Don Mclean – American Pie

Thanks to Dave for posting this on his site. Below is the request that we got to write about. “There are many great songs about music, so let’s highlight them. Pick a song you like either about music itself (eg, ‘I love Music’ and so on)  or about the life of a musician making music . Or anything else you can think of about music… about music! “

I sometimes go for the B sides or ones that aren’t heard as much. Not this time!

I remember when I was 5-6 years old and listening to this song. The verses I ignored at the time and enjoyed the chorus immensely going around singing it and being told to shut up already by my sister. I guess a six-year-old singing Bye, bye Miss American Pie, Drove my Chevy to the levee but the levee was dry, And them good ole boys were drinking whiskey and rye, Singin’ this’ll be the day that I die, This’ll be the day that I die… would get old but hey…I had good taste anyway (better than my sister).

It’s a song that I don’t get tired of…ever. When I think of it I think of my childhood and also a big dose of pop culture. We all know that the day the music died was pointing to the Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and The Big Bopper plane crash. The rest builds up and between the lines, he sings about a lot of events and artists.

Where do I begin with this one? The song has so many references that it acts as a pop culture index by itself. I have read about college classes just on this song. It has been inspected and dissected since its release. Long after Don McLean leaves this earth…the song will be inspected and dissected again and again.

We do know the song was inspired by Buddy Holly… What does it all mean? While being interviewed in 1991, McLean was asked for probably the 1000th time “What does the song ‘American Pie’ mean to you?,” to which he answered, “It means never having to work again for the rest of my life.” Now that is a great and honest answer by Mclean.

In 2015 he opened up about the song and sold the original lyrics for 1.2 million dollars. This time he answered the question seriously. “It was an indescribable photograph of America that I tried to capture in words and music.” He also said that American Pie was Buddy Holly’s airplane that crashed…it was a made-up name by McLean because the company that owned the plane didn’t name any of them. “People ask me if I left the lyrics open to ambiguity, of course, I did. I wanted to make a whole series of complex statements. The lyrics had to do with the state of society at the time.”

In later years I would buy the single and try to figure out who he was talking about. Some of the lyrics include references to Karl Marx (or Groucho Marx), Vladimir Ilyich Lenin (or John Lennon), the Beatles, Bob Dylan, Buddy Holly, The Byrds; James Dean; Charles Manson; the Rolling Stones; the “widowed bride,” Jackie Kennedy, Jimi Hendrix, the Vietnam War, The Fillmore East, and more.

This song peaked at #1 in the Billboard 100, #1 in Canada, #1 in New Zealand, and #2 in the UK in 1972. If you want more… here is a website PDF that breaks down the song line by line of their interpretation.

I’ll let Don McLean talk about the song: “For some reason, I wanted to write a big song about America and about politics, but I wanted to do it in a different way. As I was fiddling around, I started singing this thing about the Buddy Holly crash, the thing that came out (singing), ‘Long, long time ago, I can still remember how that music used to make me smile.’

I thought, Whoa, what’s that? And then the day the music died, it just came out. And I said, Oh, that is such a great idea. And so that’s all I had. And then I thought, I can’t have another slow song on this record. I’ve got to speed this up. I came up with this chorus, crazy chorus. And then one time about a month later I just woke up and wrote the other five verses. Because I realized what it was, I knew what I had. And basically, all I had to do was speed up the slow verse with the chorus and then slow down the last verse so it was like the first verse, and then tell the story, which was a dream. It is from all these fantasies, all these memories that I made personal. Buddy Holly’s death to me was a personal tragedy. As a child, a 15-year-old, I had no idea that nobody else felt that way much. I mean, I went to school and mentioned it and they said, ‘So what?’ So I carried this yearning and longing, if you will, this weird sadness that would overtake me when I would look at this album, The Buddy Holly Story because that was my last Buddy record before he passed away.”

American Pie

A long long time ago
I can still remember how
That music used to make me smile
And I knew if I had my chance
That I could make those people dance
And maybe they’d be happy for a while

But February made me shiver
With every paper I’d deliver
Bad news on the doorstep
I couldn’t take one more step

I can’t remember if I cried
When I read about his widowed bride
Something touched me deep inside
The day the music died
So

Bye, bye Miss American Pie
Drove my Chevy to the levee but the levee was dry
And them good ole boys were drinking whiskey and rye
Singin’ this’ll be the day that I die
This’ll be the day that I die

Did you write the book of love
And do you have faith in God above
If the Bible tells you so?
Now, do you believe in rock and roll?
Can music save your mortal soul?
And can you teach me how to dance real slow?

