Don McLean’s American Pie
Initially inspired by his memories of the death of Buddy Holly in 1959, ‘American Pie’ is autobiographical and presents an abstract story of Don McLean’s life from the mid 1950s until when he wrote the song in the late 1960s. It is almost entirely symbolised by the evolution of popular music over these years and represents a change from the lightness of the 1950s to the darkness of the late 1960s. This is also very symbolic of changing America during this era. In Don’s life the transition from light (the innocence of childhood) to the darker realities of adulthood probably started with the death of Buddy Holly and culminated with the assassination of President Kennedy in 1963 and the start of a more difficult time for America. In this 4 year period, Don moved from a fairly idyllic childhood existence, through the shock and subsequent harsh realities of his father’s death in 1961, to his decision in 1963 to quit Villanova University to pursue his dream and become a professional singer.
For 30 years the lyrics of American Pie have been subject to intense scrutiny as people search for the song’s real meaning. Analysis continues today on the Internet and in newspapers and magazines worldwide. All interpretations start on the premise that Don McLean never talks about the song and has never provided insight into the meaning of the lyrics. In fact, Don McLean has spent 30 years doing little else but talk about American Pie!
In his 2000 ‘Starry Starry Night’ DVD, Don says: “I’m very proud of the song. It is biographical in nature and I don’t think anyone has ever picked up on that. The song starts off with my memories of the death of Buddy Holly. But it moves on to describe America as I was seeing it and how I was fantasizing it might become, so it’s part reality and part fantasy but I’m always in the song as a witness or as even the subject sometimes in some of the verses.
You know how when you dream something you can see something change into something else and it’s illogical when you examine it in the morning but when you’re dreaming it it seems perfectly logical.
So it’s perfectly okay for me to talk about being in the gym and seeing this girl dancing with someone else and suddenly have this become this other thing that this verse becomes and moving on just like that. That’s why I’ve never analyzed the lyrics to the song. They’re beyond analysis. They’re poetry.”
“the growing urban legend that “American Pie” was the name of Buddy Holly’s plane the night it crashed, killing him, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper, is untrue. I created the term.” - Don McLean, 1999
Incidentally, Don McLean has also taken time out to rubbish the myth that he had, for a while, refused to perform the song:
“Because of an off-hand funny comment I made backstage at a concert years ago, a story circulated that the song {American Pie} has been a burden and even that I didn’t sing it for a while. That’s completely false. I am very proud of ‘American Pie’ and the many satellites that grow from it and revolve around it. For many years I carried my songs around and now they carry me around. I have always sung ‘American Pie’ for my audience and would never think of disappointing them since it is they who have given me a wonderful life and untold affection for almost 30 years.” - Don McLean, 1999
and in a Music World article from 2000, Don says: “I have never said a bad thing about the song, I was poor when I wrote it, and it made me a millionaire overnight. Believe me, I’m not upset about this song.” - Don McLean, 2000.
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May 30th, 2009 at 9:19 pm
This song has gone down in history as the most important song of all times. Growing up with a mother and father who listened to the oldies station constantly, though I couldn’t stand the slow beat songs (50-85 bpm) the songs that would catch my ear would be the ones I remembered later in the years and the songs i would try and remember as an adolecent or there after asking my mom “whats that song that goes…?”. There after in my late teen years my parents now older and listening to even slower music like country I had seen in the paper headlined “The Day The Music Died” it featured a picture of one of my childhood heros Richard Valenzuela (Ritchie valens) and Buddy Holly. When i was younger I had fallen in love with the movie La Bamba so I knew the past of Ritchie,well I started to read the article and it was a cold day in december and as i read the article had excerpts from this song, I hadn’t heard it since I was a kid,. So I ran into the living room and asked my Mom where her records were and sure enough she had it. I blew the dust off the phonograph and began listening while reading the lyrics and transcribing my thoughts as to what they ment and as i got further into the article I realized the transcription was already there. That day I realized songs are meaningful to people in different ways to everyone they mean something different though to the personwho wrote it the song holds the power, memories unleashed, this song then had myself and all my friends listening to Buddy Bopper the Temptations everyone from that era deciphering the “codes” in the poetry and realizing in depth how music was and I truly believe that what it was is now gone and what it will be is in just terms never the same again. Now you can here every bar act playing this song and songs from around the time, if you think it’s just coincidence I don’t think so what it is, is an era of musice that was the golden times where songs had passion and meaning to justify a beginning or end of anything… thank you Don for opening my eyes to a time more infused with emotions than it is induldged with narcicism. THANK YOU!!!
