DC Hotel Plays Role in Rock 'n Roll History

A Washington, D.C. hotel is playing a role in rock 'n roll history Tuesday. Sotheby's auctioned a working draft of Bob Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone" for $2.045 million to an unidentified fan from California.

The lyrics were written on hotel stationery at the Roger Smith Hotel at 18th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue, not far from the White House, in Washington, D.C. Dylan recorded the song in 1965.

Here's a description from Sotheby's: ORIGINAL WORKING AUTOGRAPH MANUSCRIPT OF “LIKE A ROLLING STONE”  - THE FINAL DRAFT LYRICS AS RECORDED [JUNE, 1965]. 4 pages in pencil on Hotel Roger Smith Washington letterhead stationery, (9 1/2 x 6 ins.;  240 x 150 mm.), comprising 4 long stanzas and the repeated chorus of the song as recorded and released, with edits, corrections and marginal notes of song references, reminders and personal appointments. [Likely June 15 and 16, 1965]

The auction house had estimated it would sell for between $1 million to $2 million.

The auctioning of Dylan's notes was part of Sotheby's "Rock & Roll History: Presley to Punk" auction on Tuesday.