If Elvis Presley was 'the King of Rock 'n' Roll,' the 'jester' was folk icon Bob Dylan, according to Saul Levitt, creator of the Ultimate American Pie Site.

With this lyric, McLean is thought by some to be addressing the changing winds in popular music and society on the whole. ((William Claxton/Sony BMG/Associated Press) ) Many people believe the references to 'the jester' in American Pie are allusions to folk icon Bob Dylan. The accident, which snuffed out three major figures of early rock 'n' roll, has come to be known as 'the day the music died.' 'The Big Bopper' Richardson and Ritchie Valens in Iowa on Feb. 'February made me shiver / With every paper I'd deliver / Bad news on the doorstep, I couldn't take one more step / I can't remember if I cried / When I read about his widowed bride / But something touched me deep inside / The day the music died.'ĭespite his reticence to explain himself, McLean has acknowledged that the February event that shook him was the plane crash that killed Buddy Holly, J.P. Here's a closer reading of some of the song's key passages.

McLean has famously refused to divulge the meaning of his lyrics - which seem to jump between the literal and the metaphorical - so the task has been left to music critics, cultural theorists and millions of amateur sleuths. pop charts in 1972, its cultural significance has reigned much longer - it remains a staple in karaoke bars and around summer campfires. (Brendan McDermid/Reuters)Īlthough the song spent four weeks at the top of the U.S. The handwritten American Pie manuscript sold for $1.2 million US on April 7.

Lyrical interpretations