"Bye, Bye Miss American Pie. Drove my chevy to the levee, but the levee was dry". How could anyone not know these famous words!? How could anyone not start singing them immediately? These are the opening two lines to the chorus of the iconic classic, "American pie" by master songwriter Don McLean.
Clocking in at an incredible 8 1/2 minutes, this song broke the mold for hit songs. Funny thing though, those 8 1/2 minutes fly by because you get so immersed in the story, the melody, the imagery, the oblique references, and of course the sing-a-long chorus. Written in 1972, the song is basically a nostalgic look back at the 50's and more so, the 60's; those formative years in Don McLean's life.
Musically, the song is relatively simple, written in the key of G which keeps it feeling positive with the major chords, and accentuating the appropriate mood changes with the minor chords. It opens with almost a monologue, and begins to build until it explodes with the first chorus. Don's use of tempo is superb, keeping the listener thoroughly engaged throughout the song, and closely following the lyrics. This song is absolutely infectious, pure genius in master songwriting.
Lyrically, the song touches on a multitude of subjects with somewhat vague references, and some not so vague, interwoven in every verse. It became a great guessing game, a song of great debate as to the meaning of all these references. For almost 40 years, Don stayed silent on the meaning of the song, as he should have, to let the listener have their own interpretation. This is what a master songwriter does, write a song that can be interpreted individually. There are as many interpretations of this classic song as there are listeners. Very cool.
In 2015, Don McLean (pictured below) allowed his handwritten notes to this iconic masterpiece to be sold at auction. They went for an astounding for $1.2 million. Shortly thereafter, he volunteered some of the story behind the song. Not to anyone's surprise, most of the interpretations of the references were correct.
I won't go into all of the references, as there are dozens. Here are a few of the highlights:
" The day the music died" .... The death of Buddy Holly
"The Jester" ... Bob Dylan
"The King" .... Elvis Presley
"Lennon" ... John Lennon
"The Quartet" ... The Beatles
"Helter Skelter" ... The Sharon Tate murders by the Charles
Manson Family
"Birds flew....eight miles high..." ... The Byrds and their hit "Eight Miles High"
"Sergeants played a marching tune" ..The Beatles playing "Sergeant Pepper's
Lonely Hearts Club Band "Jack Flash" ... Mick Jagger
"Angel born in Hell" ... Hell's angels. This combined with the Mick
Jagger reference is assumed to be Altamont
"We were all in one place,
a generation lost in space" ... Many believe this refers to Woodstock
"Father, Son, and The Holy Ghost" ...This reference is debatable, some think it is
what it seems, a religious reference, others
believe it refers to the assassinations of John
F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy, and Martin
Luther King.
All in all, this song weaves in and out through about 10 years of pop culture, from Buddy Holly's death in 1959 to Woodstock in 1969. That's quite a feat for an 8 1/2 minute song, and to accomplish that in such a musical, cleverly written lyrical way is an even bigger feat. This was theme song for an entire generation, and has endured the ultimate test, the test of time. To this day it remains a memorable iconic classic.
I had the chance to see Don McLean in concert while at U of Michigan; it was a show that I'll always remember. He did something most artists would never consider, much less be able to pull off, and that was to perform the entire show, almost two hours, solo. No band, no sidemen, nada...just naked and alone for all to see. Sure, artists do solo segments, two or three songs or so, some even do half a set, but not and entire show. No shelter to hide in, nowhere to run, impossible to cover up mistakes. That takes courage, and talent.
An interesting side note to Don McLean is that a huge number one hit record, "Killing Me Softly (With His Song)", by Roberta Flack, was inspired by Don McLean's songwriting. The co-writer, Lori Lieberman, was so moved by his music, particularly the song "Empty Chairs" that she wrote, and then recorded "Killing Me Softly". Roberta Flack then heard the song, and HAD to record it. It quickly became a number 1 hit. I had the opportunity to work with Roberta Flack back in my concert producing era, and can say that she is both a huge talent and a beautiful person.
Don McLean has written many great songs such as "Vincent" (Starry Starry Night), "And I Love Her So" (a hit for, of all people, Perry Como), Castles In The Air, If We Try, and "Dreidel" among them; but "American Pie" was unquestionably the pinnacle, holding the #1 LP position for almost two months on the BillBoard charts. Below is a great live version of this masterpiece. Sit back, sing a long, and take a trip through a generation of pop culture, a "generation lost in space"
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