Ballad of a Thin Man | 1965, original working manuscript lyrics, signed
Bob Dylan | “Ballad of a Thin Man”, original working manuscript, signed, 1965
Original autograph working manuscript for “Ballad of a Thin Man”, signed “Bob Dylan” and dating from the recording sessions for Highway 61 Revisited, one of the defining albums of the twentieth century. Summer 1965.
An exceptional surviving document from Dylan’s most transformative creative period: the signed working manuscript of “Ballad of a Thin Man”, substantially in the form in which it was recorded, and directly associated with the 1965 Columbia Studio A sessions for Highway 61 Revisited.
One page in pencil, 271 x 216 mm, comprising eight stanzas substantially as recorded and released, with Dylan’s emendations and the choruses abbreviated “[cho]”. Signed “Bob Dylan”. Light discoloration and graphite smudging, repaired at the central vertical fold, with minor chipping and tears to the edges and several small internal burn marks, none affecting the text.
The manuscript was catalogued by Sotheby’s in 2014 as having been “for use in the recording studio during the Highway 61 Revisited album sessions”. Unlike heavily worked early drafts that document the gradual composition of a song, the present manuscript is remarkably close to the finished recording and appears to have functioned as a practical working text as Dylan and his newly assembled electric band committed the song to tape.
The Highway 61 Revisited sessions took place at Columbia Records Studio A in Manhattan during June, July and August 1965. They belong to one of the most extraordinary periods of Dylan’s career, immediately following his transformation from the leading figure of the folk revival into an electric songwriter whose work was redefining the possibilities of popular music.
“Ballad of a Thin Man” was recorded during the later sessions. The studio history is strikingly economical: one false start, one complete run-through and a final take. The surviving manuscript is almost exactly as recorded, but retains small revisions and abbreviates each repeated chorus, giving it the appearance of a rapidly prepared mnemonic sheet intended for practical use in the studio.
Sotheby’s observed that the manuscript’s immediacy, minimal corrections and closeness to the recorded text suggest Dylan had rapidly written down the lyrics, made a handful of adjustments and then taken the song to the piano. With musicians encountering much of this material for the first time, a working lyric sheet of this nature would have provided an essential reference during recording.
Guitarist Mike Bloomfield later remembered the remarkable atmosphere of these sessions: “No one knew what the music was supposed to sound like, other than Bob.” Dylan alone arrived with the chords, words and melody firmly in mind.
The resulting song became one of the most enduring works on Highway 61 Revisited. “Mr. Jones”, bewildered by a world changing around him and unable to understand what he sees, became one of Dylan’s great archetypes. The refrain, “Something is happening here, but you don’t know what it is”, entered popular language far beyond the song itself.
The manuscript is particularly significant because it belongs to the same extraordinary creative period that produced “Like a Rolling Stone”, “Desolation Row”, “Queen Jane Approximately” and the other songs of Highway 61 Revisited. The album marked Dylan’s decisive embrace of amplified rock music while retaining the literary ambition, surrealism and verbal complexity that had distinguished his earlier writing.
Original working manuscripts for Dylan’s major songs occupy the highest level of popular music collecting. In June 2014, Dylan’s four-page working manuscript for “Like a Rolling Stone” sold at Sotheby’s for $2.045 million, establishing what was then a world auction record for a popular music manuscript. In January 2025, three progressive drafts of “Mr. Tambourine Man”, preserved on two typewritten sheets with Dylan’s annotations, sold for $508,000.
The present manuscript has distinguished and fully documented auction provenance. It was offered at Sotheby’s, New York, on 2 December 2014 as lot 85, where it was described as an autograph manuscript signed by Dylan and likely used during the Highway 61 Revisited recording sessions. Sotheby’s recorded its provenance as Kevin Crown, followed by a private collection.
It is additionally accompanied by a certificate from James Spence Authentication, providing independent authentication of Dylan’s autograph and signature.
Provenance:
Kevin Crown;
Private collection;
Sotheby’s, New York, 2 December 2014, lot 85;
Private collection.
