Singer-songwriter Don McLean's original manuscript and notes to American Pie has sold at auction for $1.2 million US.

McLean offered the wistful anthem that asks "Do you recall what was revealed the day the music died?" at Christie's on Tuesday.

The 16 pages include the original working manuscript and typed drafts of the song.

The 8-minute-long American Pie was released in 1971. It was a No. 1 U.S. hit for four weeks in 1972.

"The day the music died" refers to the Feb. 3, 1959, deaths of Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper in a plane crash.

McLean, a longtime Maine resident, says writing the song was "a mystical trip into his past."

Don McLean's American Pie

It's estimating that the handwritten American Pie manuscript will sell for $1 million to $1.5 million US. (Brendan McDermid/Reuters)