Well, I know that you’re in love with him
‘Cause I saw you dancin’ in the gym
You both kicked off your shoes
Man, I dig those rhythm and blues

I was a lonely teenage broncin’ buck
With a pink carnation and a pickup truck
But I knew I was out of luck
The day the music died
I started singin’

Bye, bye Miss American Pie
Drove my Chevy to the levee but the levee was dry
Them good ole boys were drinking whiskey and rye
And singin’ this’ll be the day that I die
This’ll be the day that I die

Now, for ten years we’ve been on our own
And moss grows fat on a rolling stone
But, that’s not how it used to be

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

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

And while Lennon read a book on Marx
The quartet practiced in the park
And we sang dirges in the dark
The day the music died
We were singin’

Bye, bye Miss American Pie
Drove my Chevy to the levee but the levee was dry
Them good ole boys were drinking whiskey and rye
And singin’ this’ll be the day that I die
This’ll be the day that I die

Helter skelter in a summer swelter
The birds flew off with a fallout shelter
Eight miles high and falling fast

It landed foul on the grass
The players tried for a forward pass
With the jester on the sidelines in a cast

Now the half-time air was sweet perfume
While the sergeants played a marching tune
We all got up to dance
Oh, but we never got the chance

‘Cause the players tried to take the field
The marching band refused to yield
Do you recall what was revealed
The day the music died?
We started singin’

Bye, bye Miss American Pie
Drove my Chevy to the levee but the levee was dry
Them good ole boys were drinking whiskey and rye
And singin’ this’ll be the day that I die
This’ll be the day that I die

Oh, and there we were all in one place
A generation lost in space
With no time left to start again

So come on Jack be nimble, Jack be quick
Jack Flash sat on a candlestick
‘Cause fire is the devil’s only friend

Oh, and as I watched him on the stage
My hands were clenched in fists of rage
No angel born in Hell
Could break that Satan’s spell

And as the flames climbed high into the night
To light the sacrificial rite
I saw Satan laughing with delight
The day the music died
He was singin’

Bye, bye Miss American Pie
Drove my Chevy to the levee but the levee was dry
Them good ole boys were drinking whiskey and rye
Singin’ this’ll be the day that I die
This’ll be the day that I die

I met a girl who sang the blues
And I asked her for some happy news
But she just smiled and turned away

I went down to the sacred store
Where I’d heard the music years before
But the man there said the music wouldn’t play

And in the streets the children screamed
The lovers cried, and the poets dreamed
But not a word was spoken
The church bells all were broken

And the three men I admire most
The Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost
They caught the last train for the coast
The day the music died
And they were singing

Bye, bye Miss American Pie
Drove my Chevy to the levee but the levee was dry
And them good ole boys were drinking whiskey and rye
Singin’ this’ll be the day that I die
This’ll be the day that I die

They were singing
Bye, bye Miss American Pie
Drove my Chevy to the levee but the levee was dry
Them good ole boys were drinking whiskey and rye
Singin’ this’ll be the day that I die

Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player.

52 thoughts on “Don Mclean – American Pie”

  1. A true classic of rock that added his name to the list of music immortals if you will. A whole lot going on in this song lyrically, thanks for writing about it! And the link, too

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  5. I prefer his first answer as to what the song meant to him.

    For all the detail in the song, I’m surprised he was wrong about the album “The Buddy Holly Story” being “my last Buddy record before he passed away” – since it was released posthumously. It was rushed to market before the end of February when he died on February 3.

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  6. As I previously commented on Dave’s site, I’ve always loved this song, based on just its melody and Don McLean’s vocals. When I heard it first on the radio in the ’70s back in Germany, I had no idea what he was singing about. Since this pretty much reflects my entire other early music journey, it didn’t bother me. I just happily mondegreened along! 🙂

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  9. I’m afraid I got past this song. I do remember singing it death is discoteques and what have you. But my fleeting admiration for this song fell by the wayside decades ago. According to my music appreciation: It’s too long, too sappy despite the profundity of what it represents. Give me the artists and the songs he refers to any day and twice on Sundays over this tripe. Sorry, but that’s what I think.

