Peace, love, lyrics and loot
John and Yoko original previously unpublished photo by Gail Renard (Image: ArtDaily, www.artdaily.org)
Today, Christie’s auctions a memento from John Lennon: his scrawled lyrics for “Give Peace a Chance.” Lennon gave the page to then-16-year-old Gail Renard in 1969 after she and a friend climbed up a fire escape to see him and Yoko Ono during their Montreal "bed-in."
John and Yoko, in bed and on camera, as a war protest. Long before YouTube, Lennon envisioned his anti-war message spreading like a viral campaign.
But teeny-bopper Gail Renard wasn’t so interested in war protest, as she was in getting next to a Beatle. Renard was there during the bed-in, and at the end of it, Lennon decided to compose and perform an anti-war anthem. Young Gail Renard was in charge with tambourines, and making sure the lyrics were legible. The result was the creation of the song, "Give Peace a Chance."
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