John Lennon Letter to Eric Clapton Going Up for Auction
Admiring note from 1971 could sell for as much as $30,000


John Lennon and Eric Clapton at the filming of the Rolling Stones' 'Rock & Roll Circus' in London.Chris Walter/WireImageBy Rolling Stone

November 6, 2012

The draft of a letter John Lennon penned to Eric Clapton 40 years ago in which the Beatle expressed his admiration for and desire to work with the guitarist will be up for auction in Los Angeles on December 18th, Reuters reports.

"Eric, I know I can bring out something great, in fact greater in you that had been so far evident in your music," Lennnon wrote in the draft, dated September 29th, 1971. "I hope to bring out the same kind of greatness in all of us, which I know will happen if/when we get together."

The letter is likely to have special significance for Beatles fans, auctioneer Joe Maddalena said, given Clapton's close relationship with the group. Not only did Clapton play with Lennon and Yoko Ono's Plastic Ono Band, he also showed up on the George Harrison-penned "While My Guitar Gently Weeps," and even almost joined the Beatles at one point.

"There was a point in time when George Harrison thought about leaving the band and his replacement was Clapton, so this letter is a link of what could have been," Maddalena said.

Organizers of the Profiles in History auction expect the letter to fetch as much as $30,000 – slightly less than the amount fetched last year by another rare Lennon item: his tooth, which sold for about $31,200 at an auction in England.



Read more: [www.rollingstone.com]

Interesting--and perhaps revealing as well. Does this seem to indicate that Lennon anticipated The Beatles to resume working together as late as September 1971? Lennon never did work again with Clapton after the Toronto Rock n Roll Revival concert in fall 1969, if my memory is correct.

Clapton played with Lennon at a show(maybe a couple of shows) in London in '69. I guess they were Plastic Ono Band shows. Not sure if that was before or after the Toronto thing.

On a related note, I'm done admiring this tooth. Anybody want it?

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Munichhilton
On a related note, I'm done admiring this tooth. Anybody want it?

I'm an anti-dentite.

And then Lennon got mad `cause Clapton wrote LAYLA about Yoko.

Title, I thought that you and I had agreed to never reveal that LAYLA was about Yoko.

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stonesnow
Interesting--and perhaps revealing as well. Does this seem to indicate that Lennon anticipated The Beatles to resume working together as late as September 1971?

Definitely makes you wonder who's the "all of us" he wants to bring out the greatness in. My guess (and it's only a guess) is that what he had in mind was a kind of New Beatles that would have included John, George and Ringo, but not Paul, plus various famous and talented friends; Clapton, Preston, Nilsson, etc.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2012-11-07 01:56 by tatters.

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treaclefingers

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Munichhilton
On a related note, I'm done admiring this tooth. Anybody want it?

I'm an anti-dentite.

So do you want it anyway?
Make an example and such to the other teeth in various collections?

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tatters

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stonesnow
Interesting--and perhaps revealing as well. Does this seem to indicate that Lennon anticipated The Beatles to resume working together as late as September 1971?

Definitely makes you wonder who's the "all of us" he wants to bring out the greatness in. My guess (and it's only a guess) is that what he had in mind was a kind of New Beatles that would have included John, George and Ringo, but not Paul, plus various famous and talented friends; Clapton, Preston, Nilsson, etc.

No I don't think so at all. Perhaps for a fleeting moment Lennon considered it to try to get back at McCartney, but George was done! And him and Lennon were not getting along that great either. Lennon wanted Plastic Ono Band with Yoko, so I am sure that is what he was referring to.

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whitem8

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tatters

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stonesnow
Interesting--and perhaps revealing as well. Does this seem to indicate that Lennon anticipated The Beatles to resume working together as late as September 1971?

Definitely makes you wonder who's the "all of us" he wants to bring out the greatness in. My guess (and it's only a guess) is that what he had in mind was a kind of New Beatles that would have included John, George and Ringo, but not Paul, plus various famous and talented friends; Clapton, Preston, Nilsson, etc.

No I don't think so at all. Perhaps for a fleeting moment Lennon considered it to try to get back at McCartney, but George was done! And him and Lennon were not getting along that great either. Lennon wanted Plastic Ono Band with Yoko, so I am sure that is what he was referring to.

He may have called whatever band he put together The Plastic Ono Band, but POB never really had a clearly defined roster. I'm not sure why you think in 1971, when the letter was written, George was done with John. George played on John's Imagine album that year, and even invited him to appear at The Concert For Bangladesh. A few years later, in 1974, their friendship did come to an irrevocable end, but in '71 George would still have been very much at John's beck and call, if John had called.



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 2012-11-07 05:47 by tatters.

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tatters

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whitem8

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tatters

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stonesnow
Interesting--and perhaps revealing as well. Does this seem to indicate that Lennon anticipated The Beatles to resume working together as late as September 1971?

