], actor [[Jeff Bridges]] and then-New York City Mayor [[Bill de Blasio]], to participate in a bed-in which was held at New York City Hall and which focused on promoting support for New York City schools.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://newyork.cbslocal.com/2018/09/13/yoko-ono-ringo-starr-de-blasio-bed-in/|title=Yoko Ono, Ringo Starr, Mayor De Blasio And More Stage 'Bed-In' At City Hall To Support NYC Schools|publisher=CBS New York|date=September 13, 2018|access-date=January 7, 2022}}</ref>

== In popular culture ==
A bed-in is in the song "[[Don't Look Back in Anger]]" by [[Oasis (band)|Oasis]]. Lead singer [[Noel Gallagher]] sings "I'm gonna start a revolution from my bed / 'Cause you said the brains I had<!-- OK here: don't correct it--> went to my head / step outside, summertime's in bloom". The first two lines, per ''[[Revolution in the Head: The Beatles' Records and the Sixties]]'' (which Noel was reading), were said by Lennon during a taped conversation he had at his room at [[The Dakota]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Simpson |first=Paul |title=The Rough Guide to Cult Pop: The Songs, the Artists, the Genres, the Dubious Fashions |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F7hpXcrqA-8C&q=%22Don%27t+Look+Back+in+Anger%22+%22Imagine%22&pg=RA1-PA107 |publisher=[[Rough Guides]] |year=2003 |page=107 |isbn=1-84353-229-8 |access-date=17 October 2016 |archive-date=8 December 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191208132037/https://books.google.com/books?id=F7hpXcrqA-8C&pg=RA1-PA107&dq=%22Don%27t+Look+Back+in+Anger%22+%22Imagine%22 |url-status=live}}</ref>

In the music video for the [[Marcy Playground]] 1999 song, "[[It's Saturday]]", the group finds their way to the bed of Lennon and Ono during their bed-in.
[[File:Bed-in for Peace John Lennon Yoko Ono Musée Grévin Montréal.JPG|thumb|Wax figures of the Lennon's Montreal bed-in at the former [[Musée Grévin Montreal]]]]
[[Linkin Park]] members [[Chester Bennington]] and [[Joe Hahn|Mr. Hahn]] 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 Armstrong]], lead singer of Californian rock band [[Green Day]] and wife Adrienne did a similar bed-in with a poster above their heads saying "Make Love Not War" in Spanish.

On [[Lewis Black]]'s ''[[Lewis Black's Root of All Evil|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 mimic Lennon and Ono's original, he climbs into the bed of an Asian woman, who pepper-sprays him.

Japanese pop duo [[Puffy AmiYumi]] made a homage to the bed-in on the cover of their 2003 album ''[[Nice. (Puffy AmiYumi album)|Nice.]]''

American singer [[Jhené Aiko]] imitated the image with [[Donald Glover|Childish Gambino]] of Lennon and Ono in their bed for her single "[[Bed Peace]]" off her 2013 EP ''[[Sail Out]]''.

== Commemoration ==

In 2010, the city of Montreal unveiled a commemorative artwork in [[Mount Royal]] Park commemorating the famous bed-in. The work by [[Linda Covit]] and [[Marie-Claude Séguin]] is entitled ''Give Peace a Chance'' and features the words "Give peace a chance" in forty languages.<ref>[http://ville.montreal.qc.ca/portal/page?_pageid=678,65983574&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL Montréal et Québec inaugurent l'œuvre 'Give Peace a Chance' sur le mont Royal.] City of Montreal. Accessed October 8, 2010.</ref>

== See also ==
* [[Bagism]]
* [[Teach-in]]
* [[Sit-in]]
* [[Central Park be-in]]
* [[Human Be-In]]
* [[Die-in]]
* [[List of peace activists]]

== References ==
{{reflist}}<!--added above categories/infobox footers by script-assisted edit-->

== External links ==
* {{cite web|url=http://www.yoism.org/?q=node%2F19|title=A Grade One, Galilee Miracle|publisher=Yoism|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070315015620/http://www.yoism.org/?q=node%2F19|archive-date=2007-03-15}}
* {{cite magazine|url=https://time.com/5557089/lennon-ono-bed-in/|title=Behind the Photo: How John Lennon and Yoko Ono Came Up With the Idea of Their Bed-In for Peace|magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]|date=March 25, 2019}}

{{Anti-Vietnam}}
{{Anti-war}}
{{John Lennon}}
{{Yoko Ono}}
{{Counterculture of the 1960s}}
{{Performance art}}

[[Category:John Lennon]]
[[Category:Yoko Ono]]
[[Category:1969 in Canadian music]]
[[Category:1969 in the Netherlands]]
[[Category:Anti-war films about the Vietnam War]]
[[Category:Culture of beds]]
[[Category:Documentary films about the Beatles]]
[[Category:Films about activists]]
[[Category:Films about freedom of expression]]
[[Category:Films about John Lennon]]
[[Category:1960s English-language films]]
[[Category:Performance art]]
[[Category:Protests against the Vietnam War]]
[[Category:Counterculture of the 1960s]]
[[Category:English-language documentary films]]