John Lennon letter to Eric Clapton up for auction
John Lennon, here with wife Yoko Ono,
wrote to Eric Clapton in 1971 inviting him to start a new band with them. (AP Photo
/ November 6, 2012)
|
A letter John Lennon
wrote urging Eric
Clapton to start a new band with him shortly after the Beatles broke up will
go up for auction next month. The letter is one of several pieces of
correspondence from some of the world’s greatest musicians, including Beethoven,
Tchaikovsky, Cole Porter, Louis
Armstrong and George
Gershwin.
Lennon’s letter to Clapton, dated Sept. 29, 1971,
expressed the ex-Beatle’s admiration and lobbied him to form a group together
because he and wife Yoko Ono felt
they were kindred spirits with the English superstar guitarist.
"Both of us have been thru the same kind of [difficulties] that I know you’ve
had,” Lennon wrote, “and I know we could help each other in that area — but
mainly Eric — I know I can bring out something great — in fact greater in you
that had been so far evident in your music, I hope to bring out the same kind of
greatness in all of us — which I know will happen if/when we get together."
Clapton had already worked with Lennon in 1969 on
his Plastic Ono Band "Live Peace in Toronto" concert and album, on Lennon's solo
single "Cold Turkey." The guitarist had previously collaborated with other
Beatles, specifically with George
Harrison on the song "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" from the 1968 album "The
Beatles" (a.k.a. "the White Album").
The letter, which is estimated to bring $20,000 to $30,000, is from an
unidentified American collector and will be placed for sale Dec. 18 as part of
Profiles in History auction along with correspondence from Ludwig van Beethoven
to a business partner referencing performances of his Ninth Symphony and Missa
Solemnis choral composition. That letter is expected to bring $40,000 to
$60,000.Gershwin’s 1932 letter, including his response to a question asking him to compare his “Rhapsody in Blue” with the more recent composition “An American in Paris,” is estimated to bring $3,000 to $5,000.
More details about the auction are available at
the Profiles
in History web site.
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