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    1. Well don’t sugarcoat it Matt… tell me how you really feel! lol.
      Oh I’ll always like it and it’s probably one of the most important singles of the seventies…. Buts it one I never tire of for some reason.

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      1. Honestly, I have steered so clear of this song just about like no other. I think it’s the most overrated song in the 70’s music cannon bar none.
        We will have to agree to disagree on this one. If I hear it one more time it will mean a great disservice on the great music I could have heard.

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      2. Agree to disagree…that is fine. Won’t be the first or last but that is why we all have different tastes.

        Liked by 1 person

    1. I guess it’s my Stairway to Heaven lol… I listened to it around 5 times while writing this…and thats about 40 minutes come to think of it.

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      4. Some songs are like that to me. Hey Jude and stairway to Heaven I can only listen to once a year at best.

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      6. I don’t mind hearing some of them once in a while but they have been burned out. I still like the songs…but radio has just worn them out.

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      7. They just haven’t aged well to my ears. I can see how they were more than popular ‘at the time’, but it seems to me they tried to put something out there where they knew, ‘this is so good now’ but did not happen to think perhaps this ‘taking advantage’ of a shallow audience could be frowned upon later? Tomorrow I have Dylan’s Lay Lady Lay coming out and you could argue he had the same intention. The difference it remains a fantastic song even now.

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  11. Classic. Yes, it has been thrashed, but that doesn’t make it any less because we’ve heard it more times than we had to. Ah well, I run screaming when I hear the first notes of ‘Smoke On The Water’ so we all have our songs that we’ve overheard.

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    1. I totally get it. There are some songs, and they are rare, but I don’t get tired of. This one and A Day in the Life are two that I can hear until the end of my days and I’ll be fine. Plus..I love pop culture and it doesn’t get any better than this one.

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    2. Funny how some songs are a ‘go to,’ kind of comforting. I find Donovan’s ‘Colours’ is one that I find myself half aware that I’m humming when I’m in a good and happy place.

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  13. When I was in high school swimming (which, in my case, was more like drowning), they played this song in the pool area constantly. One of the DJ’s at WCFL, Bob Dearborn, did a whole analysis of this song that played at least once a week for about a year. When I got to Atlanta, Fox 97 (“good times, great oldies”) played it EVERY. G——N. DAY. The long version. I HATE this song. It was this song that made me invent the EBS Special (What Is An “EBS Special”? – The Sound of One Hand Typing).

    Sorry for venting my spleen, Max…

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    1. Oh I’ve noticed either love or hate with this one. There are some I feel the same way about…songs like Safety Dance and songs like that…so I get it.
      See I was 5 at the time or so and you don’t get tired of songs at that age…after that I didn’t hear it much.

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      4. No I didn’t like it at the time. I have a hard time with synth music…I mean Matt…I cancelled a recording session before…our first ever…because our drummer couldn’t come and the owner was going to play electronic drums…I said no…pissed everyone off…it was in the 80s…that sound drives me up the wall. That is why I dont’ like Madonna…I do like one song by her…that is it.

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      5. For me, ‘Safety Dance’ is one of the few exceptions like Alison Moyet’s ‘Only You’ where the synth enhanced the song. I think ‘Only You’ is one of the greatest songs I’ve ever heard hands down. But it’s personal. How she lives a regular life now battling with money as we all do just boggles my mind.

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      6. Well I grew up with 60s and 70s music…and I wanted more of that sound…a timeless sound…when I hear an 80s song…it dates it right away with a heavy production on some…not all.
        With a synth Matt…I never minded a synth used as color to a song…but when the main riff, drums, and bass are all synths…that is the sound I’m talking about.

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  15. Pingback: Don Mclean – American Pie – MobsterTiger

  16. A tune that is ensconced in our Americana culture. I like rock n roll, I like pie and whiskey and rye. So, I’ve heard this song at least a million times, and it’s sort of like “Gloria”..it never gets old.

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  17. I remember hearing this on Top Of The Pops on TV for the first time and writing it down in my chart book as The Day The Music Died, I somehow missed the title announcement. Classic of course, and yet I love Castles In The Air more….

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