Beat writer Alexander Trocchi was wise to the easy money to be made from selling handwritten drafts of famous works of literature. When short of cash for his drug habit, Trocchi would write out in longhand one of his novels (Young Adam, White Thighs, whichever) and sell it on to some collector as the one and only original handwritten manuscript. It kept him from finding a job or worse, from writing something new. Across London and Paris there’s probably dozens of these supposed “originals” cobbled together by Trocchi in his moment of need.
If Trocchi had lived and tried the same today, he would probably have been found out for his ruse as the market for original handwritten drafts to books, poetry and pop songs is now a mega business.
Last year, Bob Dylan’s handwritten lyrics for “Like A Rolling Stone” was sold at auction for $2 million. In 2005, John Lennon’s pen-drafted words for “All You Need is Love” made $1.25 million at auction, while in April 2015, Don Maclean’s handwritten lyric sheet for “American Pie” sold for $1,205,000.
Handwritten pop lyrics are as valuable as works of art—in fact they are works of art—as in this digital age where everything is written by keyboard, the value of such pen-scrawled texts on legal pad or hotel note paper only increase in value year on year. Though the top ten most expensive lyric sheets are about 2/3 the work of John Lennon (4) and Bob Dylan (2), there are plenty of other musicians out there who are finding their first drafts to popular songs offer them or their inheritors a comfortable pension.
David Bowie’s handwritten lyrics for ‘Jean Genie’ made $29,063 at auction.
Bowie: Lyric detail for ‘Jean Genie.’
Ziggy jams with a ballpoint pen: David Bowie’s handwritten lyrics for ‘Ziggy Stardust.’
One of Nick Cave’s many notebooks with original lyrics for ‘No Pussy Blues.’
Cave’s typed lyrics for ‘Push the Sky Away.’
No notebook or typewriter for Joey Ramone—the lyrics for ‘Disassembled’ were written on an old Alka Seltzer box.
One of the pages of lyrics for Tom Waits’ ‘Blue Valentine.’
A rare Marc Bolan lyric for ‘Funky London Childhood’ sold at auction for a mere $897.93 in 2013.
Kate Bush wrote these lyrics out for a fan request—they were later sold by said fan for over $10,000.
Bob Dylan’s original lyric sheet for ‘The Times They Are a-Changin’’ sold at Sotheby’s in December 2010 for $422,500.
Detail of Dylan’s lyrics.
Paul McCartney’s lyrics for ‘Maxwell’s Silver Hammer’ made $192,000 at auction.
Del Shannon’s beautiful handwriting for ‘Runaway.’
Ian Curtis’ early draft for ‘Transmission.’
Kurt Cobain’s ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit.’
Detail of Cobain’s handwriting.
Smudged lyrics for The Doors’ ‘LA Woman’ by Jim Morrison.
Joan Jett’s lyric for ‘Bad Reputation.’
Joan Jett detail lyric.
Bruce Springsteen ‘Born to Run.’
John Lennon’s hand written lyrics for ‘A Day in the Life’ sold for $1.2m in 2010.
H/T Noisey, Rock Hall Library, Groovy Rick, Iconic Auctions, Sotheby’s, Nick Cave, Guardian.