Lennon, John

Fair copy with one correction, twelve numbered stanzas with the title written in capitals down the right margin of the first page, in green ink, 3 pages, text on rectos only, the final verso with an autograph fragment ("unfortunately they were stump[s] so she couldn't walk very fast") in black felt-tip, 8vo (7 x 5 1/4 in.; 177 x 132 mm, unwatermarked), yellow writing paper

see catalog
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The original manuscript of one of Lennon's best-loved and funniest poems. John Lennon recited part of this poem in an interview for the BBC radio programme World of Books recorded on 16 June 1965, a week before the publication of A Spaniard in the Works, where it is published on pp.18-19. It was a revealing interview in which Lennon acknowledged that writing this book was a very different experience from In His Own Write: "The second book was more disciplined because it was starting from scratch. They sort of say, 'You've got so many months to write a book in.' The first book, a lot of it I'd written at odd times during my life." He also commented on his method of composition and the relative lack of revision (which is evident throughout the manuscripts):

"...Interviewer: You know, these little pieces in the book-- they give an appearance of great finish-- of perfection. Do you revise them?
Lennon: Do they?
Interviewer: Yes. Now I mean, they're not... they don't look all that spontaneous. They look as though they've been worked over. Do you work them over?
Lennon: They're not at all. I never-- nobody's ever said that to me. Wonderful. They are spontaneous, and I hardly ever alter anything because I'm selfish about what I write or bigheaded about it. Once I've written it, I like it. And the publisher sometimes says, you know, 'Should we leave this out, or change that?' and I fight like mad 'cuz once I've done it I like to keep it. I might add things when I go over it before it's published, but I seldom take anything out. So it is spontaneous..."