Peter Green’s handwritten Fleetwood Mac lyrics to be auctioned off

Fleetwood Mac lyrics handwritten by the band’s own Peter Green are headed to auction, and expected to sell for thousands later this month.

The document is a composition sheet made by the band’s co-founder, and also includes instrumentation notes for Fleetwood Mac’s single ‘Man Of The World’, which was written in 1969.

The lyrics handwritten by Green are made in a blue ballpoint pen and contain corrections written by him in black ink. They show that the guitarist and songwriter amended three lines of lyrics in the song, and ticked off the finalised lines of lyrics that he was happy with.

‘Man Of The World’ was the band’s only single to be shared from Immediate Records, and also appeared on an early greatest hits album in 1971. After Green left the band in 1970, it was not played live until nearly 50 years later – when the band broke out a rendition on their 2019 tour in Australia. Green died the following year.

It is headed to auction at Ewbank’s next week, and expected to fetch between £12,000 and £15,000.

“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,” Ewbank’s specialist John Silke (via BangPremier).

“The founding father of Fleetwood Mac, who have sold more than 120million 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.” Find out more about the auction here.

Speaking to Rolling Stone in 2020, bandmate Mick Fleetwood opened up about the meaning of the song, and shared that it provided an intimate look into Green’s mental state at the time.

“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,” he said (via Far Out). “But if you listen to the words, it’s crucifyingly obvious what was going on. But a beautiful song. A poignant song.”

Green’s departure from the line-up in 1970 came due to a struggle with mental health, and speaking with The Times previously, Fleetwood described the move as “out of the blue” and one that left him and his bandmates “devastated” (via Yahoo).

Back in 2023, a collection of guitars owned by the late Peter Green also went to auction, heading to Bonhams of London. In total, the auction saw sales mounting over £483,000, and included a National Duolian Resonator, which sold for £38,400 (surpassing the pre-sale estimate of £3,000-5,000), and a 1968 Gretsch White Falcon 6137 Stereo, which sold for £38,400 (surpassing the estimate of £6,000-8,000), as per Jazz Journal.

In other Fleetwood Mac news, last month bandmates Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham stirred up rumours of a reunion – or reconciliation at the very least – through a pair of cryptic posts on Instagram.

The two of them dated between 1972 and 1976 and remained bandmates in Fleetwood Mac until Lindsey was fired from the band in 2018 after over 40 years, in somewhat acrimonious circumstances relating to a disagreement over a tour. He was replaced by Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers’ Mike Campbell and Crowded House’s Neil Finn.

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