Bob Dylan's Blowin' in the Wind lyrics set for $500,000 sale

A set of Bob Dylan's draft lyrics to hit record Blowin' in the Wind is offered with a valuation of $300,000-500,000 at Sotheby's.

The lot is among the star turns of the From Folk to Fury auction in New York on December 10.

Bob Dylan Blowin
Bob Dylan's Blowin' in the Wind was an instant hit

The track dates to April 1962.

It was first performed live by Dylan's friend Gil Turner. The lyrics and chord structure were published in Pete Seeger's Broadside magazine in May.  

It quickly became something of an anthem in New York and a staple in the sets of local folk singers.

Apparently it became so ubiquitous that street performers wrote their own parody versions (including Blowin' Out Your End).

Dylan was also not the first to record the song. It was first released by Peter, Paul and Mary and was enormously successful - selling over 300,000 copies in a single week.

A letter from Dylan scholar Clinton Heylin accompanies the lot.

He explains: "There are four manuscript versions known to exist: a fragment dated April 12, 1962; a version that appears to be a 'final working draft' on Taft Hotel stationary from late April/ early May 1962, a fair copy given to 'Sis Cunningham around May 1962, reproduced in The Bob Dylan Scrapbook, and this three verse version of the song which also appears to be an original period manuscript in the hand of Bob Dylan."

While Blowin' in the Wind is one of Dylan's biggest hits, the star has long been ambivalent about it - describing it as: "just another song I wrote".

A working draft of the lyrics to Dylan's Like a Rolling Stone realised a record $2m at Sotheby's in 2014.

The piano John Lennon used to write many of the songs for the Sgt Pepper album is also offered in the sale.

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