A handwritten note by Paul McCartney that includes a two-line quotation from a Beatles song has fetched 1,350 pounds ($2,100) at auction.
McCartney quoted the opening lines of “Penny Lane,” the song he penned about a street in his hometown of Liverpool, in a note to an old family friend.
Richard Westwood-Brookes of Swindon’s Dominic Winter Book Auctions said Saturday that such quotations are “extremely rare.” The note was sold Friday.
The song begins: “In Penny Lane there’s a barber showing photographs of every head he has had the pleasure to know, and all the people that come and go, stop and say hello.”
The song was released as a double-A side in 1967 with “Strawberry Fields Forever,” which was also reminiscent of the band’s Liverpool childhood.
Both Strawberry Field and Penny Lane exist in Liverpool and street signs have been repainted, bolted down or moved higher over the years to keep them from being stolen by fans.
The bank and fire station mentioned in the song are still on the street and the barber shop is now a unisex hair salon – with a photograph of the Beatles in the window.
