Saturday, June 19, 2010

I Read the News Today, Oh Boy: Some Fool Paid $1.2 Million for a John Lennon Lyric Sheet!


Actually, this auction item is very cool (pic on left): John Lennon’s handwritten lyrics for one of his most memorable songs, “A Day in the Life” (the final song from The Beatles’ masterpiece album, “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band”; and Paul McCartney contributed the song’s middle eight as well). But $1.2 million? Even the folks at NYC’s Sotheby’s auction house must be shocked, since the pre-sale estimate of the lyric sheet’s value was $500,000 to $800,000.

Likely adding to the lyric sheet’s value, the sheet includes some of Lennon’s edits to the lyrics of the song. Those lyrics include the famous reference to a man who “blew his mind out in a car.” That lyric played a central role in the infamous Paul-McCartney-Is-Dead rumors (along with that ominous hand over Paul’s head on the Sgt. Pepper album cover -- see above). A perusal of this lyric sheet, however, seems to shed no new light on that particular lyric or on the question of whether or not Paul is, in fact, dead.

However, judging from Paul’s recent appearance (or was it an imposter?) at the White House and his rather first-grade-level Bush blasts, I’d say that while Paul does appear to still be alive, and while most of the lights do appear to still be on, I would question whether anyone’s been home for quite some time. But the old man is always good for a new silly love song, right?

http://www.kansascity.com/2010/06/19/2028746/john-lennon-lyrics-fetch-12m-at.html