What do American Pie's lyrics mean?
- Published
A long, long time ago... Don McLean says his original lyrics reveal "everything there is to know"
As the original manuscript for Don McLean's 1971 classic is sold at auction, fans may finally discover what his "Song of the Century" is really about. So what are the popular theories?
When people ask Don McLean what does American Pie really mean, he likes to reply: "It means I never have to work again."
His eight-minute-long "rock and roll American dream" became an anthem for an entire generation - who memorised every line.
Their children in turn grew up singing it - fascinated by the mysterious lyrics, external with their cryptic references to 50s innocence, the turbulent 60s, and 70s disillusion.
Who broke the church bells? Who was the jester who sang for the king and queen? And what really was revealed "the day the music died"?
American Pie is the longest song ever to top the Billboard Hot 100, at eight minutes and 36 seconds
There are fan websites entirely dedicated to solving these mysteries, external, where literary detectives pore over the clues, line by line, external.
The song's 69-year-old architect has always remained tight-lipped.
But now at long last, the inspirations behind his Song of the Century, external are to be revealed after McLean put his original manuscript up for auction.
These 16 pages of handwritten notes, which have lain hidden away in a box in his home for 43 years, were sold for $1.2m (£800,000) at Christie's in New York, to an anonymous bidder.
Could these scribbles solve the riddle of American Pie? Colin Paterson reports
But for McLean aficionados there is a greater prize.
The drafts, unedited, reveal the creative process behind American Pie "from beginning to end", according to Tom Lecky of Christie's.
"You see great moments of inspiration, you see him attempting things that then didn't work out. The direction that he was going in that he then didn't want to follow.
"Those words that we all know so well weren't fixed in the beginning."
McLean's original notes, unedited, are 16 pages long and give clues to his thought process
As the singer himself said recently: "The writing and the lyrics will divulge everything there is to divulge."
For McLean scholars with pet theories, there could be bad news on the doorstep. This could be the day that they die.
But before we sing bye bye, and in honour of the American Pie fans everywhere, the BBC News Magazine takes a nostalgic trip back through the song's six enigmatic verses, and the popular theories that have grown up around them.
"So bye-bye, Miss American Pie..."
Buddy Holly's death was a "personal tragedy" for the 12-year-old McLean
Contrary to popular rumour, "American Pie" was not the name of the plane that rock and roll legend Buddy Holly died in, says Jim Fann, author of Understanding American Pie, external.
Miss American Pie is "as American as apple pie, so the saying goes," he argues.
"She could also be a synthesis of this symbol and the beauty queen Miss America."
Either way, her name evokes a simpler, optimistic age and McLean bids her farewell.
"The day the music died" refers - of course - to Holly's untimely death on 3 February 1959, which McLean mourns as the end of the entire 50s era.
But if you think this is "what American Pie is about", you would greatly disappoint McLean, who is on record that his song has so much more to say, external in the verses that follow next.
