A cassette with the recording of teenage journalists’ 1970 interview with John Lennon and Yoko Ono, together with polaroid photographs from the dialog, seen at Bruun Rasmussen Auction House in Copenhagen on September 24, 2021. An unidentified bidder received the lot for the equal of $58,240.
Ida Marie Odgaard/Ritzau Scanpix/AFP through Getty Images
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Ida Marie Odgaard/Ritzau Scanpix/AFP through Getty Images
A cassette with the recording of teenage journalists’ 1970 interview with John Lennon and Yoko Ono, together with polaroid photographs from the dialog, seen at Bruun Rasmussen Auction House in Copenhagen on September 24, 2021. An unidentified bidder received the lot for the equal of $58,240.
Ida Marie Odgaard/Ritzau Scanpix/AFP through Getty Images
A tape of John Lennon talking with a gaggle of scholar journalists and singing an unpublished tune fetched 370,000 kroner — or $58,240 — at an public sale in Denmark on Tuesday.
The 33-minute dialog, which was recorded in January 1970, spans a number of of the matters that Bruun Rasmussen Auctioneer says “defined Lennon in that period”: His peace marketing campaign with Yoko Ono, The Beatles and his hair.
That cassette, together with 29 photographs and a duplicate of the varsity newspaper that ran elements of the Lennon interview, had been bundled collectively as quite a bit merchandise in an public sale devoted to 20th century paintings. It offered nicely over its estimated value of 200,000 to 300,000 kroner ($31,481 to $47,222), the Associated Press reports.
“I thought it was extraordinary that it went above the estimate,” Alexa Bruun Rasmussen instructed the AP. “Unfortunately it is confidential who the buyer is, but I can reveal that it went abroad.”
The story behind the recording
Lennon and Ono traveled to Denmark in late December 1969 to handle custody points involving Ono’s 5-year-old daughter from a earlier marriage.
Danish journalists discovered of the couple’s whereabouts after their first week and arranged an official press convention. Then got here destiny.
“Due to severe weather conditions, a small group of journalists and four 16-year-old students on the quest of interviewing John Lennon for the school magazine turned up late for the press conference,” the public sale home defined. “Lennon and Ono agreed to talk to them anyway.”
It describes the setting of that dialog as “intimate” and the ambiance as “remarkably relaxed.” Around 10 individuals had been within the room, and photographs present Lennon, Ono and her daughter Kyoko lounging on a sofa with their sock-covered toes propped up on a espresso desk, a adorned Christmas tree within the background.
It was two younger scholar journalists who documented the scene: Karsten Højen recorded the interview (reportedly on a tape recorder borrowed from the native hi-fi store), and Jesper Jungersen took photographs.
Højen instructed the AP that they did the interview — towards the backdrop of the Vietnam War and the Cold War — as a result of Lennon and Ono had “a message of peace, and that was what was important to us.”
The cassette comprises a 33-minute recording of Lennon (and typically Ono) talking to younger journalists and singing two songs.
Ida Marie Odgaard /Ritzau Scanpix/AFP through Getty Images
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Ida Marie Odgaard /Ritzau Scanpix/AFP through Getty Images
The cassette comprises a 33-minute recording of Lennon (and typically Ono) talking to younger journalists and singing two songs.
Ida Marie Odgaard /Ritzau Scanpix/AFP through Getty Images
What Lennon mentioned
The dialog largely consists of Lennon answering journalists’ questions at size, with Ono often becoming a member of in, the public sale home mentioned.
Lennon reportedly talks about why the couple got here to city, their micro-macro weight loss plan, selling world peace by means of artwork and music, the size of his hair and his frustration with The Beatles’ picture. (The group had parted methods by this time, however didn’t announce the information for a number of months.)
“A student asks if they would consider recording Blues music to which Lennon replies that all they play is Blues,” the public sale home writes. “At one point someone suggests a dance around the Christmas tree whilst singing a Danish Christmas carol (Lennon partly tunes in although not knowing the lyrics). A student asks whether Lennon would play the guitar, and he plays ‘Radio Peace’, followed by ‘Give peace a chance.'”
“Radio Peace” was written for a radio station within the Netherlands however by no means truly launched, in accordance with the AP.
Højen told the BBC that “Radio Peace” was alleged to be the theme tune for a radio station that did not find yourself opening, and mentioned that “to our knowledge the only place where this song exists is on our tape.”
He mentioned he realized many years later that he was sitting on a priceless tape, and put it away in a financial institution vault.
Just how priceless precisely, the creators discovered on Tuesday. Højen instructed the AP the public sale “exceeded all expectations.” He mentioned surviving males who did the interview haven’t determined what to do with the cash.
This story initially appeared on the Morning Edition live blog.