JOHN's LETTER TO NYC RADIO ICON OVER YOKO ONO's MUSIC HITS AUCTION BLOCK

Joe Franklin received personal letter in 1971, in which the ex-Beatle tried to convince the talk show host to listen to his wife's 'far out' solo album, 'Fly.'

John's handwritten 1971 note to New York TV talk show icon Joe Franklin, passionately promoting his wife Yoko Ono's music, has landed on the auction block.

"It's far out," John wrote about Yoko's music, "but don't let it frighten you."

And contrary to what the auctioneers assert, Franklin says it didn't.

"Yoko was on my show nine times," Franklin said Monday. "John Lennon was on three times. Yoko was only with him one of those times.

"Part of his whole thing was to convince her to be confident enough to do it on her own."

RR Auction in Massachusetts is offering the two-page letter, in which Lennon discusses the music on Yoko's new solo album "Fly."

The RR release on the auction, which includes some 500 items and runs through Oct. 23, said his tacit pitch didn't work, because "It does not appear they ever appeared on Franklin's show."

But they did, says Franklin. He says he received two handwritten letters from John, who was a fan of the show, and that he was happy to have both of them on.

John's letter begins by appealing to Franklin's own musical taste.

"I know you're a musician at heart!" Lennon wrote, "and especially I know you dig jazz. Well, Yoko's music ain't quite jazz but to help you get off on it, or understand it, please listen to a track on the 'Yoko/Ono/Plastic Ono Band,' called 'AOS,' which was recorded in 1968 (pre Lennon/Beatles!) with Ornette Coleman at Albert Hall London.

"You could call it free form, anyway Yoko sits in the middle of avante-garde, classic, jazz-and now through me and my music-rock 'n' roll!"

Andrew Joe Franklin shows off his massive record collection in 1997

"On the new album 'Fly' the experiment goes a step 'further'-free form music-with robot musicians! (not computer-electronic-)-check the inside of Fly double-album for info and photo of the 'musicians.'

"Of course Yoko can explain her music better in person, this is a kind of introduction. For something rather more 'straight,' a track called 'Mrs. Lennon' on 'Fly' is an example of her more conservative side! She was trained as a classical musician, and took music composition in Sarah Lawrence College as her major."

John added a thumbnail sketch of himself and Yoko.

"Fly" did not sell well, and Yoko's music was widely criticized at the time. As time has passed, she has been better regarded as an experimental artist of the era.

"This letter shows how proud John was of Yoko and how he believed in her as a multitalented artist," says Bobby Livingston, executive vice president of RR Auction.

RR estimates the John letter could sell for $15,000 to $20,000.