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Lennon Lyric Sheet Could Fetch $700,000 at Auction
- Posted on Apr 30th 2010 6:30AM by Chris Cope
Handwritten lyrics from John Lennon are expected to reach up to $700,00 (£460,000) when they go on auction in June.The double-sided sheet of paper, containing lyrics for the Beatles song 'A Day in the Life', will go under the hammer at Sotheby's in New York on June 18, reports the BBC.
Not only will the winning bidder get the lyrics, but they will also be proud owner of amendments and notes too, showing the creative process of the song.
The page is covered with scribble in felt marker and blue ink, with other notes made in red.
'A Day in the Life' is the concluding track on the Beatles' seminal 1967 album 'Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band' and was originally banned by the BBC due to a lyric supposedly referencing drugs.
Sotheby's called it "a revolutionary song that marked the Beatles' transformation from pop icons to artists."
Also according to the BBC, the most expensive Beatles lyrics to have been sold at auction so far were those for 'All You Need Is Love,' which went for $1m (£655,450) in 2005.
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Booker T. Johnston
John Lennon's long-lost LSD stash was found in his old garden. Wonder how much it'll go for on eBay.
May 12 2010 at 5:33 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply
rasfanta
It's so interesting how beatles stuff becomes available for sale now that michael jackson, who owned the catalog, is dead. Hmmmmmmmmm.
May 09 2010 at 12:10 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply
ManicD
1 reply to ManicD's comment
FLICK!!One small footnote to that Apple venture was the discovery of James Taylor. History has put him as the FIRST artist signed to Apple Records. I happen to think an Artist named Jackie Lomax was their or rather George Harrisons first find, it seems of all the Beatles, he was the only one really looking. Anyway that is a mystery I for one would love to see cleared up. I do however remember Meriam Hopkins.."those were the days my friend, we thought they'd never end, we'd sing and dance forever and a day'" RIGHT?? OR am I confusing one artist for another?
May 04 2010 at 9:54 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply
Flick
You are correct to the best of my knowledge. The two songs I remember from her were "Those Were The Days" and "Goodbye" which I believe was written by McCartney. I didn't know about James Taylor being the first artist signed to Apple......after all these years........ Thank you!
May 05 2010 at 3:02 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply
Brian Jones
Helena I'm sure that with your nose stuck in the stratosphere, sipping pious insight, even you can understand the difference between worship and revere.
May 04 2010 at 2:56 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply
ManicD
1 reply to ManicD's comment
Flick, Thanks for the tip, statement,reply and it's over. I love the concept. The web master can talk to my ex-wife ANYTIME HE LIKES. She seems to see things differently.ANYWAY, Phil Specter was a TRAIN WRECK. Most of the people who worked with him were afraid of him. As it turned out, they had ample reason. He was a perfect example of a well running dry. If in deed it ever held water at all. Take his "wall of sound", different things to different people. His music was mainly heard on a 45rpm format, therefore it was listened to in monophonic as opposed to Stereo. To my way of thinking one would need stereo to define a "wall of Sound". In Mono, every recording comes at the listener as a "wall of sound." Maybe I'm crazy, but I've not only worked with sound but I've worked in a recording studio, so I think I have a pretty good grasp of the subject. Maybe not. About Brian Epstein (sp?) you're right on every point but one. They were in desperate need of a manager. I have it from people who were fairly close, that money was flying out the window (figuratively of course)over at Apple. Which is why they hired Alan Kline or Cline, anyway, the fact that everyone but Paul,wanted Cline(sp?) was a MAJOR bone of contention and was given as PART of the reason for the bands break-up. Paul wanted Lindas Father and Brother who were Attorneys. She was NOT as rumor had it, part of the "Eastman Kodak" Family. But as most bands before and after, they were terrible businessmen and needed management desperately. As for the rest? I bow to the superior mind and would only argue with things that are purely a matter of taste. Let me end by stating that I thoroughly enjoy reading your posts and only request that you forgive any mispelled ;-) words in mine. I'm hoping to improve.Oh, one more thing, I'm really glad that you agree about the, Rubber Soul thru Sgt Pepper run. It's my contention that Revolver and esp. Sgt Pepper would have been very different albums, if made at all without George Martin.
