Bob Dylan's handwritten lyrics of an unpublished 1961 song about Wisconsin will hit the auction block.
Bob Dylan‘s handwritten lyrics of an unpublished 1961 song about Wisconsin will hit the auction block on March 30th.
Nate D. Sanders Auctions will conduct the auction, with the opening bid set at $30,000. According to the auction house, Dylan penned the lyrics in November 1961, months after he moved to New York City and signed with Columbia Records. Dylan gave the lyric sheet to musician and one-time roommate Peter Crago.
Prior to moving to New York, Dylan had spent time (unsuccessfully) working the folk scene in Madison, Wisconsin in 1960 after dropping out of the University of Minnesota. Dylan also spent his summers as a youth at a Wisconsin’s Camp Herzl.
Although the lyrics don’t exactly hint at Dylan’s future Nobel Laureate greatness – “I’ll tune my banjo than the hills / And feast on milk and cream / And stamp my foot all thru the grass / And never know a care” – they are a heartfelt ode to the Badger State.
The winning bid will also receive a certificate of authenticity. It’s unlikely that the “Wisconsin” ode will approach the $2 million Dylan’s handwritten draft for “Like a Rolling Stone” netted at auction in 2014.