A handwritten working manuscript of Bruce Springsteen's 1975 classic, "Born To Run", sold for $197,000 as part of a Sotheby’s New York auction on Thursday.
CNN reports an anonymous bid won the early draft of Springsteen's song as part of a "Fine Books and Manuscripts including Americana" auction.
The starting bid was $40,000, and Sotheby's had expected the manuscript, which features 30 lines and marginal notations scrawled in blue ink, to fetch between $70,000 and $100,000.
"Although Springsteen is known to have an intensive drafting process,” said Sotheby’s when announcing the event, “Few manuscripts of 'Born to Run' are available, with the present example being one of only two identified that include the most famous lines in the song."
Sotheby's said most of the lines in this 1974 version, written in Long Branch, N.J., are apparently unpublished and unrecorded, but the manuscript does include "a nearly perfected chorus."
While the seller has not been revealed, the auction house said the document used to be in the collection of Springsteen's former manager Mike Appel.
Check out Springsteen’s “Born To Run” manuscript at Sotheby’s here.
“Born To Run” was Springsteen’s third – and breakthrough – release. The project moved Bruce into the music and media mainstream following two critically-acclaimed but poor selling efforts. The album reached No. 3 on the US Billboard 200 album chart, and has sold more than 9 million copies worldwide, including 6 million in the States.
Last week, Springsteen released a lyric video for “High Hopes”, the lead single and title track from his forthcoming album of the same name due January 14.
Directed by Thom Zimny, the video is a collage featuring photos from Danny Clinch, Australian tour footage shot by Chris Hilson and featuring Rage Against The Machine guitarist Tom Morello, vintage documentary footage, text and graphics.
Bruce’s 18th studio album was recorded in New Jersey, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Australia and New York City, with the bulk of the tracks produced by Ron Aniello and Springsteen, some by Brendan O’Brien, and the rest a combination of the three together.
Read more about the new project and check out the new single here.
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