John and Yoko hold the second day of their Amsterdam "Bed-In For Peace." They give a television interview with Robbie Dale for Jam TROS TV. They also record some of the material that is eventually released as Amsterdam, one side of their third LP, The Wedding Album.
Beatle John Lennon and his newlywed second wife, the artist Yoko Ono, attracted the attention of the international press in the cause of world peace on this day in 1969, as they began a publicity campaign they called a ‘Bed-in’ in Amsterdam.
The couple had flown from Paris to Gibraltar to be married five days earlier and on their return to the French capital had formulated a way to use the inevitable publicity generated by news of their wedding.
They were driven to Amsterdam on the morning of March 25 and checked into the Hilton Hotel, where they were allocated room 902 – the presidential suite – which they decorated with photos and hand-made signs.The couple sent out cards to press agencies and newspapers inviting them to ‘John and Yoko’s honeymoon: a Bed-in’. After controversy over the cover of their album Two Virgins, on which they appeared naked, some reporters seemed to believe that it was an invitation to watch them have sex.
Instead, they found the pair “like two angels in bed, with flowers all around us, and peace and love on our heads,” as Lennon reported. “We were fully clothed; the bed was just an accessory.”
John and Yoko took interviews throughout the week, explaining their intention of using their fame to generate headlines about peace instead of war and conflict. Their explanations were met with a mixture of polite interest, amusement and outright hostility.
Lennon explained: “We (thought) would sell our product, which we call 'peace'. And to sell a product you need a gimmick”. And despite the scorn of sections of the press, the campaign was widely publicised around the world.
John and Yoko’s Bed-in – Did you know?
Lennon and Ono met at a preview of her art exhibition at the Indica Gallery, London in 1966. They became a couple two years later, though both were still married at the time.
They were inspired to marry by the wedding of Paul McCartney and Linda Eastman earlier in March and flew to Paris, but were not allowed a license to do so at short notice, having to travel to British protectorate Gibraltar instead.
The week-long Bed-in was recorded, and became a 40-minute film, Honeymoon. Lennon and Ono also made audio recordings in the suite that later appeared on their third experimental LP, The Wedding Album.
A week after the event, the couple flew to Vienna to hold a press conference promoting ‘bagism’ – the concept of covering oneself in a bag in order to avoid being judged on race, appearance or attire.
The wedding, Bed-in and bagism events were all documented by Lennon in the lyrics of The Ballad of John and Yoko, which became The Beatles’ last no. 1 hit in the UK in June 1969.
The couple deemed the Bed-in successful enough to hold another at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal, Canada from May 26. It was here on June 1 that they recorded Give Peace a Chance, which would become an anthem for campaigners around the world.
A sketch drawn and signed by John at the Montreal Bed-in (above) was sold for £25,000 at a Sotheby’s Rock ‘n’ Roll auction in 1997.
The recording session featured John and Yoko, her daughter Kyoko and various celebrities called including acid guru Timothy Leary, singer Petula Clark, comedian Dick Gregory, poet Allen Ginsberg, DJ Murray the K and Beatles publicist Derek Taylor.
Source: Chas Early/home.bt.com
While filming The Magic Christian in New York, Ringo Starr told US reporters that The Beatles were unlikely to perform in public again, giving an early indication that the dream was over.
This is what Ringo said: "People really have tried to typecast us. They think we are still little moptops, and we are not. I don't want to play in public again. I don't miss being a Beatle anymore. You can't get those days back. It's no good living in the past."
Also, on this day John & Yoko met with Salvador Dali for lunch during their Honeymoon in Paris.
Nothing much happening today.
The Beatles are not recording together today.
