John Lennon’s scathing 1971 letter to Paul McCartney up for auction

A letter sent from John Lennon to Paul McCartney following the breakup of The Beatles is set for auction, according to Billboard.

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Lennon, in the typewritten letter, slams McCartney in response to an interview McCartney did with the publication Melody Maker.

“It’s all very well playing ‘simple, honest ole’ human Paul’ in Melody Maker … [but] if you’re not the aggressor (as you claim), who the hell took us to court and s--- all over us in public?” Lennon asked in the letter.

“As I’ve said before – have you ever thought you might possibly be wrong about something?” he tartly added.

“Your conceit about us and Klein is incredible,” the rocker further declared, defending Beatles bandmates Starr and Harrison.

The letter, written in 1971, came after McCartney sued The Beatles following their split in 1970. McCartney wanted the dissolution of the band’s contractual partnership.

McCartney had said in the interview he felt Lennon’s songwriting had “too much political stuff.”

In the letter, Lennon attacked McCartney for not speaking out against the Vietnam War, something Lennon and his wife, Yoko Ono, had been doing.

“So you think ‘Imagine’ ain’t political, it’s ‘working class here’ with sugar on it for conservatives like yourself!! You obviously didn’t dig the words. Imagine!”

“Your politics are very similar to [conservative activist] Mary Whitehouse’s,” Lennon sniped in his correspondence. “Saying nothing is as loud as saying something.”

Bidding on the three-page letter, according to the music memorabilia site Gotta Have Rock and Roll, stands at $22,000.

See the letter here.

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