Bob Dylan's Strat sells for $965k, "Born to Run" Lyric Sheet a steal at $197k

by Wyatt Marshall

Bob Dylan‘s sunburst Fender Stratocaster that he played at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965 just sold at auction for a cool $965,000, the peak of a string of high profile music-related auctions held last week. The guitar was the axe Dylan used the first time he went electric in a live setting, an occasion that may or may not have elicited boos from the crowd in attendance (a 24-year old Dylan said they “certainly booed”). It was also the first time Dylan performed with a backing band. The auction marked the highest price ever paid for a guitar, electric or otherwise. Sorry, Eric Clapton, Blackie only sold for $959,500.

Bruce Springsteen didn’t fare too badly at auction either. His handwritten lyrics for “Born to Run”, which apparently are quite different from the lyrics to the finished song, sold for $197,000 just the day before the Dylan Stratocaster sale. Also for sale that day were some Mick Jagger love letters and a letter from John Lennon. Last time Mick’s love scribbles went up for auction, they sold for over $300,000. Those letters were addressed to Marsha Hunt, Jagger’s former muse/lover who is said to be the inspiration for “Brown Sugar”.

As the New York Daily News put it, “Tramps like us, baby we were born to bid.” SMDH.

Bruce Springsteen recently announced yet another new album.