What do American Pie's lyrics mean?

When people ask Don McLean what does American Pie really mean, he likes to reply: "It means I never have to work again." His eight-minute-long "rock and roll American dream" became an anthem for an entire generation - who memorised every line. Their children in turn grew up singing it - fascinated by the mysterious lyrics with their cryptic references to 50s innocence, the turbulent 60s, and 70s disillusion.
Who broke the church bells? Who was the jester who sang for the king and queen? And what really was revealed "the day the music died"?
There are fan websites entirely dedicated to solving these mysteries, where literary detectives pore over the clues, line by line. The song's 69-year-old architect has always remained tight-lipped. But now at long, long last, his inspirations behind "The Song of the Century" are to be revealed as McLean puts his original manuscript up for auction on Tuesday. These 16 pages of handwritten notes, which have lain hidden away in a box in his home for 43 years, are expected to fetch $1.5m (£1m) at Christie's in New York.
As the singer himself said recently: "The writing and the lyrics will divulge everything there is to divulge." For McLean scholars with pet theories, there could be bad news on the doorstep. This could be the day that they die.
 But before we sing bye bye, and in honour of the American Pie fans everywhere, the BBC News Magazine takes a nostalgic trip back through the song's six enigmatic verses, and the popular theories that have grown up around them.