A Verse Fit for a King
“And while the King was looking down
The jester stole his thorny crown
The courtroom was adjourned
No verdict was returned.”
Rock and roll musician Elvis Presley performing on the Elvis comeback TV special on June 27, 1968. (Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)
In the next lines, the King is most commonly identified with Elvis Presley, nicknamed at the time, “The King of Rock ‘n’ Roll”. McLean suggests here that Dylan has gone before the court and rock ‘n’ roll to challenge Presley’s dominion, which is also a metaphor for the challenge the country is confronted with as the younger generation started to challenge the assumptions of the older one.
Presley was the symbol of a youthful rebellion in its own, but one that had started in the 1950s, and by the time McLean wrote his song, his time became somewhat obsolete, because the new generation chose Dylan to be their new spokesman. The thorny crown metaphor is a symbol for the price of fame the winner of the emerging American cultural revolution had to pay.