![\"John](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/John-Lennon-Waylon-Jennings-Split-Far-Out-Magazine-1140x855.jpg\")
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(Credits: Far Out \/ Alamy \/ Album Cover)<\/p>\n
Mon 1 December 2025 17:40, UK <\/p>\n
In 2014, Guernsey\u2019s Auctions sold a letter, only a handful of lines long, for $7,500. <\/p>\n
It was part of a liquidation of over 2,000 pieces from Waylon Jennings\u2019 estate. The country singer\u2019s vast collection boasted lots of curiosities, but the handwritten note from none other than John Lennon<\/a> himself proved to be one of the most interesting.<\/p>\n In Jennings\u2019 biography, the letter was briefly mentioned. The 1996 book gave no context for their relationship, simply stating: \u201cA Beatle writes\u201d. It created confusion, given the two were bona fide stars, but musically worlds apart. Jennings was considered one of the pioneers of the outlaw movement in country music, having rallied against the Nashville establishment that wound up dictating what country \u201cshould\u201d sound like. Whereas Lennon was a commercial favourite, his success with The Beatles was so massive it\u2019s almost too obvious to state.<\/p>\n Despite their apparent differences, the two artists had a lot in common. Buddy Holly was a significant shared influence, given his evident hand in the early Beatles sound<\/a>. Lennon said in Anthology that Holly was \u201cthe first one that we were really aware of in England who could play and sing at the same time \u2013 not just strum, but actually play the licks\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n Jennings himself could testify to Holly\u2019s ability, given he had spent time playing bass in The Crickets alongside the bespectacled icon. He was even set to join him on the plane that crashed on The Day the Music Died<\/a>, but he gave up his seat to The Big Bopper.<\/p>\n This incident had a lasting impact on the country star, opening him up to care for all of his fellow creatives. But as Jennings revealed in a 1996 interview, when it comes ot Lennon, the two had never imagined they\u2019d get on. \u201cI met John Lennon, and we were cutting up and everything at one of the Grammy things,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Adding, \u201cAnd I said, \u2018Man, you\u2019re funny. I didn\u2019t know you were funny,\u2019 I said, \u2018I thought you were some kind of mad guy or something like that.\u2019\u201d In itself, that\u2019s a hilarious thing to say to somebody, let alone the world\u2019s leading star of the moment.<\/p>\n Lennon\u2019s dry response was: \u201cListen, people in England think you shoot folks.\u201d<\/p>\n Essentially, when Jennings was recording early on in his career, a disdain for session players playing pickup notes led him to bring out a Colt Buntline revolver and declare, \u201cThe first guy that I hear use a pickup note, I\u2019m going to shoot his fingers off!\u201d<\/p>\n Reports started flooding through the British music press that he\u2019d brought a gun to a session, but for all of his\u00a0outlaw reputation<\/a>, he and Lennon got on great. \u201cTwas good ta meetya!\u201d Lennon wrote in the letter, which seemed to reference an unreleased mystery song that Lennon had invited him to try out: \u201c[Sic] I should have released it as a single myself, but I left it to late\u2026 but it aint for someone else\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n From the clumsy misspelling of Jennings\u2019 name: \u201cDear Wayland (sorry about that),\u201d to his inclusion of his Liverpudlian twang in his writing, the letter remains an intimate look at their unlikely friendship. And the price that it fetched at auction is proof of how every word they have spoken has been revered by the masses ever since they graced the world stage.<\/p>\n It\u2019s almost exactly 45 years since John Lennon passed away. Here\u2019s a letter Lennon wrote to Waylon Jennings after they\u2019d met in 1975.<\/p>\n![\"John](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/John-Lennon-1972-Musician-The-Beatles-Far-Out-Magazine-1024x768.jpg\")
<\/a>John Lennon performing live in 1972. (Credits: Far Out \/ Alamy)<\/p>\n
![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/The-private-letter-John-Lennon-wrote-to-Waylon-Jennings-Far-Out-Magazine-819x1024.jpg\")
<\/a>(Credits: Public Domain)<\/p>\n