American Pie: The Jester and the King

Music appreciation:

The jester is mentioned more than a couple times in the song American Pie. Don McLean first says that the jester sang for the king and queen, then later, that while the king was looking down, the jester stole his thorny crown. In a later stanza, McLean describes the jester as only a mere disabled spectator on the sidelines.

Who was the jester?

Almost all who have sought to interpret who the jester agree that it is Bob Dylan. There are object references in the song that undoubtedly point to him.

“When the jester sang for the king and queen
In a coat he borrowed from James Dean
And a voice that came from you and me.”

Bob Dylan donned a similar coat (windbreaker) that resembled the red coat that James Dean wore in that iconic Rebel Without A Cause poster. It was the coat Dylan was wearing on the cover of his album The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan, which was released in 1963.

One of the songs in Dylan’s Freewheelin’ album is Blowin’ in the Wind, a song he had the privilege to sing with Peter Seger and Joan Baez — notably the King and Queen of 60’s folk music — at the 1963 Newport Folk Festival.

Bob Dylan was a rebel with a cause. He embodied the counterculture of his day, the voice of protest that challenged conventional values. But, McLean laments that this kind of music was not how it used to be.

 “Oh and while the king was looking down
The jester stole his thorny crown
The courtroom was adjourned
No verdict was returned.”

Many believe the king in this stanza to be Elvis Presley, the king of rock ‘n’ roll in the 50’s. His popularity was eclipsed by Dylan’s tumultuous counterculture movement in the 60’s, when Elvis joined the US Army. What’s down the road from here onward is all up in the air, as according to McLean no verdict was returned.

But things would go from bad to worse, from helter skelter to, finally, Satan laughing with delight  the day the music died, despite efforts of other musicians to revive the music.

“The players tried for a forward pass
With the jester on the sidelines in a cast.”

But the jester is no longer at the center of it all. He has been disabled and is in a cast (Dylan’s motorcycle accident) while the other players attempted to advance American culture through music.