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All Things Considered

Clay Masters and Brent Jabbour

September 23, 2026 5:12 PM

Handwritten Bob Dylan lyrics from 'Blood on the Tracks' hit auction block

Bob Dylan — FILE: Musician Bob Dylan belts out a tune as members of The Band, Robbie Robertson, partially hidden left, and Garth Hudson, background center, accompany him, during a concert at the Forum in Los Angeles on Feb. 15, 1974.
Jeff Robbins | AP File

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More than 50 years after the release of Bob Dylan’s “Blood on the Tracks,” a document featuring hand-written working lyrics for two songs went up for auction.

In 1974, Ellen Ziffren, then a 24-year-old, spent time at Dylan’s Minnesota farm as he worked on the seminal album. She also was present as he recorded “Blood on the Tracks” in New York.

“I was cleaning things out, and I opened this box, and in that box was this folder, and in that folder were a number of things that I had kept from 1974 pertaining to the time that I spent being involved with ‘Blood on the Tracks,’” Ziffren said on MPR’s All things Considered.

Two sheets of scratch paper with lyrics written on them. — Handwritten lyrics for “You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go” and “Idiot Wind.” The working Bob Dylan lyrics were put up for auction by Ellen Ziffren at RR Auctions.
Courtesy of RR Auctions

The lyrics sheet features the songs “You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go” and “Idiot Wind.” The lot also includes drawings from Dylan done during studio downtime.

“There was one very funny little drawing that he and I did together, and that's in the auction,” Ziffren said. “And then he drew me, which I was not aware of him doing when I was drying my hair one day, and he did a little drawing of me. And then wrote a two-line thing called ‘Blues in E for Ellen,’ and it was just two silly lines.”

A sheet of notepad paper with a drawing of a woman with a man sitting in front of her. — A drawing by Bob Dylan of Ellen Ziffren during the recording of “Blood on the Tracks.” The drawing was put up for auction by Ziffren at RR Auctions.
Courtesy of RR Auctions

The auction closes Thursday and is already at more than $200,000.

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