Never released John Lennon recording sells for $58,300 at Danish auction

COPENHAGEN —  A cassette tape recording of an interview with John Lennon and Yoko Ono, including a never-released song, made while they visited Denmark in 1970 sold for 370,000 Danish crowns ($58,300) at an auction in Copenhagen on Tuesday.

The tape, featuring the unreleased song “Radio Peace,” was recorded on Jan. 5, 1970 by four 16-year-old Danish boys who succeeded in getting an interview with the couple for a school magazine.

Bids for the cassette tape, which was put up for sale along with photographs from the meeting by the former school boys, started at 100,000 crowns. The lot was valued between 200,000 and 300,000 crowns ($31,500-$47,000) before the auction.

It was not immediately known who bought the recording.

During the 33-minute recording, Mr. Lennon speaks about the couple’s peace campaign, his frustration with the Beatles’ image and the length of his hair. The recording also features Mr. Lennon and Ms. Ono humming along to Christmas songs while dancing around a Christmas tree, Mr. Lennon playing the guitar and the couple singing “Give Peace a Chance” and “Radio Peace.”

The up-tempo song, which repeats the words “this is Radio Peace,” refers to a radio station of the same name that Mr. Lennon and Ms. Ono hoped to establish in Amsterdam, the auction house said. — Reuters