American Pie lyrics: what does McLean's song really mean?

Fans of American Pie, one of the most enigmatic songs of the last century, were hoping to discover the meaning behind Don McLean's lyrics on Tuesday when he auctioned off the song's original manuscript.

The handwritten pages, charting the evolution of the lyrics, fetched $1.2m at a Christie's auction in New York.

McLean has always remained elusive about the song, telling inquisitive fans that it simply means "I never have to work again".

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He had promised that the manuscript would "divulge everything there is to divulge", but those expecting line-by-line enlightenment look likely to be disappointed.

Whole academic papers have been written about the lyrics, says Colin Paterson at the BBC. The extra annotations on the pages for sale could back up these theories or "prove that many music fans have been spouting nonsense for years".

Experts say the song follows the cultural and political trajectories of the 1950s and 1960s and McLean himself has said it is about "things heading in the wrong direction".

Writing in the auction catalogue, American history professor Douglas Brinkley says it is "fair to surmise that 'the king' is Elvis Presley; 'Helter Skelter' refers to the Charles Manson murders; the 'jester on the sidelines in a cast' is Bob Dylan; and 'Jack Flash' the Rolling Stones".

The "day the music died" refers to 3 February 1959 when musicians Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and JP 'The Big Bopper' Richardson died in a plane crash.

But Brinkley adds that most of the lyrics remain a "puzzle open to thousands of spirited interpretations".

One of the most ambiguous lines – "Do you recall what was revealed the day the music died?" – has sparked many theories. Jim Fann, author of Understanding American Pie, believes it refers to the 1968 riot at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, where police brutally suppressed protests.

While many believe the "sergeants playing a marching tune" relates to the Beatles, McLean has said he was thinking about the Mummers Parade held on New Year's Day in Philadelphia and soldiers in Vietnam.

A lot of the song is "sort of fiddling while Rome burns", he says. "Vietnam is going on and they're marching, and then these guys are dressed in funny white suits and playing banjos and they're marching."

The Daily Telegraph says the manuscript also offers the "tantalising prospect of a lost redemptive verse", in which McLean's prayers for the music to "live again" are answered. It was later dropped, as McLean didn't think the section "spoke" to him in the same way as the other verses.

Although it appears that many other details of the lyrics will be left up for debate, Rob Sheffield, chief critic for Rolling Stone, says the beauty of the song is that you "don't need to unravel the riddle to love it".