American pie who is the jester

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 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"?

There are fan websites entirely dedicated to solving these mysteries , where literary detectives pore over the clues, line by line. The song's year-old architect has always remained tight-lipped. But now at long last, the inspirations behind his Song of the Century are to be revealed after McLean put his original manuscript up for auction. The drafts, unedited, reveal the creative process behind American Pie "from beginning to end", according to Tom Lecky of Christie's. The direction that he was going in that he then didn't want to follow.

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. 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. Miss American Pie is "as American as apple pie, so the saying goes," he argues.

Either way, her name evokes a simpler, optimistic age and McLean bids her farewell. 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 in the verses that follow next. Into verse two and the swinging 60s have arrived.

The religious imagery that emerges in the second verse becomes a powerful and recurring symbol of loss throughout the song. From "the sacred store" to the broken church bells, from this point forward, "whatever is couched in religious terms can be seen as referring back The fickle girl who McLean saw "dancing in the gym" no longer cares for his "pink carnation and pickup truck", leaving him "out of luck".

Enter Bob Dylan, the court jester who becomes the revolutionary leader of the 60s generation, knocking Elvis, the king of the 50s, off his pedestal: "While the King was looking down, the jester stole his thorny crown. But by the end of the decade, we see that Dylan's "rolling stone" is gathering moss, in fat quantities. But if you think the case is closed on the true meanings in this third verse, think again - "no verdict" has been returned. Whichever way you peer at it, "the world [McLean] once knew is changing," concludes Fann.

As the 60s reach their turbulent climax in verse four, and nuclear tensions rising, the Beatles have become the "sergeants" leading the march of counter-culture, leaving Dylan behind as "the jester on the sidelines in a cast" after his near-fatal motorbike crash.

But just at the peak of the sweetly marijuana-perfumed Summer of Love in , the tension boils over into civil unrest. He looks on as the "players try to take the field; But the marching band refused to yield". But as well as being a tidy money maker for year-old, McLean's mesmerising folk song has bewitched generations with its mystifying lyrics. They explore the death of innocence during the tumultuous and disorienting 50s, 60s and 70s gleaned through the music of the times.

That much was clear. McLean wrote in the auction book: "this song was not a parlour game" but "an indescribable photograph of America that I tried to capture in words and music". But that hasn't stopped those most stalwart fans claiming the notes vindicate their theories. Pub trivia nights everywhere mistakenly attribute our titular heroine to the name of Buddy Holly's plane.

An aviation serial number just wouldn't have had the same ring to it. One theory suggests the song was dedicated to a Miss America contestant McLean used to date. But Jim Fan, the author of "understanding American Pie" argues the phrase refers to the saying "as American as apple pie". But he doesn't completely dismiss the notion that she is a symbolic Miss America. Probably the least ambiguous lyrics: Buddy Holly's tragic death in a plane crash 3 rd February " Holly's "widow bride" had a miscarriage soon afterwards.

Richie Valens and the Big Bopper also died in the crash. Bob Dylan is the most likely candidate. Dylan donned a windbreaker similar to the jacket worn by James Dean in 'Rebel Without a Cause' on the cover of his 'Freewheelin' album. But he ditched it. It was going steadily downhill, and so was the music.

He takes me back in time again — to the innocent days, supposedly, of the s that American Pie is lamenting. But McLean hated growing up in what he describes as a small house in an upper middle class neighbourhood of New Rochelle, in New York. People discriminated about everything, he says. I hated those fuckers. The opening of American Pie is largely accepted as mourning Buddy Holly, who died in a plane crash in The cultural allusions are, he continues, his own in-jokes, poking fun at some of the big acts of the day.

I was making fun of it all. Ask him. So I ask him. McLean likes to be in charge. He admits that. Perhaps unravelling the mystery of American Pie would mean losing control of that too.