POP/ROCK - Aug. 28, 1992

High-Priced Beatlemania: Handwritten lyrics of the Beatles’ most popular songs sold for tens of thousands of dollars Thursday at an auction that put the British band on a par with some of the world’s great classical composers. A thin sheet of paper bearing the late John Lennon’s words to his 1967 song “A Day in the Life” went for $87,500, double its estimated price, leaving a packed auction room gasping. The lyrics were bought by an anonymous telephone bidder, as were words penned by Paul McCartney to “She’s Leaving Home,” which sold for $81,500. The money for the McCartney song will go to a children’s charity in the Beatles’ hometown of Liverpool. Sotheby’s in London said the prices rivaled those fetched for a Schubert song manuscript and a leaf of a Wagner manuscript that sold for $83,000 in May.