American Pie lyrics sell for $1.2 million in New York

The original manuscript of Don McLean's enigmatic hit song American Pie sold at auction in New York on Tuesday for $1.2 million, Christie's says.

The 18 pages of manuscript, written in 1970-71 in pencil, ink and typescript on 17 sheets, had been expected to fetch between $1 and $1.5 million at the auction house. Christie's says the buyer was anonymous.

McLean, 69, says he wanted to release the lyrics to help people understand the true meaning of the song, which depicts turbulent upheavals of the latter half of the 20th century.