London - John Lennon said it was inspired by an acid trip, critics hailed it as a masterpiece and fans were often left scratching their heads. I am the Walrus was nothing if not enigmatic. One page of Lennon's handwritten lyrics for the whimsical work is to be auctioned at Christie's in London tomorrow and is expected to fetch more than £70,000.
The 20 lines in black ink are speckled with corrections and deletions and differing somewhat from the final version, described by one critic as "what might be the greatest Beatle song".
Richard Goldstein of New York's alternative weekly Village Voice said Lennon was inspired by Lewis Carroll's poem The Walrus and the Carpenter, James Joyce and comic book heroes. "It is nothing less than a watershed in the Beatles oeuvre - and in the culture of the 60s. I am the Walrus stunned even Beatles fans, since nothing quite like it had ever existed before." Also up for grabs in the auction is a two-piece cream suit worn on stage by Elvis Presley and, for the daring dresser, the outrageous Jean-Paul Gaultier corset with conical cups worn by Madonna on her Blonde Ambition tour in 1990.