A brutal letter John Lennon wrote to Paul McCartney is up for auction

8 August 2022, 15:01 | Updated: 8 August 2022, 15:08

The scathing letter, which was in response to McCartney's 1971 Melody Maker interview, is going under the hammer.

A brutal letter written by John Lennon to Paul McCartney is up for auction.

The lengthy note, which was penned by the late Beatle, came about as response to an interview McCartney gave to Melody Maker in 1971, where he discusses The Beatles’ split and the dissolution of their business together.

The letter, which is typewritten with annotations in Lennon's handwriting, is addressed to "Paul, Linda, et all the wee McCartneys" and tackles various topics, which accuse Macca of being dishonest and "playing 'simple, honest' human Paul' in the Melody Maker" interview.

Lennon delves into the specifics of the former band members royalty splits but also takes umbrage with McCartney referring to Let It Be as "the first 'bit of hype' on a Beatle album". He also wasn't a fan of Macca's suggestion that his Imagine anthem wasn't political.

"You obviously, didn't dig the words," he wrote. Then, comparing his bandmate to the British teacher and Conservative activist, he added: "Your politics are very similar to Mary Whitehouse's".

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Lennon did however manage to praise McCartney once, telling him he was “right about New York” adding: “I do love it; it’s the ONLY PLACE TO BE. (Apart from anything else, they leave you alone too!” However even this part of his letter wasn't without a few digs as he joked: “I’ll bet you your piece of Apple you’ll be living in New York by 1974 (2 years is the usual time it takes you - right?)

Lennon does end the letter on a positive note, saying: “No hard feelings to you either. I know we basically want the same, and as I said on the phone and in this letter, whenever you want to meet, all you have to do is call.”

However, he was sure to add a post script which let his former bandmate know where he stood.

He wrote: “The bit that really puzzled us was asking to meet WITHOUT LINDA AND YOKO.”

He added: “I thought you’d have understood BY NOW, that I’m JOHNANDYOKO.”

The incredible piece of history has an estimate of between $30,000 (approx. £24,761) - $40,000 (approx. £33,000) and at the time of writing has a current bid of $33,000 (approx. £27,233).

Read the letter in full here.

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