One of the most popular songs of all time, Bob Dylan’s “Like a Rolling Stone,” is going to auction this summer. Sotheby’s is offering a working draft of the finished song, in Dylan’s own hand, for an estimated $1 million to $2 million.
The song is about a debutante who becomes a loner when she’s cast from upper-class social circles.
The draft is written in pencil on four sheets of hotel letterhead stationery with revisions, additions, notes and doodles.
“How does it feel To be on your own” it says in Dylan’s handwriting. “No direction home Like a complete unknown Like a rolling stone.” Scrawls seem to reflect the artist’s experimentation with rhymes.
Dylan was only 24 when he recorded the song in 1965.
The auction is June 24 as part of Sotheby’s rock and pop music sale. Sotheby’s says it is “the only known surviving draft of the final lyrics for this transformative rock anthem.”
