Woodstock site shows images from Lennon's bed-in

The first bed-in, immortalised in the Beatles' song "The Ballad of John and Yoko," was held at the Amsterdam Hilton. The second was supposed to be in New York City, but Lennon could not enter the United States because of a marijuana conviction.

The enduring moment of the Montreal bed-in was the recording of "Give Peace a Chance," with people in the room banging on tables, books, tables and ashtrays. Deiter's many shots of the recording include an image of the big poster on the wall that served as a cheat sheet with Lennon's lyrics: "... ragism, tagism, this-ism, that-ism."

Music producer Andre Perry, called out of the blue to record the song, recalls setting up his four-track recorder in a room with lousy acoustics and dozens of people singing and playing percussion, some quite badly.

"There were people with bells and people banging on all kinds of stuff and it was like a bit of a disaster," Perry said. "It sounded like a brawl, a little bit."

Perry said Lennon's energetic singing and strumming (aided by co-guitarist Smothers) was enough to make the tune. The producer later added extra voices and created a thumping beat by pounding a telephone directory.

Deiter also caught one of the strangest cultural confrontations of the decade when "Li'l Abner" cartoonist Al Capp stopped by, cheerfully introduced himself as a "Neanderthal fascist" and ridiculed the couple for several minutes.

Amid the constant hubbub, Deiter zeroed in on the couple at the center of the madness. Included are affecting images of Lennon sniffing a blossom and of the couple resting their heads on big white pillows and gazing at each other.

Exhibit curator Joan Athey said Deiter noticed the intense affection between John and Yoko and expressed it in his pictures.

"He captured that. Even though they were constantly surrounded by people, they were in this bubble," said Athey, author of new book about the photos, also called "Give Peace a Chance."

Athey said the weeklong assignment changed Deiter, who moved west to British Columbia and packed away the negatives. He lived see to some of his photos displayed in a Canadian museum before he suffered a fatal heart attack on December 9, 2005, a day after commemorating the 25th anniversary of Lennon's death.

The exhibit debuted last month in Liverpool and runs at Bethel through September 7.

AP