Christie's auction house will handle the sale of the single sheet of paper and expects it to sell for about $400,000 to $600,000. Christie's put the lyrics on display Wednesday.

Lennon wrote the song during his "Bed-In," a 1969 anti-war protest in which he and Yoko Ono spent eight days in a bed in Room 1742 Montreal's Queen Elizabeth Hotel, opening their doors to a parade of journalists and political figures.

The lyrics are being sold by Gail Renard, who was a 16-year-old student when she sneaked into Lennon's room in advance of a press conference and asked Lennon for an interview for a university magazine.

Renard, who went on to become a television comedy writer, and Lennon struck up a friendship, and he handed her mementos including the lyric sheet, saying, "One day they will be worth something."

Lennon also recorded "Give Peace a Chance" during the Bed-In, and among the 50 or so people singing in the chorus were LSD advocate Timothy Leary and poet Allen Ginsberg.

Renard, a self-described "Beatlemaniac," once displayed the lyrics in a frame on the wall, then moved them under her bed for fear they might be damaged by a leak.

"I really was getting nervous and they went to live in a vault for a while," she said. "And I thought that's ridiculous because nobody is enjoying them now. They became a responsibility. I'd rather somebody else enjoy them."

Reuters/Nielsen

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