The original manuscript of Don McLean’s 1971 hit American Pie, including his notes, goes to auction today – with McLean promising that “the writing and the lyrics will divulge everything there is to divulge” about its meaning. The eight-minute song has been debated since its debut in the charts, and in more recent years fans have pored over the lyrics online, trying to decode them. Who is the jester? Why are there so many religious references? What should we make of Lenin’s mention? Does the song reflect a yearning for a simpler age, before the social and sexual revolution of the 1960s?
What do you think? Some of the figures who are referenced in the lyrics, it’s been suggested, include Buddy Holly, the Beatles, JFK, Joan Baez, Pete Seeger, Mick Jagger, Lee Harvey Oswald and Bob Dylan. But what are your best guesses? And who or what, exactly, is Miss American Pie?
