The name "Don McLean" and term "American Pie" are registered trademarks
©1995-2010 Alan Howard & Don McLean. All Rights Reserved.

The Don McLean Story

Don McLean shares his life story for the first time...


The must have book for all Don McLean fans. Contents and extracts.

Don McLean Fans


Visit Don McLean Fans

 


Don McLean Online: The Official Website of Don McLean and American Pie

Latest Headlines

  • Wed, 24 Feb 2010:
    Don McLean reveals why I had to write Vincent.
  • Wed, 6 Jan 2010:
    Don McLean: Youtube Sensation!
  • Tue, 29 Dec 2009:
    Don McLean returns to one of his favorite cities: in concert in Amsterdam on April 19.
  • Sat, 12 Dec 2009:
    Don McLean will be the subject of two new TV shows in 2010 - for the Songbook Series 4, sponsored by PRS, in association with the Songwriters' Hall of Fame and for Japanese TV.
  • Fri, 27 Nov 2009:
    The Europe 2010 tour now stretches onwards to Perth, Scotland on May 19th.
  • Sat, 14 Nov 2009:
    Read reviews from Don's Niagara Falls and Glenside shows.

    Subscribe: RSS : Twitter : Email : Blog

    American Pie (1972)

    View more Don McLean on Youtube

    Addicted To Black


    Don McLean's new studio album of original songs released in May 2009. In store now.

    Don McLean Music Player

    Listen to some of Don McLean's recent releases in high quality mp3 format.

    There are many more tracks available on our fan site.

     


    • America's Legendary Singer-Songwriter

    Don McLean Concert Performaces

    Hyde Park, London

    Don McLean's free concert with an audience of 80,000. This is one of the great moments of Don McLean's career.
    Title   Hits
    Vincent (Starry Starry Night) Two songs here. Can you name the song that leads into Vincent? 59533
    Homeless Brother 11455

    Orchard Theatre, Dartford, England

    Don McLean accompanied by Tony Migliore on keyboards and grand piano. Good sound quality with some minor interference.
    Title   Hits
    Vincent 32962
    American Pie 32642
    Love in my Heart 6018
    And I Love You So 10542
    The Very Thought of You 5841
    Headroom 4736
    La La Love You 5194
    Can't Blame the Wreck on the Train 5251
    What Will The World Be Like 5118
    Winterwood 6213
    It's Just the Sun 5693

    Royal Albert Hall, London

    Some fans consider Don McLean's concert at the Royal Albert Hall in London in 1973 to be his greatest ever. Here you can listen to a few songs from that show and remember the Don McLean 'solo' concert experience. This page requires the latest version of the free Real Player. None of the material has been released on record or CD.
    Title   Hits
    Winterwood 5985
    Mountains of Mourne Beautiful version, but listen for Don's mistake. 8654
    Great Big Man & Respectable Two songs joined together here. 5432
    Babylon Don McLean is joined by an audience of 5000 in this version of the song originally released on the American Pie album. 8780
    American Pie 18417

    Live In Ireland

    The 'Live in Ireland' CD was recorded in the 1980s but has never been released. The track listing is: 1. Tulsa Time 5:20.
    2. Everyday 2:11
    3. Winterwood 3:28
    4. Dreidel 5:27
    5. Mountains of Mourne 5:03
    6. And I Love You So 4:59
    7. Molly Malone 2:52. 8. American Pie 8:43
    9. Johnny MacAldoo 1:52
    10. Pat Works Upon the Railway 3:37
    11. This Little Light of Mine 5:22
    The album was remastered on 17 September 1997 at Chelsea Recording Studios, Nashville. It is hoped that the CD will appear as part of a Don McLean box set at some point in the future. We are very grateful to Don McLean for allowing us to broadcast portions of this CD. Three songs currently available, but we will add one or two more.
    Title   Hits
    This Little Light of Mine 6030
    Molly Malone 5948
    Pat Works Upon the Railway 4816

    Live in New York City

    This is a fine concert performance recorded in New York City in 1982 featuring band and the Jordanaires.

    Title   Hits
    Vincent (Starry Starry Night) The song Don wrote after readin a book about Vincent Van Gogh 166633
    Tapestry The song that inspired the creation of Greenpeace 6968
    Castles in the Air In the style of the Believers album version 8656
    Jerusalem Concert version of the Believers album track 5261
    Orphans of Wealth Great version of this song from Don's first album 5169
    Building my Body / Wonderful Baby Two songs 4667

    Royal Festival Hall, London

    The Royal Festival Hall in London England is one of Don McLean's most favourite venues. This recording features Don McLean with rock band. The sound quality is moderate. True rarities include Don's version of 'Blue Suede Shoes' and the singalong 'The People are Scratching'. Sound Only.
    Title   Hits
    Blue Suede Shoes Don McLean's version of the Elvis Presley classic. Exceptionally rare performance - this version is previously unreleased. 6429
    American Pie 18268
    Jerusalem 4708
    Crying in the Chapel 5089
    Vincent (Starry Starry Night) 9525
    And I Love You So Classic performance 7627
    The People are Scratching A classic Don McLean sing-along. Also features Don McLean chatting about President Reagan. 5938
    Genesis (In the Beginning) 5398
    Homeless Brother 4708
    Left for Dead on the Road of Love 4531
    La La Love You 4497
    If We Try 5176
    Winterwood 7500
    It's Just the Sun 4780

