( CNN ) That 's some rich `` American Pie . '' The lyrics to the famed Don McLean song sold for $ 1.2 million Tuesday morning at an auction held by Christie 's . `` Don McLean 's manuscript of 'American Pie ' achieved the 3rd highest auction price for an American literary manuscript , a fitting tribute to one the foremost singer-songwriters of his generation , '' Christie 's Tom Lecky said in a statement . McLean told Rolling Stone that it was time to part with the manuscript . `` I 'm going to be 70 this year , '' the singer and songwriter said in February . `` I have two children and a wife , and none of them seem to have the mercantile instinct . I want to get the best deal that I can for them . It 's time . '' Over the years , `` American Pie '' has become one of the most dissected and argued-about songs in the pop music canon . McLean has said that the opening lines were inspired by the death of Buddy Holly , but after that , it 's all been conjecture -- which has n't stopped a marching band 's worth of analysts from trying to parse the symbols in the 8-minute , 33-second opus . Is the jester Bob Dylan ? The football game Vietnam ? The `` girl who sang the blues '' Janis Joplin ? ( One thing 's certain : Buddy Holly 's plane was NOT named `` American Pie . '' ) `` Over the years I 've dealt with all these stupid questions of 'Who 's that ? ' and 'Who 's that ? ' `` McLean said . `` These are things I never had in my head for a second when I wrote the song . I was trying to capture something very ephemeral and I did , but it took a long time . '' The song catapulted the former folk singer to headliner status . The song hit No . 1 in early 1972 , despite its length . ( The 45-rpm single split the song in half on its A and B sides . ) The draft that was auctioned is 16 pages : 237 lines of manuscript and 26 lines of typed text , according to Christie 's . It includes lines that did n't make the final version as well as extensive notes -- all of which should be revealing , McLean said . The record for a popular music manuscript is held by Bob Dylan 's `` Like a Rolling Stone , '' which sold for $ 2 million in June . Opinion : What 's so great about 'American Pie ' ?
Don McLean 's `` American Pie '' lyrics auctioned for $ 1.2 million . The song is dense with symbolism ; McLean says lyrics , notes will reveal meaning . Comment: