A shocking racist poem penned by John Lennon has been discovered after 64 years.
The Beatle told the story of an unemployed boy named Tom who was ‘black and dirty’ and looking for work.
He used the shocking N-word in the poem, which was penned during the band’s Hamburg residency in 1961.
The offensive words are in stark contrast to the beautiful songs Lennon penned in his epic songwriting partnership with Paul McCartney.
The poem was removed from an A5 notebook he kept in the Hamburg flat of German photographer Astrid Kirchherr, who was a friend of the band.
It reads in black ink: ‘One time upon a tom a little negro who had lost his mother was looking for a job.
‘Maybe I will be a shoe shine boy – says the negro who was black and dirty.
‘But no – unluckily as luck would have it he could not a job find.
‘No job for a n****r.’
A shocking racist poem penned by John Lennon has been discovered after 64 years. The Beatle told the story of an unemployed boy named Tom who was ‘black and dirty’ and looking for work
The poem was removed from an A5 notebook he kept in the Hamburg flat of German photographer Astrid Kirchherr, who was a friend of the band. Above: Kirchherr with Lennon (right) and Ringo Starr on a train during the filming of A Hard Day’s Night
A year after the poem was written the Beatles, now with their classic Fab Four line up of Lennon, McCartney, Ringo Starr and George Harrison, released their first single, Love Me Do.
They were then propelled to superstardom with the success of their first album, Please Please Me, which was released in March 1963.
Kirchherr gifted the poem to another source and it then passed into the hands of a collector, who is selling it via Julien’s Auctions, of Los Angeles, US.
The 6.5ins by 8.5ins piece of paper containing the poem is tipped to sell for £15,000 ($20,000).
Giles Moon, head of music at Julien’s Auctions, said: ‘John Lennon was a complicated and complex artist whom we discovered through his public and private personas had his share of issues.
The Beatles’ residency in Hamburg lasted from 1960 until 1962. Above left to right: McCartney, original drummer Pete Best, bassist Stuart Sutcliffe, lead guitarist George Harrison and Lennon in Hamburg in 1960
John Lennon wearing full leather as he performs at the Cavern Club, Liverpool, in 1961
‘His writings, music and appearances revealed his struggles and journey to becoming a more understanding person.’
It has been well documented that John Lennon had a darker side to his personality.
He admitted to beating women, with his first wife Cynthia saying how he once slapped her in the face in a moment of jealousy.
Lennon was also accused of emotionally abusing his son Julian, once stating he how he was an unplanned child ‘born out of a bottle of whiskey’.
He was also filmed mocking disabled people and was accused of violently attacking the Cavern Club’s MC Bob Wooler after he jokingly suggested Lennon had an intimate relationship with Brian Epstein.
Lennon was murdered by obsessed fan Mark Chapman outside his apartment building in New York in 1980, a decade after The Beatles formally parted ways.
The sale of the poem takes place on May 30.