May 04 2010 at 12:31 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply
Flick
Manic, thank you again for the kudos. Your point is well taken about them needing a manager because of the way money was flowing out of Apple. Hangers on and con artists like Magic Alex all wanted a piece of the Beatle pie and I once read at one time they were six months away from going bankrupt. When I said they didn't need a manager by mid 1964 I was thinking in terms of bookings and promotion. I've no doubt if Brian had lived Apple might have succeeded with their original intention of giving young artists a less hassled way of breaking into the business. To my knowledge I think the only case where that happened was with Mary Hopkins and after a hit or two she also faded from the scene. So yes, I agree, they needed a manager and Kline was a shark in the water waiting to devour wounded prey and by 1968 the Beatles were wounded. Perhaps in another forum where we could talk in detail I might have made myself clearer and I apologize for any misunderstanding. Thank you for putting the rest of the pieces together.
May 04 2010 at 5:04 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply
ManicD
GUNSMOKE, you HAVE TO CHECK the boxes at the bottom of the comments space, below where it says "Add Comment" so you'll know I've answered you without having to hunt. Anyway, if you were on the scooter, I doubt you "passed me by". YOU STOPPED...AND SO DID I.;-). I went to St. Marks and then to St.Johns Prep and ultimately to Sheepshead HS. I lived on E.23St. Bet. Voorhies and Jerome. One of my best friends was the Supt. of the little Apt. Bld. on 15th st. behind the old 61 pct. I'm sure I could bring up some of the more notorious names who regularly spent the night as guests of the 61. Do you remember a kid they called Clepto? Oh by the way, tell your wife to go on a cite called www.Brooklyn Cigars.com and it will direct her to the OTHER SBHS site with certain yearbooks among other things. Were you at the 61 when it was on 15th st.? I've got soooo many memories of Sheepshead Bay, its hard to pin one down without it leading to another. Yes!! I remember the` Submarine Races! When I would be in a car with ANY grown up and we'd pass Plum Beach at night, EVERY parking space would be full. Of course it seemed strange that ALL THESE PEOPLE would go to the beach at night, so I would ask, why? Inevitably the answer would come back, "their here to watch the Submarine Races." At first, that was ok by me, made sense.....water, submarines, cars parked. So until I got smart enough to figure out #1 submarines don't race #2 if they did, how do you know who wins. And #3 WHO GIVES A SH!# who has the fastest submarine. I HAD ALREADY FIGURED WHAT THOSE PEOPLE WERE DOING, AND THE QUESTION THEN BECAME "WHY DON'T THEY GET A ROOM?" And THAT'S one I still can't answer. Oh yeah! What was the first name of the guy with the yellow GTO? My older brother had a friend who owned one. Who knows, maybe its the same guy? My Grandfather opened the first Service Station in the Bay. It was on Ocean Ave. just south of Ave.U., behind the Post Office. YOU HAVE TO REMEMBER THAT PLACE. We sold it in the mid 1980's. To the people who had been leasing it from us for years. Two brothers and their sons, I think. I'm not sure, my Uncle and his Attorneys handled it. I'll close before I think of anything else.
May 03 2010 at 4:01 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply
ManicD
1 reply to ManicD's comment
FLICK.....there is no reply tab below your post, so I can only hope you see my reply
I CAN'T ARGUE WITH ANY OF IT. IT SEEMS YOU HAVE PERFECT INSIGHT TO THIS BAND, AND YES, ABBY ROAD WAS PERHAPS ONE OF THEIR BEST.I'm glad you mentioned George Martin, he was a Producers, Producer. I doubt some of those albums (Revolver AND Sgt. Pepper) would have ever seen the light of day without his genius. An example of Beatles music without him can be heard on the White Album. There are some tracks where he WAS allowed input AND some where he wasn't. Some people think it (white album) is a great one. I think for the most part it stinks. That may seem harsh, but I am a musician AND a former recording engineer and I sometimes listen alittle too closely. Can't help it, its the way I was trained.
(some history) I remember going to see "Let it Be" the week it was released in 1971 (I think) the Cinema was packed SRO. The movie closed with the song "Let it Be". Curtain closes and the lights came up, I'm hearing what seemed like a strange sound behind me, then to the sides and finally the front, slowly I get whats happening, the WHOLE PLACE is IN TEARS...MEN AND WOMEN ALIKE. Did the Beatles have a stupendous effect on MY GENERATION???? YOU BET THEY DID. AS I SAID IN ANOTHER POST,"THERE WAS NOTHING BEFORE OR AFTER TO COMPARE IT TO..............NOTHING.
