On this day in 1969, John Lennon and Yoko Ono released their peace anthem, Give Peace a Chance in the US

 While at their second bed-in for peace in Montreal, Canada, the couple came up with the idea to record a peace song, with the title being taken from Lennon’s answer to a reporter who asked what the goal of the bed-in was.

So on the 1st of June, Derek Taylor organised the owner of a local recording studio, Andre Perry, to bring in a set-up of four microphones and a four-track tape recorder. The recording session was  busy, being attended by numerous journalists, including Ritchie Yorke and various celebrities like Dick Gregory and Allen Ginsberg. All of the attendees joined in the singing of Give Peace a Chance, with the exception of controversial cartoonist Al Kapp.

The song was released on the 4th of July in the UK and a few days later on the 7th in the US. It reached number 2 in the UK Singles Chart and number 14 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the States. The song quickly served as the anthem of the anti-Vietnam war and counterculture movements, being used at countless demonstrations and protests.