Dylan’s ‘Like A Rolling Stone’ Draft Manuscript Sells for $2 Million At Auction

One of the world’s most popular songs of all time just became the largest music manuscript ever sold at auction.

The 1965 classic “Like A Rolling Stone”, written by Bob Dylan, recently hit the auction block and sold for a whopping $2 million. The draft manuscript was purchased by an unidentified fan of Dylan’, who resides in Los Angeles. According to Sotheby’s auction house, this is “the only known surviving draft of the final lyrics for this transformative rock album.”

The draft is written in pencil on four sheets of hotel letterhead stationery with revisions, additions, notes and doodles: a hat, a bird, an animal with antlers. The stationery comes from the Roger Smith Hotel in Washington, D.C.

Dylan was 24 when he recorded the song in 1965 about a debutante who becomes a loner when she’s cast from upper-class social circles.

“How does it feel To be on your own” it says in his handwriting. “No direction home Like a complete unknown Like a rolling stone.”

The manuscript was sold under Sotheby’s pop and rock collection.  The only other known handwritten lyrics sold for a cool million was John Lennon’s “A Day in the Life”.  This song appeared on the Beatles 1967 album, Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.  Lennon’s lyrics sold for $1.2 million at auction.

Photo Credit: RollingStone.com