Flick
Manic, The reason there was no reply tab to my last post was because what I wrote was a reply to your comment. Like the Beatle fans you were with I too probably would have been moved seeing the Let It Be film in the theater. Looking back on it these many years later, it's a good album, but personally I don't rate it as a great album. Besides what I said about them searching for their roots starting with Let It Be and then finding their roots with Abbey Road, the reason I mentioned George Martin when I spoke of Abbey Road is because Let It Be (if my memory serves me correctly) was produced by Phil Spector. You would think someone with Spector's experience would have known the Beatles did not need his "wall of sound," and when he tried to produce the Beatles the way he produced the Ronnettes it worked only marginally, and then only because it was the Beatles, not Phil Spector. I haven't seen very much written which supports my opinion but I doubt very much the Beatles were happy with the way "The Long and Winding Road" sounded. In judging older songs I try to keep in mind what was going on at the time because it wouldn't be fair to judge 1970 music by 2010 standards and as they say, hindsight is always 20/20. There seems to have been a move towards heavy orchestration in the late 60s and early 70s so even though I don't like the way "Long and Winding Road" sounded I am more forgiving than I used to be because it was a popular trend at the time. Would anyone have guessed, listening to S & G's "Scarborough Fair" that within 3 years or so they would produce a full orchestrated song like "Bridge Over Troubled Waters?" I know I didn't see it coming so even though I feel Long and Winding Road was overproduced, it was the state of the business at the time. I see your point about the White album and I think it would have been a more cohesive record had some of the songs been left off. "Honey Pie" was just another rendition of "When I'm 64" and Revolution Nine should have been on one of Lennon's solo albums he did with Yoko at the time. Even though I may not enjoy some of the songs on the White album as much as I enjoy other albums I consider it a showcase which gives us an insight to the many styles of music the Beatles could perform. The same record which has "Helter Skelter" on it ends with the ballad "Good Night" and it makes the whole concept seem to lack connectivity. The white Album can almost be considered something like an audition tape where the Beatles wanted to exhibit their many styles. In my opinion I think that was due to the fact they were probably at their lowest point with each other personally and each member wanted to do what he wanted and continuity be damned. I also believe that is why musically, Let It Be and Abbey Road are much more "tight" as a concept.... as I stated earlier, they were trying to get back to their roots. In my view Let It Be opened the door but there was still too much personal animosity for it to be a truly great album. Fortunately for us, they came together one last time for Abbey Road and the results speaks for itself. If you didn't know it was the Beatles, would you guess just by the music that Abbey Road was written and performed by the same people who wrote and performed the White Album and Let It Be? I doubt I would have made the connection. As you said, the wells eventually run dry and it's humanly impossible for every album to be a Rubber Soul, Revolver, or Sgt Pepper. What I neglected to mention in my last post was the reason Brian Epstein was so important was not because the Beatles needed a manager. Let's face it, by mid 1964 they didn't need his managerial skills. What Brian did was keep them on track through common sense, his friendship, and the fact all four Beatles liked and trusted him. He often found a way for the band to put differences aside and concentrate on the music. That is why, in my opinion, all albums after Sgt Pepper lost their cohesiveness and (again, in my opinion) the only thing holding them together concept wise was George Martin. The Beatles needed someone stable and grounded to help keep them on course. Sudden worldwide fame and fan adulation was a radical change of lifestyle from the days of their youth and it's almost impossible to handle well without someone on the outside guiding them. (a good example of a band who couldn't handle their fame was Guns n Roses. They had the world in the palm of their hand in the late 1980s but the fame and fortune went to their head, or more accurately, up their nose) When the Beatles consisted of the four band members, Brian Epstein, and George Martin, they made groundbreaking music peaking with Sgt Pepper. But as John said, once Brian died it was the beginning of the end and the discussion you and I have had concerning the later albums would never apply to any of the
May 04 2010 at 5:10 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply
THEBEATLESWEREABRILLIANTCOOLROCKBAND!
Joe,
Apollo didn't say anything ignorant about The Beatles great music talent though,the real true worst idiot on here is DURAL!
THEBEATLESWEREABRILLIANTCOOLROCKBAND!
I forgot to include the great Beatles rockers such as Paul's 1963 I Saw Her Standing There,his great rocker Oh Darling on Abbey Road,and John's great Hey Bull Dog and hard rocking the single,Revolution.
May 02 2010 at 5:21 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply
THEBEATLESWEREABRILLIANTCOOLROCKBAND!
JeanieQ thankfully you are definitely in the minority in the world!
May 02 2010 at 5:02 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply
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