David Bowie’s Lyrics sold at auction for £57,000
LONDON - 2001: (FILE PHOTO) Musician David Bowie appears during a live radio interview with Radio One DJ's Mark and Lard at the Radio One Maida Vale studio on in 2001 in London. Bowie was admitted to hospital yesterday for emergency heart surgery. (Photo by Dave Hogan/Getty Images)
Early 1970s David Bowie albums still rank among the most recognizable examples of glam rock ever created.
Bowie successfully established himself as Ziggy Stardust, but it wasn’t until Aladdin Sane that he truly became one of the most influential musicians in British music history. One of his timeless tunes has recently been placed up for auction, and those early songs form the foundation of British rock and roll.
One of Starman’s biggest fans received the handwritten lyrics to “The Jean Genie” from the 1970s. The original lyrics went for £57,000 at auction, with auctioneer Paul Fairweather saying:
“We’re well pleased with the price achieved for this historic set of lyrics.”
His fan cited being inspired by the recent auction of Bowie’s original lyrics for “Starman,” which sold for £203,500. Meanwhile, the spokesman for “Starman,” which currently resides in MONA, answered the question of why he gave up the material. He claimed that they initially overpaid for Bowie’s lyrics saying:
“We got carried away and paid too much. Along with many other things we went overboard with and overpaid for, it will appear in the larger library we are currently building.”
The lyric sheet provides valuable insight into Bowie’s creative process despite its price. Many editing marks on the page where Bowie was perfecting each phrase in addition to the lyrics that we are familiar with today can be seen there. This material is the closest representation of how Bowie edited his work, despite the fact that, for some, it appears to be just a sheet of paper.
