MANILA, Philippines - After an online petition in the US to make Oct. 9, John Lennon’s birthday, as John Lennon Day, failed to gather a minimum of 6.4 million signatures, Los Angeles City District 13 Councilman Mitch O’Farrell declared it as John Lennon Peace Day.
The word “peace” never appeared in John’s songs until the Beatles tunesmith released his “marriage journal song” with Yoko Ono, The Ballad of John and Yoko on May 30, 1969. To quote: “The newspaper said, ‘Say what you doing in bed?’ / I said, ‘We’re only trying to get us some peace.’”
Then during the newlywed’s much-hyped “bed-in” honeymoon in Montreal, Canada, a reporter asked John’s aim for being bed-bound. In typical spontaneity, he quipped, “Just give peace a chance.” He later converted the catchphrase into a campaign song, the forerunner of the Beatles’ Come Together.
Playing acoustic guitar and joined in by Yoko as back-up chorus, John led the exuberant recording of Give Peace A Chance on June 1, 1969 at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal, using rented microphones and a four-track tape recorder.
In the lyrics, he name-drops the counter-culture personalities who attended like Dr. Timothy Leary, Mia Farrow, Tommy Smothers (who played back-up acoustic guitar), Derek Taylor, Norman Mailer and Allen Ginsberg.
Released as a Plastic Ono Band song, Give Peace a Chance made peace an operative word for John, turning it into an anthem of the American anti-war movement during the ‘70s.
John’s 75th birthday will be celebrated at his Hollywood Walk of Fame star in front of Capitol Records Tower Building in Hollywood, California, with the free event titled The John Lennon 75th Birthday Milestone Celebration in Hollywood, CA.
The John poster, People for Peace, will serve as backdrop for the event. The light blue-colored poster with the peace emblem shows him playing piano in cropped hair and an arm band that reads “People for Peace.”
His hair, together with that of Yoko, were shorn with in Denmark in January 1970. The hair locks were auctioned with proceeds going to Vietnam War victims.
Radio personalities associated with the Beatles will be featured as speakers. Entertainment will include soprano operatic singer Shayne Dalva interpreting John’s classic peace anthem, Imagine.
Other highlights include an “open mic” for John and Beatles fans to perform music and poetry. Chalk artist Lesley Perdomo will draw John on the sidewalk flashing the peace sign.
Yoko has no participation, which can only mean the event is not authorized by her.