John Lennon’s handwritten lyrics for A Day In The Life sell for $1.2m

John Lennon handwritten lyrics for The Beatles’ song ‘A Day In The Life’ have sold at auction for $1.2 million.

The lyrics sold to an unidentified telephone bidder at Sotheby’s in New York, and exceeded the pre-sale estimate of $500,000-800,000. The sheet once belonged to The Beatles’ assistant Mal Evans.

The single sheet of paper contains Lennon’s rough draft of the final song on 1967’s Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, including various revisions, written with a felt marker and ball point pen.

On the other side the lyrics are written again more neatly and with fewer corrections, along with the line “+ I love to turn you on”, seemingly added at a later date.

The highest amount ever paid for Beatles lyrics at auction was $1.25 million for ‘All You Need Is Love’, which was sold in 2005 at Cooper Owen in England.