NEW YORK — A Bob Dylan manuscript for “Blowin’ in the Wind” got quite the lift at a Sotheby’s auction Saturday.
The manuscript sold for $324,500, among other memorabilia from the Beatles, the Eagles and others.
“Blowin’ in the Wind” is considered one of the greatest protest songs in history and the singular work that launched Dylan’s songwriting career, according to the Sotheby’s listing.
Singer Gil Turner was the first to actually perform the song, not Dylan. Thus, it is considered Dylan’s debut as a songwriter, not just performer.
The manuscript was in a collection held by Eve McKenzie, whom Dylan lived with for most of 1961.
A noted Dylan scholar told Sotheby’s this manuscript, with three verses, seems to be an original period manuscript written by Dylan.
The verses on the manuscript are in the order in which they were adopted in performances from 1962 on, according to the listing. Dylan also writes out the grammatically correct “blowing” in the chorus instead of “blowin’” as he writes at the top of the page in the title.
Dylan’s next single after “Blowin’ in the Wind” was “The Times They are a Changing.”
