McLean, 69, who didn’t attend the auction, said in an interview on March 26 that “this is actually the scribble sheets for trying to figure out what I was going to say and what I was going to do.” The manuscript for Bob Dylan’s “Like a Rolling Stone” sold for more than $2 million in 2012, and the Beatles’ “A Day in the Life” sold for $1.2 million in 2010. Rock memorabilia collecting is popular among wealthy baby boomers who are looking for alternative ways to invest.
The buyer, who was among a dozen people who attended the sale, asked to remain anonymous, Christie’s said. Two people bid in the single-lot sale that lasted about one minute.
The manuscript for Don McLean’s “American Pie,” which was partially written on paper he found in a trash can, sold for $1.2 million.Ĭhristie’s in New York sold 16 pages of McLean’s handwritten lyrics and typed drafts for his 1971 hit that had a high estimate of $1.5 million.
