Bob Dylan’s draft lyrics for Mr Tambourine Man sell for £400k

Bob Dylan’s draft lyrics for his 1965 song Mr Tambourine Man have sold at auction for $508,000 (£417,471) in the US.

The lyrics on two yellow sheets of paper are three typewritten drafts of the song – but not the final version. The work in progress also features the folk-rock legend’s notes by hand in the margin.

The song is one of Dylan’s most famous hits and the draft pages were among 60 items belonging to the singer that went under the hammer in the city of Nashville.

A 1968 oil painting created and signed by Dylan, and a 1983 Fender Telecaster electric guitar owned and played by him, were also on sale.

The third draft seen on the paper is close to the final version of the song, although it still has significant variations from the final lyrics, according to Julien’s Auctions where the sale took place.

Also included in the sale is music journalist Al Aronowitz’s first-hand account of Dylan writing the song in Aronowitz’s home believed to be in March 1964.

Aronowitz said Dylan had spent the night writing and rewriting the song on the journalist’s typewriter.

In an article titled Bob Dylan: The Champ Has No Contenders, Aronowitz wrote that he “found a waste basket full of crumpled false starts” and what turned out to be the drafts of Mr Tambourine Man.

“I took the crumpled sheets, smoothed them out, read the crazy leaping lines, smiled to myself at the leaps that never landed and then put the sheets into a file folder,” he added.

One month after Dylan released Mr Tambourine Man, the Byrds’ version came out. The band’s debut single reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and number one in the UK making it the first Dylan composition to reach number one in both the US and the UK.

Several sketches by Dylan far exceeded their estimated price tags, with one that was expected to sell for between $1,500 (£1,233) and $2,500 (£2,054) going for $88,900 (£73,057).

A Levi’s denim jacket worn by Dylan in the 1987 musical drama film Hearts of Fire also sold for $25,400 (£20,874).

Nearly $1.5m was made in sales from the collection, the auction house said.

A biopic following Dylan’s rise to fame, called A Complete Unknown and featuring Timothee Chalamet as the singer, was released in December 2024 in the US.