The original manuscript of Don McLean’s American Pie has sold for $1.2m (£806,000) at a New York auction.

The 16-page draft had been expected to fetch as much as $1.5m (£1m) at the Christie’s sale.

McLean had hinted in February the original manuscript would reveal the song’s lyrical meaning – which had always been kept a mystery.

“The writing and the lyrics will divulge everything there is to divulge,” he said.

The 69-year-old previously acknowledged the beginning of the song is about the death of Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper – Jiles P Richardson – in a plane crash, but has remained elusive about the rest of the track.