NEW YORK (December 4, 2006) — Paul McCartney’s lyrics. Jimi Hendrix’s guitar. A John Lennon interview. Memorabilia from some of the most influential musicians of the 20th century hit the auction block Monday.
McCartney’s original handwritten working lyrics for the 1968 Beatles song “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer” went for $192,000 at Christie’s sale of rock and pop memorabilia. The pre-sale estimate had been $200,000 to $300,000.
Hendrix’s guitar, a 1968 Fender Stratocaster with a sunburst finish that was modified to accommodate his left-handed use, sold for a staggering $168,000, well above its pre-sale estimate of $80,000 to $120,000.
The guitar has been kept at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland since the museum’s opening in 1996.
A notebook belonging to Neville Garrick, former art director to Bob Marley and the Wailers, containing lyrics in Marley’s hand, fetched $72,000, far beyond its estimated $20,000 to $30,000.
Jim Morrison’s circa 1970 handwritten poem “The American Night” had an estimate of up to $12,000 but sold for $50,400.
A previously unheard and undocumented recording of an interview with John Lennon sold for $38,400, in line with its pre-sale estimate. In the wide-ranging interview, used for a 1974 article in Crawdaddy magazine, Lennon talks about his songwriting process and the possibility of a Beatles reunion.
Another Lennon lot was a signed lithograph inscribed with the controversial song lyric “Woman is the Nigger of the World.” It sold for $12,000.
All sale prices include a buyer’s premium. The auction house didn’t reveal the identities of the winning bidders.
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