In Amsterdam the journalists had risen early this morning, and gathered en masse outside the Hilton hotel here in the Venice of the North. They clamoured and jostled, for each reporter wanted to be the first to put their question to John Lennon. This wasn’t just any celebrity, after all. The entrance to the hotel was soon obscured from view, the reporters numbering in the hundreds. John Lennon was a Beatle; a man revered by the world’s youth, peacefully protesting against the policies of the US President with his so-called “bed-in.” Word had it the FBI had even opened up a classified file on him, running to 400 pages. The first light of day was breaking upon the entrance to the Amsterdam Hilton; John Lennon and his wife Yoko Ono would be up soon. The bed-in had already lasted six days. The idea came from the sit-in, where groups of protesters would remain seated outside or within an establishment until they were forcibly removed, arrested, or their demands had been met. John Lennon and Yoko Ono knew that when they got married on 20 March, 1969, that it would be a huge media event. They decided to use the publicity to promote peace around the world. War was raging in Vietnam, with US marines dying every day while the local population suffered through famine, and so John Lennon and Yoko Ono had decided to spend their honeymoon doing a bed-in at the Amsterdam Hilton. The reporters moped around in the foggy dawn; the receptionist had informed them that John Lennon and his wife Yoko Ono would soon be making an appearance.
“How come you’re not naked in bed? We thought the protest was going to be a little more…provocative,” asked one journalist.
“Yoko and I prefer pyjamas! What kind of question is that? People are dying, Americans are dying in that damned war in Vietnam, all in the name of capitalism and the nation. I’m calling upon the president to put an end to the carnage!”
“I didn’t mean to upset you, Mr. Lennon, we just wanted to hear your thoughts. Congratulations on your marriage to Yoko, and best wishes from all of us.”
“Thank you all for your interest in our act of protest,” the Beatle’s wife replied in a gentle voice.
“What made you choose Amsterdam for your honeymoon?” wondered another reporter.
“Well we needed a warm place to sleep, like this lovely hotel...isn’t that right John?” smiled Yoko.
“What we're really doing is sending out a message to the world, mainly to the youth, especially the youth...that there's many ways of protest and this is one of them. And anybody could grow their hair for peace or give up a week of their holiday for peace or sit in a bag for peace, protest against peace anyway, but peacefully cause we think that peace is only got by peaceful methods and that to fight the establishment with their own weapons is no good, because they always win and they'd been winning for thousands of years. They know how to play the game of violence and it's easier for them when they can recognise you and shoot you.”
“Exactly!” added Yoko Ono.
“Thank you very much for your answers,” replied a reporter, his camera trained on the Beatle.
“What does Paul McCartney think about this whole story?” asked another.
“We don’t know! John’s an ex-Beatle. He’s doing his solo career now; he has his own opinions,” replied Yoko Ono, beginning to sound irked.
“Did you write Imagine together?” the reporter went on.
“I’m interested in a lot of things, in life and in music. I’ve been in the business for 20 years and I’ve written about all sorts of things. In Working Class Hero it was suspicion of authority, politics in Gimme Some Truth, literature in I Am the Walrus, spirituality in Across the Universe…and therapy, a sort of primal scream in Mother. I immortalised them all in song.”
“Thank you, Mr. Lennon! But you didn’t answer my question. Your song Imagine...”
“Imagine is an anthem for peace around the world,” interrupted Yoko Ono, with a smile.
“I’m almost fully devoted to the anti-war movement now. It’s one of my biggest priorities.”
“Thank you, Mr. Lennon. And do you think you’ll join up with the other Beatles again?”
“The Beatles is over,” Yoko Ono said crisply. “John is going to live with me, in New York.”
Alan Alfredo Geday
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