Check out this press release from Christies Auction House. Lennon’s “Give Peace a Chance” lyrics go on sale. Today they fetched some $833,000.
For Immediate Release
John Lennon’s Lyrics From Give Peace A Chance To Go
Under The Hammer At Christie’s South Kensington
Lyrics for John Lennon’s Give Peace a Chance, from the Montreal Bed-In, 1969 John Lennon and Yoko Ono with
Estimate: £200,000-300,000 Gail Renard
Rock and Pop Memorabilia
Thursday 10 July, 2pm
Christie’s South Kensington
VIEW BY APPOINTMENT: Christie’s New York, Wednesday 7 – Saturday 10 May
ON PUBLIC VIEW: Christie’s South Kensington, from Saturday 5 July
South Kensington – Christie’s is to offer John Lennon’s lyrics for Give Peace a Chance from the
legendary Montreal Bed-In of 1969, along with personal photos which have never been seen in public
before (estimate: £200,000-300,000). The lyrics and photos are offered from the collection of UK-
based comedy writer and presenter Gail Renard and highlight Christie’s South Kensington’s Rock and
Pop Memorabilia sale on Thursday 10 July 2008.
Just sixteen and living in Montreal at the time of the Bed-In, Gail and a friend sneaked into the Queen
Elizabeth Hotel where John and Yoko were holding their protest for Peace and became friendly with
the recently married Lennons. John gave Gail a few momentos at the time, including the lyrics, telling
her; “…one day they will be worth something…” and she has had them in her possession ever since.
Gail Renard and John Lennon
Gail Renard was a student at Sir George Williams University in Montreal in 1969, when John Lennon
and Yoko Ono came to Montreal to stage their Bed-In. Gail and a friend got into the room where
John and Yoko were staying by climbing up the fire escape and waiting for the moment when the
security guards outside Suite 1742 changed shifts; it was then that they knocked on the door and asked
for an interview for their university magazine. Arriving before the rest of the invited press, they quickly
made themselves useful, running errands, playing with Yoko Ono’s five-year old daughter Kyoko and
being generally helpful. John and Gail shared a similar sense of humour and got on very well. As a
result, Gail spent the rest of the week with John and Yoko at the Bed-In and struck up a life-long
friendship with John. In a final act of generosity, John Lennon effectively launched Gail’s early career
as a writer, by calling the editor of The Beatles Monthly Magazine in London and instructing him to
publish Gail’s review of the Bed-In.
The Montreal Bed-In, 1969
John Lennon and Yoko Ono checked in to Montreal’s Queen Elizabeth Hotel at midnight on May 26,
1969. The newlyweds had previously hosted a honeymoon “Bed-In” for peace at the Amsterdam
Hilton two months earlier, and building on the phenomenal success of this earlier event they were keen
to hold a second Bed-In in New York. However, having been denied access to America, they opted
instead to use Montreal, Canada due to its close proximity to the US border. The Bed-In lasted eight
days, and throughout the week the couple, along with Kyoko, sat up in bed in their nightclothes and
opened their doors to the worlds’ media speaking to as many radio and TV journalists and political
figures as they could.
The climax and highlight of this event occurred on the final evening when John led the recording of
what has been described as the worlds’ most endurable peace anthem and slogan; Give Peace a Chance.
The recording took 5 minutes and was sung by the John and the 50 or so guests in the room that night
who included Timothy Leary, Rabbi Geinberg, comedian Tommy Smothers, British singer Petula Clark,
US beat poet Allen Ginsberg, British DJ Roger Scott and several members of the Canadian Radha
Krishna Temple.
(Photo - Wikipedia)