An angry letter from John Lennon to Paul McCartney is being auctioned on the music memorabilia website «Gotta Have Rock and Roll.» Its price has currently reached $33,000, with just a few days left before bidding closes.
The three-page typed letter with handwritten notes in the margins was written by an angry John Lennon on November 24, 1971. It is a response to an interview Paul McCartney gave a few days earlier (November 20, 1971) to Melody Maker magazine, in which he spoke about Lennon, his wife Yoko Ono, and the breakup of the group (a year and a half later).
The letter goes into detail about the payment of royalties, while responding to McCartney's comments about «Imagine,» which he said he preferred to Lennon's previous solo work because «there were a lot of political things on the other albums.».
«So you think “Imagine” isn't political, it's “the working class here” with sugar for conservatives like you!!! Obviously you didn't like the lyrics. Imagine that! 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 that we essentially want the same thing, and as I said on the phone and in this letter, whenever you want to meet, just give me a call.».
He ends his letter with a postscript responding to McCartney's invitation to meet without their wives.
«The part that really bothered me was that you asked to meet without Linda and Yoko. I thought you would have understood by now that I am JOHN Lennon,» Lennon said.
In the past, McCartney had spoken about the reason for the breakup of the Beatles 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,”» adding that Lennon described his decision to leave as «extremely interesting.».
«The split was inevitable because John wanted to leave and go and lie in 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, handwritten letter to Paul at Melody Maker for publication. The letter is dated November 24, 1971, just a few days after Paul's interview was published in the magazine (1.5 years after the Beatles officially broke up), while they were still settling financial and apparently personal issues. The letter was published (with some edits) in the December 4, 1971 issue of Melody Maker. John's response is harsh and ironic, his disappointment with Paul is evident – it is an incredible picture of the relationship between John and Paul, not only during the breakup of the Beatles and its aftermath, but also of the depth of their friendship,» the description of the letter notes.
