The handwritten lyrics for one of the Beatles’ most popular songs fetched a record $1.2 million (with buyer's premium) at a Sotheby's auction Friday. John Lennon's words to “A Day in the Life,” which had a pre-sale low estimate of $500,000, went to an unidentified American collector, who outbid fierce phone bidders.

The double-sided paper featured cross-outs, corrections and reworkings indicating the evolution of the famous pop materpiece. The middle portion of the song, composed by Paul McCartney, was not included on the sheet.

"A Day in the Life" is the final track on the Beatles' ground-breaking 1967 album Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, which won four Grammy Awards and spent 15 weeks at number one on the American Billboard 200.

In 2005, the lyrics to the Beatles' classic "All You Need Is Love" sold for $1 million (£655,450).