Hey Jude lyrics up for auction

LONDON, UK (Radio 1) - The hand-written lyrics to Hey Jude, bought for a few pounds in 1971, are set to fetch �80,000 at a London auction on 30 April.

Sir Paul McCartney's original lyrics to the Beatles song - a number one hit in the UK and USA in 1968 - were found by a fan in London's Portobello market 31 years ago. The buyer has kept then in a drawer for the last three decades, only taking them out occasionally to show friends. Two of the hand-written lines differ from the final version of the song, and the last few lines are missing.

Another early version of the song's lyrics, jotted in a notebook kept by Beatles aide Mal Evans, fetched �110,000 at a Sotheby's auction.
The single, released on the Beatles' own record label Apple with John Lennon's song Revolution on the B-side, was their best selling single worldwide.
Like many Beatles compositions, Hey Jude was written entirely by one of the famous Lennon-McCartney songwriting team. Sir Paul said he wrote the song for Julian Lennon, Lennon's son by his then wife Cynthia.

McCartney has said since: "John and Cynthia were splitting up and I felt particularly sorry for Julian. I thought as a friend of the family I would motor out to Weybridge and tell them that everything was all right - to try to cheer them up. I had about an hour's drive. I would always turn the radio off and try and make up songs.
I started singing 'Hey Jools - don't make it bad, take a sad song and make it better. It was optimistic, a hopeful message for Julian."

Lennon later said it was his favourite of McCartney's compositions.