Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac lyrics for sale
Handwritten Fleetwood Mac lyrics penned by the late Peter Green are expected to sell for up to £15,000.
Handwritten Fleetwood Mac lyrics are expected to sell for up to £15,000.
A composition sheet, which also included instrumentation notes, for the group's 1969 single Man of the World will be auctioned by Ewbank's next week, with an estimated value of £12-15000.
The document was written in blue ballpoint pen and corrected in black ink and showed Fleetwood Mac founder Peter Green - who left the band in 1970 and died in 2020 - had changed three lines of the lyrics and ticked off each finalised line in the song.
Ewbank's specialist John Silke said: "Few musicians can claim to have been as talented and as important to the development of rock music from the blues and folk movements as Peter Green.
"The founding father of Fleetwood Mac, who have sold more than 120 million records over the years, it is an incredible privilege to be able to sell his own handwritten lyrics and instrumentation for one his most important songs."
Man of the World was Fleetwood Mac's only single for Immediate Records and appeared on an early greatest hits album in 1971. The track was never played live after Peter left the band until almost 50 years later, when they played it in Australia on their 2019 tour.
Band member Mick Fleetwood previously said the song was "very prophetic" and gave an insight into Peter's mental state at the time.
He told Rolling Stone in 2020: "It's a very prophetic song. When he made those songs, we had no idea that he was suffering internally as much as he was. But if you listen to the words, it's crucifyingly obvious what was going on. But a beautiful song. A poignant song."
Peter left the band after taking drugs and struggling with his mental health and Mick previously recalled feeling "devastated" by his departure.
He told The Times newspaper: "It was out of the blue. I don't think he knew what he was getting into (with LSD) and when he left the band we were devastated."
And the 78-year-old drummer recalled how he and his late bandmate were the group's "odd couple".
He added: "Peter would be the East End kid shouting, 'F****** give is the money now', to some promoter who had short-changed us. I would be the public schoolboy going, 'Maybe we shouldn't upset him too much...'
"Peter certainly knew what he wanted, but that didn't transfer into his ego, which is why he named the band after John McVie and myself. He was funny, he was strong, he loved life. And emotionally he had a lot to say after having had a s***** childhood of being bullied and so on."
As well as Peter's lyrics, the Entertainment + Memorabilia Music, Film / TV Popular Culture auction also includes various Rolling Stones documents, including a previously-unseen draft legal statement by Sir Mick Jagger relating to a 1967 drugs raid.
Live online bidding for the auction is available via www.ewbankauctions.co.uk
