John & Yoko's Bed-In For Peace

While tidying up old piles of papers & magazines - which I do rarely, always thinking I might wish to look at them again some day - I came upon the newspaper 'De Volkskrant' of Amsterdam published an interview with Yoko Ono, widow of Beatle John Lennon, during which she said that their legendary 'Bed in for peace' that has just completed 40 years, was all but a romantic interlude, more than a politic movement as most media & public thought.

That day on the 19th of March, 1969, Lennon and Ono were married in Gibraltar and, conscious of their media impact, they decided to spend their entire week of honeymoon in the presidential suite of the Hilton Hotel in Amsterdam, in front of the cameras and reporters, as a new and original way of campaigning for peace.

This initiative of the famous rocker from Liverpool and the Japanese artist were, from Thursday, be remembered in many celebration events, amongst these figured the exhibition titled 'Imagine - The art of John Lennon' that showd 190 sketches and drawings by the assassinated artist. "Perhaps we were a bit naive" so admitted Ono, referring to their peculiar honeymoon as a protest against the war in Vietnam. "We are still living in convulsive times. I am sure that from then till now, 99% of humanity are convinced that a war is not a solution."

The director of the hotel and the co-organiser of the commemorative events, Robert Payer, remarked that "John and Yoko's message of peace is as topical today as then." The hotel has put the same suite for the disposition of activists and fans of the mythical Liverpool band for one week, where the couple in pyjamas let themselves be immortalised by cameras and reporters.

Yoko Ono had not mentioned another significant fact, or supposition, that the wedding had been interpreted by many fans, including people within the music world, to be the end of the group, that the enigmatic Japanese artist was the culprit of the rivalry between Lennon and McCartney eventually reaching the point of no return, forcing the dissolution of the Fab Four.

John showing off the wedding certificate

Tags:Lennon,Yoko

Current Mood: Artistic