On This Day 01/06/1969 John Lennon/Give Peace A Chance

On this day. 1 June 1969, during a 'bed-in' at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal. Canada, John Lennon and the Plastic Ono Band recorded 'Give Peace A Chance' an anti-war song written by Lennon (originally credited to (Lennon and McCartney), and recorded with the participation of a small group of friends.

In Room 1742, André Perry, owner of a local recording studio, arrived and used a simple setup of four microphones and a four-track tape recorder he brought with him.

The recording session was attended by dozens of journalists and various celebrities, including Timothy Leary, Rabbi Abraham Feinberg, Joseph Schwartz, Rosemary Woodruff Leary, Petula Clark, Dick Gregory, Allen Ginsberg, Roger Scott, Murray the K and Derek Taylor, many of whom are mentioned in the lyrics. Lennon played acoustic guitar and was joined by Tommy Smothers of the Smothers Brothers, also on acoustic guitar.

The song has grown over the years to become THE song to be sung at anti-war demonstrations or protests all around the World and sung sadly with great regularity.

Back last year (2022) a small group of friends and myself had the good fortune to be visiting Montreal, staying just a short walk to the Queen Elizabeth Hotel.

Having a few hours to spare and being Beatle fans, the opportunity to take a look at the hotel was to good to ignore and after a few photos outside the hotel we sauntered into the foyer to look for any references to the song and Lennon’s much reported visit.

We were pleasantly surprised to find the song and visit well documented with images and references in the foyer never thinking that we may get a glimpse of the room itself. but, as luck would have it, a casual mention to a hotel staff member lead to a wonderful and unexpected experience and something to cherish.

The receptionist pointed us in the direction of the hotel porters and after introducing ourselves were told, ‘It may be your lucky day” and to wait and speak to his colleague who was about to go on break.

Jumping in the lift we were taken to the very room that Lennon and Ono had stayed in which was now almost a shrine in honour of the momentous occasion and still used by visiting Presidents, Politicians and the odd movie star.

The room had been lovingly restored, packed with information and images and a real treasure and a treat for anyone who loved Lennon and anything Beatle-related.

The Porter, who had worked at the hotel for many years told stories about the time from work mates who were actual there during the ‘bed-in’ which was fascinating and certainly made our visit something that we’ll always remember with great affection and how lucky we were to visit the scene of such an iconic moment in musical history.

On This Day 07/11/1964 The Beatles

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On this day, 7 November 1964, music legends The Beatles played Cardiff’s Capitol Theatre.

it was the 24th date of The Beatles’ 1964 British tour and a return to the Capitol.

The group had previously performed at the venue on 27 May 1963, and returned for their final UK tour date on 12 December 1965.

They performed two concerts on this night, for which they were paid £850. Their set throughout the 1964 tour contained 10 songs: ‘Twist And Shout’, ‘Money (That’s What I Want)’, ‘Can’t Buy Me Love’, ‘Things We Said Today’, ‘I’m Happy Just To Dance With You’, ‘I Should Have Known Better’, ‘If I Fell’, ‘I Wanna Be Your Man’, ‘A Hard Day’s Night’ and ‘Long Tall Sally’.

The support acts on the tour were The Rustiks, Sounds Incorporated, Michael Haslam, The Remo Four, Tommy Quickly and Mary Wells, and the compère was Bob Bain. The evening’s two shows began at 6.30pm and 8.50pm.

Mike from Newport on the BeatlesBible website had this to say about the memorable evening - “I remember going to see this concert with my sister ( from Newport by train),it was the 6 .30 pm show.

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I remember Mary Wells singing ‘My Guy” The Beatles opened with ‘Twist and Shout’. they were were dressed in light grey ‘Beatle jackets’ near the end of the song, John Lennon took his tie off and threw it into the front row !,

It was a loud, crazy night. I still have the ticket stub, and one from the Bob Dylan 1966 show !

Footage from the visit in 1964 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PknnUXESgSI

John Lennon’s Death 40 years today

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The words from the Newsreader on my Radio Alarm that day woke me abruptly from my usual comatose dream-like state of just another 5 mins before getting up work routine. …John Lennon is Dead.

It does not seem like 40 years since that day, a day of sombre disbelief, perhaps in the world we know now it could be said not much shocks us. That day was like a Kennedy moment, we all remember where we were and what we were doing.

Perhaps the shock was amplified by the magnitude of Lennons Fame, or his and Yoko’s total advocation of Peace and Love made it hard to comprehend, The nature of his Death,being shot by a fan who he had signed an Autograph for,or maybe his recent re-emergence into the world of Music after many years of absence whilst being a parent and Family guy had brought hope of more songs and Possible Beatles Collaborations.. .Or maybe it was growing up with somebody that co constructed the soundtrack to mine and many Peoples younger years.

Lennon was not a Saint, He was a man with faults,opinionated and Hard to work with some may say, but he was a genius.

Lennon/McCartney songs will be played forever, quite simply because Musically and Lyrically they connected with people and always will,that is the genius.

I was fortunate to visit New York a few years ago, I took some photos, thought a bit about John, The Music, Listened to a Busker playing Beatles Songs who got into an argument ( i think that may have amused Lennon…New York Life!). Stared at where he lived and the streets he would have walked, Subway and Stalls with souvenirs,Artists Painting What would he have made of it.

You may say I’m a Dreamer………