LiveWire

If you are ‘of a certain age,’ then you are certainly familiar with Don McLean’s ‘American Pie.’

And, if you have ever wondered why someone would “drive a Chevy to the levee,” (and why in the world was the levee dry?) this one’s for you:

Via Guardian: Don McLean sells American Pie manuscript, saying all will be revealed

Don McLean is to auction the original manuscript of American Pie, his elegiac, enigmatic ballad that became a signature song of its era.

The 16 pages of handwritten and typed drafts include notes and deletions for the recording that became a hit after it was released in 1971. It was named a Song of the Century by the Recording Industry Association of America and the National Endowment for the Arts….

McLean, 69, is among the most renowned singer-songwriters of his generation. He said he decided to sell the manuscript on a whim. McLean has admitted the beginning of the more than eight-minute song is about the death of singer Buddy Holly, who died in a plane crash with Ritchie Valens and JP Richardson in 1959.

But he has been elusive about the meaning of most of the lyrics, which has heightened interest and led to countless interpretations….