“It’s impossible to sum up in a short letter how & why I love John, but here are a few thoughts,” he wrote. “I love him because…. he was a mate through our teenage years in Liverpool, he was the guy I sat across from as we worked out how to write songs, he was the man I admired as we evolved through the madness of fame, fortune, and ‘fabness,’ and he was, and still is, the heroic figure whose wit and wisdom, with a little help from his friends, shaped the thoughts and lives of millions of people. And so much more.”

McCartney signed the letter, which he wrote on “Paul McCartney US” stationery.

Paul McCartney’s letter about John Lennon is currently up for auction

This letter is currently up for auction with RR Auction. 

“This letter was discovered amongst several (vast) amounts of materials (i.e. magazines, photo archive, internal correspondence and related ephemera) acquired by HYMAG (previously Hyman Archive) from Bauer Media during the period of March–June 2017, when Bauer were moving their UK, London office…Bauer Media’s assets include Q, the music magazine (that began in 1986, and ceased publication in 2020),” wrote HYMAG founder James Hyman.

The site describes the letter as a rare, valuable artifact for Beatles lovers.

“This letter, perhaps the only one known in which McCartney directly describes his feelings about Lennon, stands as a testament to that partnership and is truly a treasure of pop culture history, Further, he makes a deliberate reference to the classic Beatles song ‘With a Little Help from My Friends’ — a marvelous ‘Easter egg’ for the Beatles enthusiast.”

The letter’s estimated worth was over $100,000. 

Their friendship still had problems

While McCartney loved Lennon, they also had their problems. Lennon spoke at length about McCartney in the press after The Beatles broke up, and they each wrote songs about each other.

“When the Beatles had broken up and John was downing me a lot in public, that was probably the worst to take because I knew he [had] an opinion a lot of people listened to,” McCartney said, per Far Out Magazine.

In Lennon’s song “How Do You Sleep,” he sings that the only good song McCartney ever wrote was “Yesterday.” McCartney said that hurt him deeply.

“If it was just a critic saying, ‘Oh, McCartney’s stupid’, you know…” McCartney said. “But when it was John saying, ‘All you ever did was ‘Yesterday,’ I mean… that’s hurtful.”