A letter written by the late John Lennon to former bandmate Paul McCartney is on sale on the music memorabilia website, Gotta Have Rock and Roll where it is expected to sell for up to $40,000 (£33,000). The letter was penned by Lennon in response to Paul McCartney’s published interview in British music magazine, Melody Maker, on November 20 1971. After the interview was published, Lennon forwarded this letter to the editor of the magazine with a handwritten note requesting “equal time”.
The letter, dated November 24 1971, was published by Melody Maker on December 4 1971. It gives an insight into their deteriorating relationship with Lennon addressing Paul’s indecision over the band’s break-up, The Beatles’ money troubles and Paul’s remarks about Lennon’s song ‘Imagine’. During Paul’s interview with Melody Maker, he described the 1971 hit as “not political,” which led Lennon to respond, writing, “So you think ‘Imagine’ isn’t political, it’s ‘working class here’ [sic] with sugar on it for conservatives like yourself!! You obviously didn’t dig the words. Imagine! You took ‘How Do You Sleep’ so literally.”
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Lennon also addresses Paul’s invitation to meet and the ongoing issues regarding the break-up of the band: “Now I was quite straight with you that day, and you tried to shoot me down with your emotional ‘logic’. If you’re not the aggressor (as you claim), who the hell took us to court and s***t all over us in public? … Who’s the guy threatening to ‘finish’ Ringo and Maureen, who was warning me on the phone two weeks ago?”
He ends the letter with a P.S. addressing McCartney’s request to meet alone without their wives present, “The bit that really puzzled us was asking to meet WITHOUT LINDA AND YOKO,” “I thought you’d have understood BY NOW that I’m JOHNANDYOKO.”
The letter itself is three pages long and includes, John’s handwritten annotations and his signature. It is said to be in very good condition and it comes with a letter of authenticity from Beatles handwriting expert Frank Caiazzo, a forensics report from Karl Schaffenberger, a Roger Epperson Authenticated Ltd. (REAL) Certificate of Authenticity, as well as a Gotta Have Rock & Roll Certificate of Authenticity.
Lennon and McCartney were one of the most successful musical collaborations ever, with The Beatles selling over 600 million records worldwide as of 2004. They wrote and published approximately 180 songs together between 1962 and 1969. The Beatles officially broke up in 1970.