Definitely makes you wonder who's the "all of us" he wants to bring out the greatness in. My guess (and it's only a guess) is that what he had in mind was a kind of New Beatles that would have included John, George and Ringo, but not Paul, plus various famous and talented friends; Clapton, Preston, Nilsson, etc.

No I don't think so at all. Perhaps for a fleeting moment Lennon considered it to try to get back at McCartney, but George was done! And him and Lennon were not getting along that great either. Lennon wanted Plastic Ono Band with Yoko, so I am sure that is what he was referring to.

He may have called whatever band he put together The Plastic Ono Band, but POB never really had a clearly defined roster. I'm not sure why you think in 1971, when the letter was written, George was done with John. George played on John's Imagine album that year, and even invited him to appear at The Concert For Bangladesh. A few years later, in 1974, their friendship did come to an irrevocable end, but in '71 George would still have been very much at John's beck and call, if John had called.

\
Why did George and John's friendship come to a "irrevocable end" in 1974?

Thanks!

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1cdog

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tatters

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whitem8

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tatters

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stonesnow
Interesting--and perhaps revealing as well. Does this seem to indicate that Lennon anticipated The Beatles to resume working together as late as September 1971?

Definitely makes you wonder who's the "all of us" he wants to bring out the greatness in. My guess (and it's only a guess) is that what he had in mind was a kind of New Beatles that would have included John, George and Ringo, but not Paul, plus various famous and talented friends; Clapton, Preston, Nilsson, etc.

No I don't think so at all. Perhaps for a fleeting moment Lennon considered it to try to get back at McCartney, but George was done! And him and Lennon were not getting along that great either. Lennon wanted Plastic Ono Band with Yoko, so I am sure that is what he was referring to.

He may have called whatever band he put together The Plastic Ono Band, but POB never really had a clearly defined roster. I'm not sure why you think in 1971, when the letter was written, George was done with John. George played on John's Imagine album that year, and even invited him to appear at The Concert For Bangladesh. A few years later, in 1974, their friendship did come to an irrevocable end, but in '71 George would still have been very much at John's beck and call, if John had called.

\
Why did George and John's friendship come to a "irrevocable end" in 1974?

Thanks!

I'm not sure exactly. I think it may have had something to do with the way in which the Beatles business partnership was legally dissolved in the mid-70s. Whatever the reason, when their friendship ended, there was a definite finality about it. It appears they never saw one another after 1974, as is pointed out in this post I found on a Beatles fan forum,

George and John had a very close relationship from 1970/71. You are correct that there was a rift 1971/72 after George did not invite Yoko to perform at the Bangladesh concert. However, they did renew their friendship and actually became close again in 1973/74 (especially 74) starting with the Ringo recording session for I'm The Greatest through December 1974 when John came to see George perform at Madison Square Garden and even did a joint interview with him after the show.

This is not confirmed, but I believe the MSG show could have been the last time they saw each other although they continued to speak through sometime in 1975/76 when there was another falling out of some kind. Fred Seaman in his book The Last Days of John Lennon relates a telephone message left by George to John in 1980 where he states he is "anxious to reconnect after five years of silence" (paraphrasing the text of the message). John was still miffed about the I Me Mine book and never returned the call.

It is known that the last time Paul saw John was 1976 and Ringo in November of 1979. As a result, the 1974 date is not impossible, although one would think George may have come to see/meet Sean sometime in late 75/early 76 (especially during the 33-1/3 New York press stop).



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2012-11-08 04:42 by tatters.

"Eric, I know I can bring out something great, in fact greater in you that had been so far evident in your music."

Maybe I'm overly sensitive, but if I was in Eric's shoes I'd sorta be offended by that. It's like John was saying, "Your efforts in music so far have been promising but nothing to write home about. You obviously need help reaching your potential."

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Munichhilton
On a related note, I'm done admiring this tooth. Anybody want it?

No, but you can always put it under your pillow and see what happens!

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tatters

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stonesnow
Interesting--and perhaps revealing as well. Does this seem to indicate that Lennon anticipated The Beatles to resume working together as late as September 1971?

Definitely makes you wonder who's the "all of us" he wants to bring out the greatness in. My guess (and it's only a guess) is that what he had in mind was a kind of New Beatles that would have included John, George and Ringo, but not Paul, plus various famous and talented friends; Clapton, Preston, Nilsson, etc.

Maybe (and possibly a definite maybe if the letter was written a year earlier), but I assume he was talking about the music of the three of them (John, Yoko and Eric) going to the next level. I don't think John had any intention of ever starting up the Beatles again in 1971 or 1972.

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Claire_M
"Eric, I know I can bring out something great, in fact greater in you that had been so far evident in your music."

