Even though Bob Dylan’s influential post-war single “Like a Rolling Stone” came out nearly fifty years ago, the song has just set a new record. Dylan’s original, handwritten manuscript of the song became the most expensive rock music manuscript ever sold at auction after going for just over $2 million at Sotheby’s rock and roll auction on Tuesday.

The music history auction, entitled “A Rock & Roll History: Presley to Punk,” was Sotheby’s first in over a decade. There, the price for the “Like a Rolling Stone” annotated lyrics broke the previous record set in 2010 by John Lennon’s “A Day in the Life” lyrics. The handwritten lyrics for the final track from 1967’s “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” sold for $1.2 million.

“It is always pleasing to set the world record. It carried a strong estimate (up to $2 million) as well, and we felt the estimate was justified given the importance of the work,” said Richard Austin, who acts as Sotheby’s head of books and manuscripts. “I’m a Dylan fan myself, and I thought it was one of the coolest things that I have ever handled.”

Dylan’s lyrics, which the auction house described as “one of rock’s most rousing classics, its thick, layered sound and innovative organ riff instantly recognizable,” were sold to an anonymous private buyer. Another buyer purchased Dylan’s “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall” manuscript for $485,000, the auction’s second highest total. “A Rock & Roll History: Presley to Punk” also included memorabilia from the Rolling Stones and Elvis Presley, and the Beatles. The Vox guitar organ given to the Beatles by its inventor in 1964 sold for $305,000, making it the auction’s third highest lot.

Nearly 67 percent of the 150 lots at the auction reached their reserve prices and sold. The total of the auctioned items reached just over $4 million.

“We’re very pleased with the sale overall,” said Austin. “It’s an interesting market and we look forward to seeing where it goes.”