John Lennon’s hand written lyrics to the Revolver track ‘I’m Only Sleeping’ are set to be auctioned in London next month, where they’re expected to fetch almost $600,000. The lyrics, which are afirst draft of the song, were scrawled by the Beatle on the reverse of a letter of demand seeking an overdue payment for his radiophone, an early version of a car phone. The lyrics date from April 1966, just before the band went in to the studio to record Revolver.
The letter, from the General Post Office, demands immediate payment from Lennon. “Will you please pay it in the next seven days. Unless it is paid by then we shall have no alternative but to revoke your licence and to institute legal proceedings to recover the debt.” Lennon’s handwritten lyrics for the Sergeant Pepper track ‘A Day In The Life’ sold last year at auction for $1.3 million.
A spokesman for Bonhams suction house says of the latest sale: “The lyrics were scrawled on the back of a bit of paper that he had to hand … He must have had a melody in his head and began writing words, then crossing them out if they didn’t rhyme or scan. You can see the creative process at work and the ideas that are coming to him as he writes it. It is not the final version but the first draft.”