Maybe I'm overly sensitive, but if I was in Eric's shoes I'd sorta be offended by that. It's like John was saying, "Your efforts in music so far have been promising but nothing to write home about. You obviously need help reaching your potential."

Good point, especially since Eric had only just recently released Layla.

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2000 LYFH

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tatters

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stonesnow
Interesting--and perhaps revealing as well. Does this seem to indicate that Lennon anticipated The Beatles to resume working together as late as September 1971?

Definitely makes you wonder who's the "all of us" he wants to bring out the greatness in. My guess (and it's only a guess) is that what he had in mind was a kind of New Beatles that would have included John, George and Ringo, but not Paul, plus various famous and talented friends; Clapton, Preston, Nilsson, etc.

Maybe (and possibly a definite maybe if the letter was written a year earlier), but I assume he was talking about the music of the three of them (John, Yoko and Eric) going to the next level. I don't think John had any intention of ever starting up the Beatles again in 1971 or 1972.

I doubt he ever would have used the name "Beatles" but a Plastic Ono Band with an ever-changing all-star lineup that at various times could have included a fellow ex-Beatle or two might have been a possibility.

Well history has proven that John didn't intend to have The Beatles get back together. And while it is easy to say that George and John had a close friendship, they still did not see eye to eye about a lot of stuff. So much so, in an interview John described George as a follower, who always followed John around, even when John was on dates, George would be embarressingly in the background following him. I always felt that John's sudden interest in George was very one sided. He involved George in his solo album Imagine as a slap at McCartney. It was a way to dig at Macca even more... and George also played live with Lennon at the Lyceum show. But John never played on any of George's stuff, mostly because he was not interested in George's music. Wasn't while in The Beatles, nor as a solo artist. John was done with The Beatles and wanted out in a bad way. I know from reading a lot of John biographies, he did want to do more with Clapton as the Plastic Ono Band. But then Clapton descended into his heroin addiction and Lennon moved to New York.

There is a very interesting final interview with George and Harrison, around 74, there is a audio clip of it, I think on the Beatlesfan site. And they are disagreeing with each other and George goes out of his way to disagree with Lennon and be more assertive, I found that interesting and very indicitive of their relationship, where George finally stopped following Lennon.

I do think though, that if Lennon wasn't killed they definitely would have regrouped for The Anthology project. Sad.

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tatters

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2000 LYFH

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tatters

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stonesnow
Interesting--and perhaps revealing as well. Does this seem to indicate that Lennon anticipated The Beatles to resume working together as late as September 1971?

Definitely makes you wonder who's the "all of us" he wants to bring out the greatness in. My guess (and it's only a guess) is that what he had in mind was a kind of New Beatles that would have included John, George and Ringo, but not Paul, plus various famous and talented friends; Clapton, Preston, Nilsson, etc.

Maybe (and possibly a definite maybe if the letter was written a year earlier), but I assume he was talking about the music of the three of them (John, Yoko and Eric) going to the next level. I don't think John had any intention of ever starting up the Beatles again in 1971 or 1972.

I doubt he ever would have used the name "Beatles" but a Plastic Ono Band with an ever-changing all-star lineup that at various times could have included a fellow ex-Beatle or two might have been a possibility.

Yeah, you may be right but wasn't John pissed off at George for not allowing Yoko to perform at the Concert for Bangladesh (this was after George's involvement in the Imagine sessions)? When did John and George ever really get together again? Later on (79 or 80), John was pissed at George again for not giving him credit in George's book - I Me Mine. I think the closest 2 were John and Ringo in the 70's.

George said he visited John in the Dakota during his house husband years and George got the sense that John wanted to say much more than he was saying. George could see it in his eyes. But John couldn't say more because of the "situation he was in." I wish I had George's exact quote, but don't have the book anymore where I read it titled THE BEATLES AFTER THE BREAK UP (IN THEIR OWN WORDS) by David Bennahum.

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whitem8

There is a very interesting final interview with George and John, around 74, there is a audio clip of it, I think on the Beatlesfan site. And they are disagreeing with each other and George goes out of his way to disagree with Lennon and be more assertive, I found that interesting and very indicitive of their relationship, where George finally stopped following Lennon.

December 21, 1974.

Yeah, that is it tatters! Good sluthing! Love the part about Bowie. "all the pictures of Bowie and Elton John I have seen they look stupid..." Lennon says "I think they look great!"

[thefaustorocksyeah.wordpress.com]



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2012-11-09 05:55 by whitem8.

