The ill will between John Lennon and Paul McCartney was real. And a letter currently up for bid from RR Auction in Boston shows just how bad things were between the Beatles during the 1970s.
Believed to date from 1971, Lennon’s angry message — which was typed out, but features hand-written annotations from the rock legend — was in response to a critical piece of correspondence from Paul’s wife at the time, Linda McCartney.
Starting off on a dismissive note — “I was reading your letter and wondering what middle aged cranky Beatle fan wrote it.” — Lennon’s letter pulls no punches, especially when trashing the McCartneys’ sense of the Beatles’ importance.
“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!” he wrote.
Lennon also took issue with Linda’s criticism of his decision to not publicly announce his departure from the band in 1970, saying that her husband had persuaded him not to go to the press.
“Finally, about not telling anyone that I left the Beatles — PAUL and [Beatles manager Allen] Klein both spent the day persuading me it was better not to say anything — asking me not to say anything because it would ‘hurt the Beatles’ — and ‘let’s just let it petre [sic] out’ — remember?” he wrote. “So get that into your petty little perversion of a mind, Mrs. McCartney — the c—s asked me to keep quiet about it.”
While Lennon does wish the couple his love at the end of the letter, he also expressed annoyance at their decision to address the letter only to him, and not him and wife Yoko Ono.
The letter, which is up for auction until Nov. 17, is expected to sell for more than $20,000.
