John Lennon’s handwritten letter asking Eric Clapton to start a band heading to auction
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(Credits: Far Out / Alamy)
The draft of a 1971 letter written by John Lennon asking Eric Clapton to join a band with him is going to auction. The letter was written shortly after the Beatles split up, and Clapton was a close friend of the Fab Four.
Eight pages long, the letter sees Lennon address Clapton, writing: “You must know by now that Yoko and I rate your music and yourself very highly, always have.” After Clapton played in The Plastic Ono Band in 1969, Lennon had him on his radar to reunite for another musical project.
He continued, “I really feel that I/we can bring out the best in you — (some kind of security financial or otherwise will help) but the main thing is the music.” Lennon also reveals that he has other musicians in mind to play alongside them, too.
“I consider Klaus (Voormann), Jim (Keltner), Nicky (Hopkins), Phil (Spector), Yoko (Ono), you could make the kind of sound that could bring back the Balls in rock ‘n’ roll,” he continued.
At this time in Clapton’s life, things weren’t easy. Despite proving his talents as a guitarist in various bands like The Yardbirds and Cream, by the start of the 1970s he had sunk into a heroin addiction.
It appears that Lennon’s idea to form a new band with Clapton took into consideration the musician’s need for an outlet other than drugs. Lennon wrote in the letter, “Both of us have been thru the same kind of shit/pain that I know you’ve had — 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 has been so far evident in your music.”
Bids are expected to range between €100,000 and €150,000, with the auction taking place at International Autograph Auctions Europe SL.
Were John Lennon and Eric Clapton friends?
Clapton did not accept the offer that Lennon outlined in the letter, although no one knows what the final version actually said. Still, his relationship with The Beatles was very close, with Lennon even suggesting that Clapton join the band when they were recording Let It Be after George Harrison temporarily quit.
Clapton was closest with Harrison, though, providing lead guitar on the Harrison-penned Beatles track ‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps’. Their relationship was slightly complicated after Clapton fell in love with Harrison’s wife, Pattie Boyd, whom he eventually married.
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