The three-page typed letter with handwritten notes in the margins – written by an angry John Lennon and dated November 24, 1971.
An angry letter from John Lennon to Paul McCartney is being auctioned by music memorabilia website Gotta Have Rock and Roll. At the moment its price has reached 33,000 dollars, while there are a few days left until the end of the offers.
The three-page typed letter with handwritten notes in the margins – written by an angry John Lennon and dated November 24, 1971. It is the response, to an interview Paul McCartney gave a few days earlier (November 20, 1971) to Melody Maker magazine, in which talked about him, his wife Yoko Ono and the breakup of the group (a year and a half later).
The letter goes into detail about the royalties payment, while responding to comments McCartney made about “Imagine,” which he said he preferred to Lennon’s previous solo work because “there was a lot of political stuff on the other albums »«So you think “Imagine” isn’t political, it’s “working class here” sugar coated for conservatives like you!!! You obviously didn’t like the words. Imagine! You took ‘How Do You Sleep’ so literally,” Lennon wrote.
However, at the end of the letter he writes: “I don’t hold a grudge against you either. I know we basically want the same thing, and as I said on the phone and in this letter, whenever you want to meet, just call.”
He ends his letter with a postscript responding to McCartney’s invitation for the two to meet, without their wives.
“The part that really bothered me was that you’re asking to meet without Linda and Yoko. I thought you would have realized by now that I’m JONKAIGYOKO,” Lennon said. McCartney had previously spoken about the reason for the Beatles’ break-up in an interview with the BBC.
“I wasn’t the one who started the breakup. No no. John walked into a room and said ‘I’m leaving the Beatles'” to add that Lennon described his decision to leave as “extremely interesting”.
“The split was inevitable because John wanted to leave and go to bed for a week in Amsterdam to protest for peace,” McCartney told the BBC.
“John was so furious when he read the interview that he sent this three-page, signed and handwritten letter, addressed to Paul, to Melody Maker for publication. The letter is dated November 24, 1971, just a few days after Paul’s magazine interview was published (1.5 years after the Beatles officially broke up), while they were still sorting out financial and apparently personal issues.
The letter was published (with some editing) in the 4 December 1971 issue of Melody Maker. John’s response is harsh and ironic, his frustration with Paul is evident – it’s an incredible insight into John and Paul’s relationship, not only during the break-up of the Beatles and the aftermath, but really the depth of their friendship.” in the description of the letter.
RES-EMP
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