If Don McLean Wanted “American Pie” To Insult These Iconic Songwriters, He “Would Have Said Their Names”

When Don McLean released “American Pie” in 1971, he left listeners with a wealth of potential lyrical analysis. The sprawling, over-eight-minute song incorporated quintessentially American imagery with poetic references to current events, most notably the day the music died, the day Buddy Holly died in a plane crash. There were other potential characters, too: a king, a jester, Lennon or Lenin, depending on how you chose to hear it.

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These maybe, maybe-not references were just opaque enough to encourage speculation on who McLean might have been referring to—so much so that some of the artists have responded in the years that followed. But McLean has denied the connection.

Did Don McLean Reference These Songwriters In “American Pie”?

Don McLean’s 1971 magnum opus, “American Pie,” paints a portrait of a discontent generation undergoing a massive and often uncomfortable evolution. Not only did the song center around the tragic death of one of the most popular rock stars of the 1950s. But it also included imagery synonymous with the time: helter skelter, James Dean, and fallout shelters juxtaposed against saccharine Americana imagery like high school dances and marching bands.

People were quick to notice one line in particular as being a possible reference to Bob Dylan: When the jester sang for the king and queen in a boat he borrowed from James Dean and a voice that came from you and me. While the king was looking down, the jester stole his thorny crown. Some hypothesized that the “king” was Elvis Presley and the “jester,” clad in leather jacket with his shoulders hunched, was a young Bob Dylan.

In that same verse, McLean continues, While Lenin read a book on Marx, the quartet practiced in the park, and we sang dirges in the dark the day the music died. On paper, the reference to Lenin is obvious. But listening alone, Lenin could easily be Lennon, referring to John Lennon, the former Beatle. The next line’s reference to a quartet, perhaps the Fab Four, only solidified this fan theory.

So, Were Those References Actually In The Song?

Don McLean spent most of his career being famously tight-lipped about the meaning behind his lyrics. But that didn’t stop the news of these potential references from reaching the artists in question. Bob Dylan was well aware of the rumor that he was the jester McLean was singing about in “American Pie,” and he shared his feelings on the matter in a 2017 interview with Bill Flanagan. “What a song that is,” Dylan said. “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.”

In a 2020 interview with The Guardian, journalist Rob Walker asks McLean outright if he’s referencing Dylan. “I can’t tell you,” McLean said. “But he would make a damn good jester, wouldn’t he?” He explained further in the documentary, The Day the Music Died, “I said James Dean in the song. If I meant Elvis or Bob Dylan, I would have said their names. If you want to think the King is Elvis, you can, but the King in my song has a thorny crown. That’s Jesus Christ.”

But at the very least, fan theories about McLean referencing John Lennon seem to be correct. “If you look at where I talk about John Lennon, I say, Lenin read a book on Marx,” McLean told Forbes. “Lenin read Marx. Then, there was Marxist Leninism. John Lennon certainly read Marx because he wanted socialism. So, it’s both.”

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