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Lennon Lyrics Fetch A Fortune

added 11 July 2008 at 11.40

The handwritten lyrics from the famous 'Give Peace A Chance' singalong make an impressive £400k at auction.

The handwritten lyrics for John Lennon’s ‘Give Peace A Chance’ have fetched an impressive £421,725 at auction. The Beatley scrawls were jotted down in June 1969 during Lennon’s original “Bed-In” protest at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal and were to be used as a crib sheet for the mass singalong that would produce the star’s new single. However, the ex-Beatle gave the piece of cardboard to 16-year-old Gail Renard, and asked her to re-write the lyrics on a bigger sheet so everyone in the room could see them.

Having blagged her way into Lennon’s hotel room by asking for an interview for her school newspaper, writer Gail then held onto the sheet for nearly 40 years, but thought that they wouldn’t do particularly well in the rock auction. "Never in a million years did I think the lyrics would be this valuable," she told the Montreal Gazette. "I'm in total shock. It's good shock - I recommend it.”

Also in the sale in London yesterday (July 10) was the original drum skin from the cover of the ‘Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’ album cover, which fetched a cool £541,250.

Tagged as John Lennon, The Beatles, Solo

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