    Recorded music submitted by Don McLean fans

    This section contains files that fans have provided. Over time we hope to build up a collection of streaming audio of fans playing some of their favourite Don McLean songs. You can upload your own efforts by selecting 'Upoload' from the menu and following the simple instructions.
    Title   Hits
    Interview with Don McLean - 1972 This isn't a sound file but a PDF of an excellent interview with Don McLean in a 1972 edition of Guitar Player magazine. 2208
    Mountains Of Mourne mp3 2519
    Interview with Don McLean - 1980 This isn't a sound file but a PDF of an excellent interview with Don McLean in a 1980 edition of Guitar magazine. 1985
    Empty Chairs mp3 2749
    Castles in the Air mp3 2978
    Vincent (Starry Starry Night) Vincent by Ryan Heenan 11569
    American Pie (A cappella:-) This is my A cappella tribute to one of the greatest songwriters ever. 8252
    American pie Very short version. 9790
    Every Day Is A Miracle Only the die hard fans are familiar with this one! 3423
    Castles In The Air A great Don song.. 4956
    And I Love You So 6084
    Vincent It is quite a nice song that I tried 3 months to learn it. My guitar with capo on the 1st fret sounds good. hah My email address:sunie2001@hotmail.com I am a Chinese, willing to make friends oversea who likes Mclean 9363
    American Pie I'm 18 and this my first attempt at a real recording. This is my rendition of American Pie. It's a rather over the top rendition and I go as high as Michael Jakson at some points. This is a very unique rendition and I hope everyone enjoys it! 13057
    If We Try I play it for thirty years already and it's so beautiful and so hard to get it really good. But if I try - and keep trying... Hope you like it. 5049
    Winter Has Me In Its Grip Fine song, nice guitarchords and beautiful melody. But again, not easy to perform! Hope you still like my effort. (No I'm not from Spain, I'm from Holland) 3510
    Castles in the Air I'm probably the only non-guitarist in here so it was a real challenge to come up with a decent version of this song. I used Cubase SX3 and Virtual Guitarist to record this most beautiful song. I hope you all like my interpretation. Thanks. 5973
    Bronco Bill's Lament I always used to like this song. 4529
    Vincent I really love the song, that's y I recorded it. Hope u'll like it, too. 10673
    Georgie's Song This is obviously not a Don McLean song, it's mine! Uploaded with permission and some pressure! Written for my daughter, Georgina, every father should be able to identify with this.......I hope. 7573
    And I Love You So Don makes it sound easy, but I found this song really hard to sing! Where's everyone gone? Have you all jumped ship and not told me? Is it me?? Hello?? 11418
    Vincent Hi Dejay, Cookie and Jim, mind if I join you? 22052
    Empty Chairs by Dejay Empty Chairs by Dejay 8744
    Orphans Of Wealth by Cookie Orphans Of Wealth by Cookie 6277
    Birthday Song - test by Jim Monaghan I''m trying to see how/if this works. Not all the chords are correct...I''ll upload a better version later. Eventually, we''ll be able to do "Don McLean guitar lessons" on here. OK...the good news...I figured out how to do this. The bad news...I need better recording equipment @ home to pull this off right! 8917
    Circus song Circus Song by Dejay 6543
    Oh My What A Shame Oh My What A Shame by Cookie 6672
    Magdalene Lane Magdalene Lane by Cookie 6672
    Homeless brother Homeless brother by Dejay 6738
    Castles in the air Castles in the air 11328

    Hard Rock Cafe, Manchester

    Recorded in the 1970s at the Hard Rock Cafe, Manchester, UK, listen here to some classic tracks sung 'solo'. Very grateful to Brian Catchpole for supplying these tracks.
    Title   Hits
    Bronco Bill's Lament Live in Concert 5112
    Wonderful Baby From the Homeless Brother album. 5068
    Respectable From the Tapestry album. 4396
    Birthday Song From the 1972 Don McLean album. 5809

    Rarities

    Various rare concert performances and studio recordings.
    Title   Hits
    Well Alright iN CONCERT 1984 4904
    East Virginia Blues In concert 1984 4547
    The Bells of Rhymney In concert in 1984. 4543
    L'Affaire D'Amour Performed here in concert in 1984, this song is also a hard to find Don McLean studio recording. 5504
    The Cat Came Back Recorded in concert in the UK in the 1980s. This children's song also features on Don's new album 'You've Got to Share' available from http://www.don-mclean.com/info.htm 5434
    Flight of Dragons Don McLean recorded this song for the film 'Flight of Dragons' in the early 1980s. 7178
    Don McLean 'Till Tomorrow' video, 1971 Here is a little snippet from the rare 'Till Tomorrow' video. It shows the infamous bomb scare that Martin Maguire describes on his Belfast page: "During the song one of the theatre staff walks onstage, says something to Don and then takes the mike to ask the audience to check around them and under their seats for suspicious packages (ie a bomb scare). The audience seem bemused by it all, whilst the guy on stage insists that it is serious and not a joke. Minutes later, Don returns, continues the song from where he left off and receives rapturous applause." 6476