George was also miffed when the four of them were supposed to get together in a New York hotel to formally sign the documents dissolving The Beatles' various business relationships. John didn't show because their astrologer advised them not to. Instead he sent a letter with a picture of him or something.

whitem8, you're quite right about how John regarded George as a follower in the early days, which was indeed true. Because when John and George first met, John was nearly 18 and George was barely 15--a huge difference at that age. It was Paul who introduced them, who was closer to George's age and was George's friend first. That view John had of George must have lingered for some time. George did get deported from Hamburg for being underage, and this eventually cut that particular period of their stay there short. George was also slow to develop as a songwriter. As you pointed out in another thread, John would vamp his way through recordings of George's songs--and Paul was guilty of this, too. Ever hear the vocal overdub sessions for George's Rubber Soul track Think For Yourself? John and Paul team up to make it into a Goon's Show:





John was also very reserved in his assessment of All Things Must Pass when commenting on it in his 1971 interview with Rolling Stone, saying something to the effect that it was okay, but that he still didn't think it was George's best work. In a way, I think John was a bit jealous of George in the way that George was able to forge meaningful collaborations with the likes of Eric Clapton [co-write and rhythm guitar on Cream's badge] and Bob Dylan [cover of Dylan's If Not For You, co-write of I'd Have You Anytime] in a way that Lennon was not able to. Harrison collaborated with Clapton, whereas Clapton merely supported Lennon, and Lennon never co-wrote a song with Bob Dylan, but merely imitated him at various points in The Beatles. Harrison was also the first Beatle to record a solo album (Wonderwall).

True, they may have drifted apart, but only because Lennon separated himself from music and musicians for those 5 years as a bread-baking house husband, and history did not allow enough time for them to reconcile, if indeed they had fallen out at all. The last time the four Beatles jammed together was in 1974 in Los Angeles, just before Lennon cleaned up and went back home to Yoko. Harrison did compose the loving tribute All Those Years Ago in 1981, so underneath it all there was respect and admiration, and I believe they would have reformed even sooner than Anthology, perhaps sometime in the early to mid 80s. Lennon after all was one of the biggest Beatles fans of all.

The Anthology idea was around as early as the late 70s, first called "A Long And Winding Road". I believe Lennon even mentioned it. He definitely would have been on board.

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stonesnow
whitem8, you're quite right about how John regarded George as a follower in the early days, which was indeed true. Because when John and George first met, John was nearly 18 and George was barely 15--a huge difference at that age. It was Paul who introduced them, who was closer to George's age and was George's friend first. That view John had of George must have lingered for some time. George did get deported from Hamburg for being underage, and this eventually cut that particular period of their stay there short. George was also slow to develop as a songwriter. As you pointed out in another thread, John would vamp his way through recordings of George's songs--and Paul was guilty of this, too. Ever hear the vocal overdub sessions for George's Rubber Soul track Think For Yourself? John and Paul team up to make it into a Goon's Show:





John was also very reserved in his assessment of All Things Must Pass when commenting on it in his 1971 interview with Rolling Stone, saying something to the effect that it was okay, but that he still didn't think it was George's best work. In a way, I think John was a bit jealous of George in the way that George was able to forge meaningful collaborations with the likes of Eric Clapton [co-write and rhythm guitar on Cream's badge] and Bob Dylan [cover of Dylan's If Not For You, co-write of I'd Have You Anytime] in a way that Lennon was not able to. Harrison collaborated with Clapton, whereas Clapton merely supported Lennon, and Lennon never co-wrote a song with Bob Dylan, but merely imitated him at various points in The Beatles. Harrison was also the first Beatle to record a solo album (Wonderwall).

True, they may have drifted apart, but only because Lennon separated himself from music and musicians for those 5 years as a bread-baking house husband, and history did not allow enough time for them to reconcile, if indeed they had fallen out at all. The last time the four Beatles jammed together was in 1974 in Los Angeles, just before Lennon cleaned up and went back home to Yoko. Harrison did compose the loving tribute All Those Years Ago in 1981, so underneath it all there was respect and admiration, and I believe they would have reformed even sooner than Anthology, perhaps sometime in the early to mid 80s. Lennon after all was one of the biggest Beatles fans of all.

Interesting cover photo on that YouTube clip. That's not from EMI but from CTS Studios where they did post-synch for the Help! movie. That's also where they did the MONO vocals for the song Help!, which is why there's no record of the mono version at EMI and why it's so rare. The vocals are quite different between the mono and stereo versions.

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whitem8
John described George as a follower

George counters John's claim:

Yes, your are correct Tele. Actually it was started by Neil Aspinal in 71. The project continued, and Lennon in a close court lawsuite against Beatlemania testified in the late 70s (I think in 79) that the Beatles were planning on regrouping to record material for their movie project of The Long and Winding Road. He testified they were recording some new incedntal music and covers of some of their old material.

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whitem8
Yes, your are correct Tele. Actually it was started by Neil Aspinal in 71. The project continued, and Lennon in a close court lawsuite against Beatlemania testified in the late 70s (I think in 79) that the Beatles were planning on regrouping to record material for their movie project of The Long and Winding Road. He testified they were recording some new incedntal music and covers of some of their old material.

Yes, I recall reading about that in the Lennon/FBI book.