By the time The Beatles had completed 1970’s Let It Be, the band was no more. After tensions within the band—especially, between lead songwriters, John Lennon and Paul McCartney—spun out of control, fans were left with a million question marks.
While it’s been easy for some to blame the band’s breakup on Lennon’s wife Yoko Ono and call it day, McCartney recently denied this fact, claiming that it was business (i.e. money) that ultimately drove the band apart (the two lead men were also engaging in turf warfare over the control of their record label, Apple, which eventually dissolved).
Whatever the root causes, it was clearly not an amicable breakup. And Boston’s RR Auctions—which in recent months has produced some rather controversial handwritten items—is providing some solid evidence of this fact.
RR has put up for sale a 1971 letter that the late John Lennon drafted and hand-annotated (but never sent) to his former bandmate, Paul McCartney, and McCartney’s then wife of two years, Linda. As is referenced in the 2012 book The John Lennon Letters, Lennon’s writing the missive in response to a letter he received from Linda (seemingly on behalf of Paul), which criticized him for not notifying the rest of the band of his departure. Shouts Lennon at McCartney with his words:
“Do you really think most of today’s art came about because of the Beatles?—I don’t believe you’re that insane—Paul—do you believe that? When you stop believing it you might wake up! Didn’t we always say we were part of the movement—not all of it?—Of course, we changed the world—but try and follow it through—GET OFF YOUR GOLD DISC AND FLY!”
McCartney first went public about the band’s demise, in concert with the release of his first solo record, McCartney, which came out in 1970. It obviously rubbed Lennon the wrong way. To that end, he notes to Linda, nearly a year later:
“[The press] ask[s] me about Paul and I answer—I know some of it gets personal—but whether you believe it or not I try and answer straight—and the bits they use are obviously the juicy bits—I don’t resent your husband—I’m sorry for him. I know the Beatles are ‘quite nice people’—I’m one of them—they’re also just as big bastards as anyone else—so get off your high horse!”
The auction house explains that the letter was “likely written shortly before Lennon and Ono’s departure for America … [and] captures the intense rivalry between the two men in the months, and even years, surrounding the breakup of the Beatles.”
It has a pre-auction estimate in excess of $20,000. To bid on it, click here. Take a look at the full letter below.
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