Draft lyrics to 'Mr. Tambourine Man' sell for $508K at US auction

About 60 items were sold on Saturday in Nashville, Tennessee, through Julien's Auctions
Draft lyrics to 'Mr. Tambourine Man' sell for $508K at US auction
Musician Bob Dylan appears in London on April 27, 1965AP Photo
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Draft lyrics to Bob Dylan's song Mr. Tambourine Man went for over a half-million dollars as part of a weekend sale of dozens of items related to the iconic American singer-songwriter.

About 60 Bob's items — including photos, music sheets, his guitar, pencil drawings and an oil painting composed by the Nobel Prize for literature winner — were sold on Saturday in Nashville, Tennessee, through Julien's Auctions.

The items generated nearly $1.5 million in sales overall through in-person and online bidding, the auction house said. Julien's said 50 of the items, including the lyrics that received the highest sale price, came from the personal collection of late music journalist Al Aronowitz.

The typewritten lyrics, which covered three drafts of the 1965 song, were written on two sheets of yellow paper, with Bob's annotation on the third draft.

Bob wrote the original draft lyrics in the journalist's New Jersey home, according to Julien's, citing a 1973 newspaper article by Al.

An image released by Julien's Auctions shows musician Bob Dylan's lyrics for various famed songs are show in this undated image
An image released by Julien's Auctions shows musician Bob Dylan's lyrics for various famed songs are show in this undated imageJulien's Auctions via AP
An image released by Julien's Auctions shows musician Bob Dylan's lyrics for famed song 'Mr. Tamborine Man' are show in this undated image
An image released by Julien's Auctions shows musician Bob Dylan's lyrics for famed song 'Mr. Tamborine Man' are show in this undated imageJulien's Auctions via AP
An image released by Julien's Auctions shows musician Bob Dylan's lyrics for famed song 'Blowing in the Wind' are show in this undated image
An image released by Julien's Auctions shows musician Bob Dylan's lyrics for famed song 'Blowing in the Wind' are show in this undated imageJulien's Auctions via AP

The musician sat "with my portable typewriter at my white formica breakfast bar in a swirl of chain-lit cigarette smoke, his bony, long-nailed fingers tapping the words out" on copy paper, Al was quoted as writing.

The third draft, while close to the final version, still had significant variations from the final lyrics, the auction house said on its website.

The song appeared as the lead track on the acoustic side of his 1965 Bringing It All Back Home album and was the first Bob composition to reach No. 1 in the United States and the United Kingdom, Julien's said.

Other high-selling items Saturday included a 1968 Bob Dylan-signed oil-on-canvas painting for $260,000 and a custom 1983 Fender guitar that he owned and played for $225,000.

Bob, now 83, is garnering attention with last month's release of the movie A Complete Unknown, which focuses on his rise to stardom in the early 1960s. His role is played by Timothée Chalamet, who has worked for several years on the role, which involves singing and playing guitar.

Draft lyrics to 'Mr. Tambourine Man' sell for $508K at US auction
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