As part of its auction “Presley to Punk: A Rock & Roll History,” which will take place June 24 in New York, Sotheby’s will auction Bob Dylan’s legendary, handwritten draft of “Like a Rolling Stone.” Sotheby’s calls this “the most significant popular music manuscript ever to appear at auction,” and you know, that’s probably true!
The manuscript, which is described as “near-complete,” runs four pages and includes numerous unused lyrics as well as “stray thoughts on American cultural imagery, and interesting doodles.” In an interview, Mr. Dylan once described the original draft of the song like this:
“It was ten pages long. It wasn’t called anything, just a rhythm thing on paper all about my steady hatred directed at some point that was honest. In the end it wasn’t hatred, it was telling someone something they didn’t know, telling them they were lucky.”
The estimated price is $1 million–$2 million. Other items in the sale include Mr. Dylan’s lyrics to “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall” (estimated between $400,000-600,000), as well as “significant pieces relating to the Beatles, Jimi Hendrix and Joni Mitchell.”
