Handwritten John Lennon lyrics to be sold at auction

For the right price, some lucky Beatlemaniac will be able to own the lyrics to the final song on the Beatles album "Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band."

John Lennon's handwritten lyrics to the Beatles classic "A Day in the Life" are being auctioned in June, Sotheby's announced today. The double-sided sheet of paper features Lennon's edits and corrections in his own hand — in black felt marker and blue ball point pen, with a few annotations in red ink.

It is expected to fetch between $500,000 (£330,000) and $700,000 (£460,000) when it is sold in New York on 18 June.

Rolling Stone magazine listed "A Day in the Life" at No. 26 in its compilation of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time and "Sgt Pepper" won four Grammy awards in 1968.

The lyrics stirred controversy when the Beatles released the album in 1967. The song was banned by the BBC because it twice features the line, "I'd love to turn you on," which was interpreted as supporting illegal drug use. The song was also left off copies of "Sgt Pepper's" sold in several Asian countries for the same reason.

The album's "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" was alleged to have glorified the use of the hallucinogenic LSD, a claim that band members denied.

In addition, "A Day in the Life" features the lyric "he blew his mind out in a car," which Beatles aficionados claim is a reference to the accidental death of Tara Browne, the Guinness heir and close friend of both Lennon and Paul McCartney