On March 21, 1969, Beatles singer, songwriter and guitarist John Lennon and his wife of a week Yoko Ono received the press at their bedside in the Presidential Suite of the Hilton Hotel, Amsterdam. The couple stayed in bed for seven days ‘as a protest against war and violence in the world’
John Winston Lennon and Yoko Ono are married at the British Consulate in Gibraltar (near Spain) by magistrate Cecile Wheeler. Beatles aide, Peter Brown, is there to act as witness. They had flown from Paris to Gibraltar early in the morning, landing on the “rock” at 8:30 a.m. The marriage took place at 9:00 a.m. Afterwards, the couple posed for the official photographs (taken by David Nutter) with John in a white jacket, white turtleneck sweater and off-white trousers, and Yoko in a matching white mini-dress and huge floppy hat. They announce to the press that they will be staging many “events” and “happenings.” After the ceremony, they returned to Paris to their luxury suite at the Plaza Athenee Hotel. Said John, "We chose Gibraltar because it is quiet, British and friendly. We tried everywhere else first. I set out to get married on the car ferry and we would have arrived in France married. But they wouldn’t do it. We were no more successful with cruise ships. We tried embassies, but three weeks residence in Germany or two weeks in France was required."
The Beatles are taking a break from recording as well as from themselves.
Lower Richmond Road, London
Location filming with Ringo for The Magic Christian, shooting outside the Star & Garter public house, by the river Thames in Putney, with Spike Milligan acting the part of a ticket-eating traffic warden.
Also, George Harrison and his wife Pattie had an initial court appearance following their drugs bust six days earlier. The hearing took place at Esher and Walton Magistrates' Court. The couple were charged with cannabis possession, and released on the surety of Apple's press officer Derek Taylor.
John and Yoko have decided to get married, but not in Britain. Their first choice is to have the ceremony performed on a cross-channel ferry, but they are denied permission to board the “Dragon” at Southhampton Docks because of “inconsistencies in their passports.” Instead, they fly to Paris, where they spend four days planning their next move.
Meanwhile, Paul and Linda landed at John F Kennedy Airport in New York City. Their honeymoon lasted two weeks, and included time spent with the Eastman family.
The Beatles are taking a break today.
After getting married, Paul and Linda McCartney, and her daughter Heather, flew to New York to spend three weeks with Linda's family.
Meanwhile, John Lennon and Yoko Ono flew to Paris on this day, because they decided that they wanted to get married on this date.
Two days before on McCartney's wedding day, Lennon and Ono were travelling to Poole in Dorset, where he introduced her to his Aunt Mimi. During the journey he asked his chauffeur Les Anthony to go to Southampton to enquire about the possibility of the wedding being held at sea, on the cross-channel ferry to France.
John Lennon said they had wanted to get married on a cross-channel ferry. "That was the romantic part: when we went to Southampton and then we couldn't get on because she wasn't English and she couldn't get the day visa to go across. And they said, 'Anyway, you can't get married. The Captain's not allowed to do it any more.'"
So they decided instead to fly to Paris. They chartered a private aeroplane to the French capital, and upon arriving checked into the Plaza Athénée. There, Apple employee Peter Brown told them they would be unable to marry as they had not lived in France for enough time. Instead, they were advised that they could hold their wedding in Gibraltar, as it was a British protectorate. The events were later recounted in Lennon's The Ballad Of John And Yoko, on 14 April 1969.
Standing in the dock at Southampton
Trying to get to Holland or France
The man in the mac said, you've got to go back
You know they didn't even give us a chance
The Ballad Of John And Yoko
A group calling itself "Revolutionary Force 9" takes credit for three bombings in New York City. The New York Times notes a "possible connection to The Beatles' song Revolution 9.
Also on this day - George and Pattie's home was raided by a drugs squad and afterwards they were arrested. The police involved in the raid chose the day of Paul and Linda's wedding to do it. Of the experience afterwards, Pattie Boyd recalled "We were formally charged but released on bail. We got home feeling gloomy, so George said, ‘Come on, let’s go to the party.”
On this date, Paul McCartney married Linda Eastman at Marylebone Register Office.
