The Story Behind How Tom Smothers Ended Up in John Lennon and Yoko Ono's Bed-In for
During John Lennon and Yoko Ono‘s 1969 bed-in-for-peace recording of “Give Peace a Chance,” at the Fairmont Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, the couple had an unexpected guest performing along with them. Joining Lennon on guitar was Tommy Smothers of the Smothers Brothers.
Lennon and Smothers had become friends years earlier and shared similar social and political views. Smothers, who died on December 26, 2023, at the age of 86, naturally connected to the anti-war sentiment of Lennon’s protest song since his father was a U.S. Army officer who died in 1945 as a prisoner of war in Japan.
Smothers, along with his brother Dick, never shied from giving a comical spin to socio-political issues penetrating the late ’60s, including their opposition to the Vietnam War and views on civil rights, and more on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour. The repeated censorship of the show by CBS ultimately led to its demise just two years after its premiere.
Source: Tina Benitez-Eves/americansongwriter.com
