Give Peace a Chance

Montreal, QC - EvilGentleman - Monday, March 19th, 2007 : goo

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May 26, 1969

Apollo 10 re-enters the Earth's atmosphere after testing the lunar module (to be used by Apollo 11 in July) in lunar orbit, achieving the fastest speed ever traveled by humans to this day, 24,791 mph (39,897 km/h).

Later that day, John Lennon and Yoko Ono fly from Toronto to Montreal to check into the Queen Elizabeth Hotel, to start their second and most famous bed-in for peace. They stay in room 1742.

Later still, on that fateful night, as John and Yoko settle into bed, I am born, to one day become EvilGentleman.

June 1, 1969

John and Yoko rent an 8-track recorder from a local Montreal music store (I wonder where that is today?) and record the most famous peace anthem of the counterculture era, Give Peace a Chance. Present at the recording are Timothy Leary, Allen Ginsburg, Tommy Smothers, Petula Clark, Dick Gregory, Al Capp and many others. Al Capp did not sing in the song, but most of the others did. This song would go on to be an unforgettable part of the Beatles' history, although it was actually credited to The Plastic Ono Band.

May 1986

My high-school graduation after-party was held in the Queen Elizabeth Hotel, on the 17th floor. I remember one of my classmates commenting we were in the same room as John and Yoko were, but I was too drunk to actually remember the room number. I wonder if they were right.

Summer 1990

During the height of the Oka Crisis, as I faced what I thought at the time was my certain death, I sat on the Mercier Bridge with the other Mohawk Warriors and listened to Kahnawake radio station CKRK, where deejay Naughty Nat played Give Peace a Chance at least twice every hour for weeks on end. It was so surreal to sit among the machine guns and listen to the song from my infancy in such a way, while looking across at the heavily armed police and the protestors on the other side of the river.

I guess this is a song that will always have an intensely personal connection for me. Three milestones of my life have been connected to it so far.

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