Paul's brother Mike is best man, Mal Evans is a witness, and Linda's daughter, Heather, is flower girl. Magistrate E.R. Sanders performs the ceremony, which is followed by a luncheon at the Ritz Hotel. None of the other Beatles or family members are in attendance (they weren't invited). A throng of crying female fans waited outside for the newlywed couple to make their way to their car. (The fact that Paul was no longer a bachelor was not well-received at the time.)
Although the event was supposed to be a secret, many onlookers and reporters heard about it and turned up for a glimpse of the couple. The registry office had been booked the previous day, and McCartney had bought a £12 ring "just before the shop shut".
Paul McCartney remembers...."We were crazy. We had a big argument the night before we got married and it was nearly called off. We were very up and down, quite funky compared to the eventual image of 'Twenty-five years of married bliss! Aren't they lucky for people in showbiz?' But we are. You get this picture of us swanning along in a little rowboat managing to avoid the white water, but we were right in the middle of that white water, man, so it's even more miraculous that we made it. But we did."
I really don't remember whether or not I invited any of the band to the wedding. Why not? I'm a total bastard, I suppose – I don't know, really. Maybe it was because the group was breaking up. We were all pissed off with each other. We certainly weren't a gang any more. That was the thing. Once a group's broken up like that, that's it.
Mike McCartney's train broke down during his journey from Birmingham to London, and he arrived an hour late. Although he presumed the wedding would have finished, he took the waiting limousine to the registry office, where he found huge crowds of weeping fans. Inside Paul and Linda were waiting for him to arrive.
After the ceremony the wedding party went to St John's Wood Church where the marriage was blessed by Reverend Noel Perry-Gore.
Marylebone Register Office is today known as Westminster Register Office, and is based at Westminster Council House, Marylebone Road, London.
Paul McCartney and George Harrison decided to procuce Jackie Lomax's debut single for Apple. Sour Milk Sea, was an unexpected chart failure. Ahead of the release of his album, Is This What You Want?, a hastily-arranged session took place for a follow-up single.
McCartney had decided that a cover version of The Coasters' Thumbin' A Ride was to be the single's a-side, with an original Lomax composition, Going Back To Liverpool, on the b-side.
McCartney played drums on Thumbin' A Ride, which was recorded in Apple's basement studio in their Savile Row headquarters. McCartney and Harrison also performed guitar parts, with Harrison on lead.
Going Back To Liverpool may have been recorded on this same date; the drumming sounds like McCartney, and he certainly performed backing vocals and guitar.
The two songs were reported as making up Lomax's next single in an issue of the New Musical Express dated 22 March 1969. However, a new song – titled New Day – was eventually released as the a-side, making Thumbin' A Ride the b-side. Going Back To Liverpool was eventually released as a bonus track on a 1991 reissue of Is This What You Want?.
Today John Lennon and Paul McCartney gave engineer Glyn Johns the eight-track tapes from the January 1969 Get Back/Let It Be recording sessions at Apple Studios.
The tapes were the result of 11 days of recording, including the rooftop concert, but did not include the Twickenham Film Studios reels.
Johns booked several days at his favourite studio, Olympic Sound Studios in Barnes, London, where he sifted through the recordings looking for suitable recordings. On this first day he made stereo mixes of 13 songs: Get Back, Teddy Boy, Two Of Us, Dig A Pony, I've Got A Feeling, The Long And Winding Road, Let It Be, Rocker, Save The Last Dance For Me, Don't Let Me Down, For You Blue and The Walk.
Source: The Complete Beatles Chronicle - Mark Lewisohn
The Beatles are taking a break from recording today.
The Beatles are taking a break today.
The Beatles took a break from the recording studios today.
The Beatles took a break from the recording studio today.
Goerge Harrison gave an interview today at Beatles' Apple headquarters in London's Savile Row to David Wigg from the BBC radio show Scene And Heard.
The interview took place from 1-2pm. A section lasting 5'13" was heard on the Saturday 8 March edition, while an extra 4'10" piece was broadcast on Saturday 12 April.
