On This Day in 2006, a Beatles Fan Paid a Pretty Penny for the John Lennon Art Piece That Inspired One of the Fab Four’s Strangest Works

Wrapping up four years of nonstop touring in late 1966, the Beatles were eager to test the boundaries of the recording studio’s role in their music. That led to some of the Fab Four’s wonderfully wackiest works, including the utterly nonsensical “I Am the Walrus” from the 1967 TV film Magical Mystery Tour. On this day (April 2) in 2006, the childhood drawing that later inspired John Lennon to write “I Am the Walrus” fetched a £126,500 price tag at auction.

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The highest bidder paid the equivalent of $239,733 for the 10-page school exercise book, bound in red paper.

That book once belonged to a 12-year-old Lennon, who doodled the walrus from Lewis Carroll’s 1871 poem The Walrus and the Carpenter within its margins.

“He will always be remembered as one of the greatest singers and songwriters of all time,” Louise Cooper, of auctioneers Cooper Owen, told the Guardian in March 2006. “But these sketches and poems paint a new picture of the creativity and passion that was rushing through his veins at such a young age.”

The drawing wasn’t the only piece of Beatles lore available for purchase that day. A ship’s log book written by Lennon during a stormy trip to Bermuda in 1980 went for £12,000, half its highest valuation. Lennon credited the voyage for helping him write Double Fantasy, his 1980 collaborative album with wife Yoko Ono.

Additionally, a letter from Paul McCartney to his bandmates fell short of its £50,000 ($94,742) reserve price.

John Lennon Wanted to Confuse Beatles Fans With This Song

In a 1980 interview with Playboy, John Lennon claimed to have written the song’s first two lines on two separate acid trips.

Leery of superfans scanning every lyric for an academic connotation, the singer-guitarist wanted “I Am the Walrus” to leave listeners scratching their heads.

[RELATED: “I Picked the Wrong Guy”: The Mistake John Lennon Realized He Made When Writing “I Am the Walrus”]

“Let the f—ers work that one out,” Lennon reportedly told friend and former bandmate Pete Shotton.

Still, Lennon always held a special place in his heart for the mind-melting ditty. “Because it’s one of those that has enough little bitties going to keep you interested even a hundred years later,” he said.

Featured image by Jane Mingay – PA Images/PA Images via Getty Images