The manuscript for one of the most popular sing-along tunes at bars, “American Pie,” will go on auction this month. The asking price: at least $1 million.
Christie’s in New York will sell 16 pages of Don McLean’s handwritten lyrics and typed drafts for his enigmatic 1971 hit about the American zeitgeist in the later part of the 20th century. The high estimate for the April 7 auction is $1.5 million.
“‘American Pie’ has lasted 45 years now,” McLean, 69, said in an interview. “Relevance is a hard thing to predict.”
Rock memorabilia collecting is popular among wealthy baby boomers who are looking for alternative ways to invest. The most sought-after manuscripts are from the Beatles and Bob Dylan, said Leila Dunbar, a former Sotheby’s executive who is a memorabilia appraiser and consultant in New York.
Dylan’s “Like a Rolling Stone” sold for more than $2 million in 2012, and the Beatles’ “A Day in the Life” sold for $1.2 million in 2010. Both were sold at Sotheby’s.
The “American Pie” manuscript is a “wild card” because those other artists had more hits than McLean, Dunbar said. Still, “these are lyrics that have touched a lot of people and have mystery to them,” she said.
Song’s Symbolism
The symbolism of “American Pie” has long eluded listeners who try to decipher the complicated lyrics of the 8-minute, 36- second song that opens with “a long long time ago,” and goes on about “a generation lost in space” and “the day the music died.”
McLean said he rarely comments on the song’s meaning because he wants people to interpret the lyrics themselves. He said he tried to simulate the feeling of a dream and “capture something that you cannot express.”
The manuscript doesn’t outline his intent, either, but “when you read it, you realize it’s just me going in a lot of different directions,” he said. “I try to have a bunch of different points of view about it.”