Harrison began by addressing stories that he had left The Beatles during the Get Back/Let It Be sessions. He played down the rumours, and denied that the walkout was due to an argument with John Lennon.
Wigg asked whether the group had plans to play live or make more films together. Harrison said that once the financial complications at Apple had been ironed out they may consider a film, said they would definitely record again in the Apple basement studio (they didn't), but avoided discussing the prospect of touring.
George Harrison gave an interview today at The Beatles' Apple headquarters in London's Savile Row on the BBC radio show Scene And Heard.
The interview took place from 1-2pm. Harrison began by addressing stories that he had left The Beatles during the Get Back/Let It Be sessions. He played down the rumours, and denied that the walkout was due to an argument with John Lennon.
The Beatles were not recording today.
Morgan Studios in London.
The second session was produced again by Paul McCartneyfor Mary Hopkin's single Goodbye.
Sparrow, the single's b-side, was also recorded in these sessions, the first of which had taken place on the previous day.
Goodbye was also written by Paul McCartney. For the studio version Hopkin sang and performed acoustic guitar, while McCartney played bass guitar, an acoustic guitar introduction and solo, ukulele, thigh-slapping percussion and drums. Backing vocals, horns and strings, arranged by Richard Hewson, were also added.
Sparrow was written by Benny Gallagher and Graham Lyle, a songwriting duo signed to Apple Publishing who found fame as Gallagher And Lyle in the 1970s. Hopkin sang and played guitar, McCartney added maracas, a session musician played upright bass, and Hewson arranged a choir part.
Morgan Studios was situated at 169-171 High Road in Willesden Green, London. McCartney recorded part of his debut album there in 1970, and shortly afterwards Ringo Starr recorded his debut, Sentimental Journey, there.
Morgan Studios in London
Paul McCartney produced a session for Mary Hopkin at Morgan Studios in London.
Goodbye, the follow-up single to Hopkin's debut Those Were The Days and Sparrow.
McCartney wrote "Goodbye". He had recorded a solo demo at his home in February 1969.
On Goodbye Hopkin sang and performed acoustic guitar, while McCartney played bass guitar, an acoustic guitar introduction and solo, thigh-slapping percussion, ukulele and drums. Backing vocals, horns and strings, arranged by Richard Hewson, were also added.
The b-side, Sparrow, was written by Benny Gallagher and Graham Lyle, a songwriting duo signed to Apple Publishing who found fame as Gallagher And Lyle in the 1970s. Hopkin sang and played guitar, McCartney added maracas, a session musician played upright bass, and Hewson arranged a choir part.
Although I'm flattered that Paul wrote Goodbye especially for me, it was, I believe, a step in the wrong direction for me. The session was filmed by Apple's Tony Bramwell for a promotional clip. In the footage, Hopkin is seen miming to the song inside the studio, and there are shots of her and McCartney in the control room listening to a playback.
-Ringo Starr privately settles a lawsuit brought against him by Bryman Estates, Ltd. Ringo was renting an apartment from Bryman and had sublet it to John Lennon and Yoko Ono. After John and Yoko were arrested at the apartment on October 18, 1968, for possession of cannabis resin and for obstructing the execution of a search warrant, Bryman sued Ringo. Ringo's lease had forbade him to sublet the apartment and contained prohibitions against using the apartment in an "illegal or immoral manner."
The Beatles taking a break today from recording.
The Beatles might have been recording today.
EMI Studios, London
George went in to EMI Studios today with only Ken Scott in the control room, recorded elaborate vocal, guitar and piano demos of theree of his latest compositions, two takes of "Old Brown Shoe", one take of "Something" and two takes of "All Things Must Pass" (never recorded by the Beatles other than in Get Back rehearsal form at Twickenham, the title track of George's triple album issued on November 30, 1970.
Source: The Complete Beatles Chronicle - Mark Lewisohn
