Unreleased John Lennon recording sold at auction in Denmark

By Idris Sulun

ANKARA (AA) – An unreleased cassette tape recording of John Lennon and Yoko Ono has been sold for $58,300 at an auction in Copenhagen.

The 33-minute audio track was recorded by four Danish teenagers as part of a report for their school magazine on Jan. 5, 1970 in Skyum Bjerge, Denmark, just months before the Beatles announced their break-up.

The tape has been sold along with photographs which document the event, and a copy of a school magazine with parts of the interview.

"Finally, all the excitement surrounding tonight’s Live Auction of a small John Lennon tape recording from 1969 was released. And the hammer landed at DKK 370,000 - more than DKK 100,000 over the estimate," Bruun Rasmussen Auctioneers, an auction house of art, design, antiques and collectibles, said in a statement on Wednesday.

The recording took place at a time when Lennon and Ono were calling for an end to the war in Vietnam. They had come to the Scandinavian country for private reasons.

In the interview, Lennon speaks of the reason for being in Skyum Bjerge, how their art and music champions world peace and how everybody can contribute to world peace.

At one point the couple joined in a Danish tradition and danced around a Christmas tree, played guitar and sang Give Peace a Chance.