Don McLean’s lyrics to his most famous song “American Pie,” that asks the question “Do you recall what was revealed the day the music died?” sold at Christie’s auction Tuesday, with bids starting at $500,000.
Two people were in a bidding war for the 16-page manuscript, one in person and one on the phone. The bidder in the room won the bid at $1.2 million, but wished to remain anonymous.
The 16 pages included the original written manuscript and typed drafts of the eight-minute-long piece, released in 1971. “American Pie” was a number 1 hit in the United States in 1972 for four weeks.
The lyrics of the song refer to the deaths of Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper in a plane crash on February 3, 1959. According to a source, McLean first wrote the lyrics on paper napkins in a bar, although he himself denies this. It was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, and the Recording Industry Association of America and the National Endowment for the Arts named it a “song of the century.”
Courtesy of NY Daily News