An anonymous bid of $197,000 on Thursday at an auction was enough to win handwritten lyrics of "Born to Run" done by Bruce Springsteen.
The handwritten lyrics were auctioned at Sotheby's in New York as a part of its "Fine Books and Manuscripts including Americana" auction, CNN reports. The starting bid for the manuscript was $40,000.
Sotheby's had estimated that the 30 lines and marginal notations written by the Boss would sell for between $70,000 and $100,000. Some of the lyrics that appear on the sheet were not included in the final version, but the chorus was "nearly perfected."
The song was never a No. 1 hit, only ever reaching the 23 spot on the Billboard Hot 100, but was chosen by Rolling Stone as the No. 21 all-time greatest song.
"One day I was playing my guitar on the edge of the bed, working on some song ideas, and the words 'born to run' came to me," a statement Springsteen wrote that was issued by Sotheby's. "At first I thought it was the name of a movie or something I'd seen on a car spinning around the circuit. I liked the phrase because it suggested a cinematic drama that I thought would work with the music that I'd been hearing in my head."
In November, it was announced that Springsteen would be releasing a new album in 2014. The album has been titled, High Hopes and will be out in stores Jan. 14.
Several members of the E Street Band will feature on the album, along with Tom Morello, who worked with the singer for Wrecking Ball. The album will also feature previously unreleased songs that Springsteen did with the late Danny Federici and Clarence Clemons.
image: Wikimedia Commons