May 30th, 2009 at 12:02 am
[...] Don McLean’s American Pie is one of my three or four favorite songs of all time - along with Bridge Over Troubled Water, Desolation Row, and You Go Your Way and I’ll Go Mine, (this has nothing to do with judgments about their quality - it’s just that all have intensely personal meanings for me), and rarely a week goes by that I don’t listen to it. [...]
May 10th, 2009 at 9:10 am
[...] 79 views, wordpress.com/tag/shiny-time-station 48 views, WordPress Dashboard 44 views, don-mclean.com/?p=68 39 views, wordpress.com  37 views, ibrattleboro.com/article.php/20080714… 32 views, [...]
May 5th, 2009 at 7:39 pm
Great song. One that family and friends still sing today as if it were the first time we heard it.
May 5th, 2009 at 3:05 am
i listen to this song on repeat and even though i’m only 14 i have the album and i play it on my turntable all the time.
I have this thinking disorder and i see things diffrently and in ways that often make be depressed or angry or bring me to tears over the simplest emotional consept i don’t understand the emotions i have been given and get angry at them not understanding why i’m angry. This song is a big help to sort through my mind and i think i think better once i’ve had my American Pie i can’t thank you enough Mister It’s an awfuly good song and it helps me think right. =]
April 30th, 2009 at 12:34 am
My mom sang “American Pie” to us all the time in the car, on trips, and every night before we went to bed growing up. We learned the words (of the chorus at least) as soon as we could so we could sing it with her, and the ‘chevy to the levy’ part was mine and my sister’s favorite. It became a nostalgic reminder of a time when life was simpler and my parents were happier. Every time I hear this song it reminds me to appreciate the simple joys in life like singing with people you love, and belting it. Thank you Don, for giving me terrific memories, a good reminder of humility and gratitude, and a song I will continue to love for the rest of my life.
Thank you!
April 22nd, 2009 at 6:55 am
i remember the first time i heard american pie…Boston…well cambridge…sometime in the early 70’s winter…going from central square to havard square with reeve little and spider john koerner…it was snowing,,,,hard to drive….american pie came on the radio….so perfect for the moment…ill always go back to that ride….
April 21st, 2009 at 6:12 pm
[...] The Day the Music Died: This video can be a great introduction to pop culture in the 50’s and 60’s through the song American Pie. [...]
April 9th, 2009 at 6:26 am
I was deployed to Bosian in 1996, I was coming out the the dining facility on my way back to my tent to feel sorry for myself for another day when I heard a Soldier playing this song on guitar and horribly singing the lyrics, I walked over and started singing for him. It was only a minute or two and there were other Soldiers singing the song with me. By the end of the song there must have been 15 Soldiers all singing along and smiling, I went back to my tent feeling much better about myself, remembering the times in high school me and my friends sang the song together. This is what the song is about, no hidden meaning, no subtle relations, just the emotions and feelings that rock and roll inspire. I play the song for my son, he sings it and laughs and dances… thank you Don for the memories I have and the ones I continue to make.
April 8th, 2009 at 11:08 pm
I’m only 13 years old and listen to rhis song SEVERAL times a day. I know its really old and half of my friends dont know it. But it’s and olide but a very goodie. I sit doing my homework every noght and put on my ipod and listen to…IT’S AWESOME!!!!!!