Early draft of Bob Dylan’s lyrics to ‘Mr. Tambourine Man’ sells at auction for over $500,000

An early draft of Bob Dylan’s lyrics to “Mr. Tambourine Man” sold for $508,000 at the Celebrating Bob Dylan: The Aronowitz Archive, T Bone Burnett & More auction conducted by Julien’s Auctions over the weekend.

The typewritten lyrics came from the archive of the late music journalist Al Aronowitz and were expected to sell for between $400,000 and $600,000.

The auction included 60 Dylan items from the Aronowitz collection and brought in nearly $1.5 million.

Other items that sold during the auction include a signed original 1968 oil canvas painting done by Dylan, which went for $260,000, a Dylan owned and played 1983 Fender Telecaster, which sold for $222,250, and signed handwritten lyrics to “Blowin’ in the Wind,” which sold for $44,450.

“My family and I are thrilled with the auction,” Al’s son Myles Aronowitz shared. “These items were evidence of the unique and intimate place my father had in musical and cultural history with his good friend Bob Dylan, and all the other iconic artists of his day.”