Bob Dylan's original, handwritten lyrics offered at Sotheby's

The original, handwritten lyrics of Bob Dylan’s Like A Rolling Stone will lead Sotheby’s Presley to Punk: A Rock and Roll History auction next month. Dylan’s 1965 hit song earned the folk singer rock icon status and was chosen by Rolling Stone magazine’s 500 greatest songs of all-time. The first draft is four pages long and includes numerous corrections, revisions, and additions including the repeated phrase ‘how does it feel’ as well as notes on American culture, and some interesting doodles.

Like a Rolling Stone contrasts with the earlier, short, light-hearted pop songs that had been topping the charts.

In the song, Dylan tells the story of a character called ‘Miss Lonely’ who has been unlucky in life. Dylan changed the rules in pop music by defying convention and going electric with six and a half minutes of dark poetry. The manuscript is estimated to bring in $1—2 million. More of Dylan’s work to be offered includes the original draft of A Hard Rain’s A Gonna Fall that appeared on his 1963 album The Freewheelin’ of Bob Dylan, is estimated to bring in $400,000--$600,000.  

Photo by Jerry Schatzberg

Other highlights of the auction include the original poster of Elvis Presley’s 1957 concert at Multnomah Stadium in Portland, Oregon (est. $25,000-$35,000); a promotional poster of The Rolling Stones’ 1965 concert at the L’Olympia auditorium in Paris (est. $2,000--$3,000); and the original signed contract by Jimi Hendrix with PPX records in 1965 (est. $100,000-$200,000). The auction will be held Jun. 24th at Sotheby's New York, 1334 York Ave. (212) 606-7000.