Bob Dylan ‘Like a Rolling Stone’ Lyrics Fetch $2M at Auction

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Bob Dylan’s handwritten manuscript for “Like a Rolling Stone” sold for just over $2 million on Tuesday at Sotheby’s rock and roll auction, which also included memorabilia from the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and Elvis Presley.
The price for the annotated lyrics for “Like a Rolling Stone,” considered one of the most influential songs in postwar music, makes it the most expensive rock music sold at auction.
It shattered the previous record for rock music lyrics set in 2010 when John Lennon’s handwritten lyrics for “A Day in the Life,” the final track from the 1967 album “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” sold for $1.2 million, according to Sotheby’s.
The manuscript for Dylan’s “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall” fetched $485,000 at Sotheby’s first dedicated music history sale in more than a decade.
The 150 lots in the auction, which ranged in price from an estimated $200-$300 up $2 million for the Dylan manuscript, came from collectors and people who worked in the music industry.”
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