Don McLean’s mystical “American Pie” is one of the greatest American songs ever written.
Videos by American Songwriter
The lyrics to the tune, which exceeds eight minutes in length, contain a dizzying number of references and innuendos to McLean’s personal life, American popular culture, and the music industry from the 1950s into the 1960s.
And while each line in the lyrics, and every reference therein, are pregnant with nuance and ripe for analysis, there is one reference in particular that prompts particular debate and reaction to this day.
And that reference is to an unnamed “jester”, which is found three times in the lyrics.
First:
When the jester sang for the king and queen in a coat he borrowed from James Dean
And a voice that came from you and me
And second:
Oh, and while the king was looking down
The jester stole his thorny crown
Then finally:
It landed foul on the grass, the players tried for a forward pass
With the jester on the sidelines in a cast
So who is the jester? And what does McLean think about whoever that person is?
Why most think the jester in “American Pie” is Bob Dylan.
There are a few reasons why fans and critics agree that the jester is Bob Dylan.
The first reason is that simply put, the descriptions of the jester match up to the persona and image of Dylan at the time.
McLean mentions how the jester wears a coat borrowed from James Dean, almost certainly a nod to how Dylan donned a jacket on the cover of his 1963 album Freewheelin, which closely resembles a jacket worn by Dean in the 1955 film Rebel Without a Cause.
And then McLean says the jester was in a cast on the sideline, an apparent reference to Dylan’s mysterious 1966 motorcycle accident near Woodstock, New York, which led Dylan to cancel all of his upcoming public appearances thereafter while he nursed his injuries.
But then again, there are those skeptics who believe Dylan’s motorcycle accident was staged, little more than an excuse to get out of those upcoming public appearances. If McLean shared that belief, all the more reason for him to consider Dylan somewhat of a… well—jester.
It may also be true that McLean felt a bit of resentment towards Dylan for his success and the way he changed music in the 1960s.
McLean was more partial to the music of the 1950s and in particular, the work of Elvis Presley, otherwise known as the king. But then Dylan came along, and closed the chapter on the 1950s for good, ushering in a new style for the 1960s, a style that he himself shaped.
And that likely explains what McLean means when he says the jester stole the king’s crown, it was only Dylan who grew influential enough to usurp the popularity of Elvis.
What does Bob Dylan think about being called a “jester”?
Clearly, Dylan does not take being called a jester by a peer lightly. In a 2017 interview, when prompted about his being the jester, he reacted by saying:
“Yeah, Don McLean, ‘American Pie,’ what a song that is. A jester? Sure, the jester writes songs like ‘Masters of War,’ ‘A Hard Rain’s a-Gonna Fall,’ ‘It’s Alright, Ma’ — some jester. I have to think he’s talking about somebody else. Ask him.”
In the end, it appears that some of humankind’s most gifted musicians are still susceptible to the same petty squabbling and jealousy so common in the lives of the everyman and everywoman.
At least when they throw shade and indulge in some of their basic instincts, they make beautiful art as they do it.
Photo by PL Gould/IMAGES/Getty Images
