Lennon, John

also including a 14-line unpublished prose satire on the Liverpool music industry, about 19 authorial corrections in blue ink, two pages, large post quarto (10 x 8 in.; 254 x 203 mm, "64 Mill Bond Extra Strong" watermark), stapled

[with:] fair copy typescript, without the prose piece, two pages, large post quarto (10 x 8 in; 254 x 202 mm, "Don Valley Bond" watermark), pin holes

see catalog
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

'Deaf Ted, Danoota, (and me)', which appears on p.68 of In His Own Write, was read aloud in the House of Commons on 19 June 1964 during a debate on, of all things, automation, in one of the more bizarre (and unintentionally amusing) examples of the ubiquity of the Beatles in the 1960s. A Conservative MP, Charles Curran, evidently did not understand that the poem's misspellings and puns were deliberate, so used the work to attack the standard of education in Liverpool:

"I quote that poem not because of its literary merit, but because one can see from it ... two things about John Lennon: he has a feeling for words and story telling and he is in a state of pathetic near-literacy. He seems to have picked up bits of Tennyson, Browning and Robert Louis Stevenson while listening with one ear to the football results on the wireless." (Quoted in The Lennon Companion, pp.48-49)

Lennon typed a rejected piece on the pop music industry on the same leaf of paper. This describes Brian Epstein, who here becomes "Bryatt Nemstrove" or later "Shebstseve", the "dabber disturbin of the North", talking up a new star, a "right old R & B singer" called "Jeffrey F.D.A. Burkky". It also refers to Bill Harry's Mersey Beat and the influential local DJ Bob Wooler ("Bobb Bobber"). For similar rejected pieces on the music scene see lots 49 and 50.