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 welcomed an unexpected guest to perform 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; 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 their views on civil rights, 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.
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The Smothers Brothers and The Beatles
When the Smothers Brothers started getting censored, members of The Beatles stepped in to show their support for the duo. In one episode, George Harrison made a special appearance on the show.
“Tommy also has a special guest, too,” said Dick on the episode. Tommy responded “That’s right. I have a Beatle.”
Harrison walked out to a screaming audience and said “I have something very important to say on American television.” Tommy added, “A lot of times we don’t have the opportunity to say anything important because it’s American television, and every time you say something important, they…”
After clapping for Tommy, Harrison responded, “Well whether you can say it or not, keep trying to say it,” as the show was about to be cut off.
The Beatles also premiered their music film Revolution on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour on October 6, 1968.
In Bed with a Beatle
When Lennon and Ono staged their bed-in for a week in Montreal in 1969 to promote peace, they invited a collection of visitors and even held meetings with the press.
After one particular press event, Lennon began playing a new song he had written, “Give Peace a Chance” with Tommy strumming along. As they started to play, Smothers recalled Lennon saying to him, “Just play it the way I wrote it, Tommy. If I wanted you to play it another way I would have written it like that.”
[RELATED: 7 of John Lennon’s Favorite Songs]
Smothers obliged and was a part of one of the most iconic moments in music history, joining other invitees like beat poet Allen Ginsberg, Timothy Leary, and comedian Dick Gregory.
“Everybody’s talking about John and Yoko, Timmy Leary, Rosemary, Tommy Smothers,” sings Lennon. “Bobby Dylan, Tommy Cooper, Derek Taylor, Norman Mailer, Allen Ginsberg, Hare Krishna, Hare, Hare Krishna.”
Photo: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
