Bob Dylan auction: how much did Blowin In The Wind record sell for, why was it released, when was song written

A one-off new recording of Bob Dylan’s hit song Blowin’ In The Wind has sold for almost £1.5 million at auction.

The release is the first new studio recording of the song since Dylan wrote it in 1962 and was sold by Christie’s in London on Thursday.

Here is everything you need to know about it.

Why was a new version of the song recorded?

It was made in March 2021 with Dylan’s long-time collaborator T Bone Burnett and featured as part of Christie’s Exceptional Sale during its Classic Week.

Burnett said he hoped the new recording; offered on a new audio medium: Ionic Original, would help “develop a musical space in the fine arts market”.

“I trust and hope it will mean as much to whomever acquired it today at Christie’s Exceptional Sale as it does to all of us who made it, and that they will consider it and care for it as a painting or any other singular work of art,” he said.

2022 marks Dylan’s 60th anniversary as a recording artist and of Blowin’ In The Wind, which was written for his second album The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan.

Peter Klarnet, Christie’s senior specialist in Americana, books and manuscripts, said: “We are so pleased with the excellent result this evening for the ‘Ionic Original’ disc of Bob Dylan’s first new studio recording of ‘Blowin’ in the Wind’ since 1962.

“To work with such an incredibly important and groundbreaking advance in analogue playback technology is a tremendous honour.

“We are excited that this is just the beginning for this amazing new opportunity for recording artists to work with T Bone and NeoFidelity to reset the value of music.”

How much did it sell for?

The sale exceeded the original price estimated by the auction house, which was set at between £600,000 to £1 million.

The record went for a total of £1,482,000.