Don McLean on his Australian and NZ tour
Tamworth Regional Council, 2023.
American Pie is a song by American singer and songwriter Don Mclean (b1945). "I first found out about the plane crash in Iowa because I was a 13-year-old newspaper delivery boy in New Rochelle New York, and I was carrying the bundle of the local Standard-Star papers that were bound in twine, and when I cut it open with a knife, there the crash was on the front page”.
So the familiar phrase The Day The Music Died referred back to the plane crash in 1959 that killed early rock-and-roll stars Buddy Holly, The Big Bopper and Ritchie Valens, ending the era of early rock and roll. The theme of the song went beyond mourning McLean's childhood music heroes, reflecting the deep cultural changes and profound disillusion and loss of innocence of his generation, the early rock and roll generation, taking place in the 1960s.
McLean was 24 when he wrote the song. But it wasn’t easy. What he noticed was that he had to fight so many battles to get this thing done. He’d been fighting everybody his whole life. He wasn’t difficult. He just want things the way he want them. For McLean, the song was a blueprint of his mind then and a homage to his musical influences, plus a roadmap for future students of history
Released in Dec 1971 the single became the #1 US hit in Jan 1972, soon after being the US Billboard charts. The song also topped the charts in Australia, Canada and New Zealand, and in the UK it reached #2. The song was listed as the #5 song on the RIAA project Songs of the Century, described as one of the most successful and debated ballads about the deterioration of U.S teenage culture.
The song's 8.5 minute length meant it could not fit on one side of the 45 RPM record, so United Artists had it recorded on both sides. Cash Box called it folk-rock's most ambitious and successful epic endeavour since Alice's Restaurant, a monumental accomplishment of lyric writing.
The meaning of the other lyrics, which probably referred to many of the jarring events and social changes experienced during that era, have been debated for decades. [Sadness wasn’t only in the song. Don was married twice, with both marriages ending in divorce. Was he replicating the misery of his own life in the parental home? Was he thinking of his endless bronchial asthma?]
For years McLean never explained the symbolism behind the people and events mentioned. Only years later did he release his song writing notes to accompany the original manuscript when it was sold in 2015, explaining many of these. And he further elaborated on the lyrical meaning in a 2022 interview-documentary marking the song's 50th anniversary, stating the song was driven by impressionism, not the symbols that others debated.
In 2017, McLean's original recording was selected for the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress as being culturally, historically or artistically significant. In 2018, McLean went on a world tour with concerts in North America, UK, Ireland, Belgium, Switzerland, Germany, Israel, Norway and Finland. His concert at the London Palladium was brilliant. To mark the song’s 50th anniversary, McLean had a successful 35-date tour across Europe in 2022.
Read McLean’s own homepage and listen to You Tube.
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
But 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 old boys were drinkin' whiskey in Rye
Singin', "This'll be the day that I die
This'll be the day that I die"
So the familiar phrase The Day The Music Died referred back to the plane crash in 1959 that killed early rock-and-roll stars Buddy Holly, The Big Bopper and Ritchie Valens, ending the era of early rock and roll. The theme of the song went beyond mourning McLean's childhood music heroes, reflecting the deep cultural changes and profound disillusion and loss of innocence of his generation, the early rock and roll generation, taking place in the 1960s.
McLean was 24 when he wrote the song. But it wasn’t easy. What he noticed was that he had to fight so many battles to get this thing done. He’d been fighting everybody his whole life. He wasn’t difficult. He just want things the way he want them. For McLean, the song was a blueprint of his mind then and a homage to his musical influences, plus a roadmap for future students of history
Released in Dec 1971 the single became the #1 US hit in Jan 1972, soon after being the US Billboard charts. The song also topped the charts in Australia, Canada and New Zealand, and in the UK it reached #2. The song was listed as the #5 song on the RIAA project Songs of the Century, described as one of the most successful and debated ballads about the deterioration of U.S teenage culture.
The song's 8.5 minute length meant it could not fit on one side of the 45 RPM record, so United Artists had it recorded on both sides. Cash Box called it folk-rock's most ambitious and successful epic endeavour since Alice's Restaurant, a monumental accomplishment of lyric writing.
The meaning of the other lyrics, which probably referred to many of the jarring events and social changes experienced during that era, have been debated for decades. [Sadness wasn’t only in the song. Don was married twice, with both marriages ending in divorce. Was he replicating the misery of his own life in the parental home? Was he thinking of his endless bronchial asthma?]
For years McLean never explained the symbolism behind the people and events mentioned. Only years later did he release his song writing notes to accompany the original manuscript when it was sold in 2015, explaining many of these. And he further elaborated on the lyrical meaning in a 2022 interview-documentary marking the song's 50th anniversary, stating the song was driven by impressionism, not the symbols that others debated.
In 2017, McLean's original recording was selected for the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress as being culturally, historically or artistically significant. In 2018, McLean went on a world tour with concerts in North America, UK, Ireland, Belgium, Switzerland, Germany, Israel, Norway and Finland. His concert at the London Palladium was brilliant. To mark the song’s 50th anniversary, McLean had a successful 35-date tour across Europe in 2022.
Read McLean’s own homepage and listen to You Tube.
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
But 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 old boys were drinkin' whiskey in Rye
Singin', "This'll be the day that I die
This'll be the day that I die"
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26 comments:
For years, I love to hum the song. I do not know what American pie taste like but I only know pepper steak version every time I order. So good to learn the history about the song too. You do great research into origin of things.
The connection between Don Mclean and Bob Dylan was another surprise link. Back in the day, I remember them more than I remembered Buddy Holly.
A sad read really, especially when considering what has happened since then. The song does deserve its accolades, awards and recognition. It is truly one of the great pop 20C songs.
It seems a strange song to sing for an Australian Football Team. Go Brisbane!
It's interesting to learn the history behind this song. It will now be in my head all day, though strangely, it often is.
roentare
there were many words or symbols that Americans didn't understand, let alone people in other countries. So where Americans say "as American as apple pie", Australians and British Commonwealth people mean steak and tomato sauce pie, as you noted. Or perhaps it has nothing to do with any sort of pie!
Deb
when schoolboy Bob Dylan Zimmerman first heard Don McLean sing, he was mesmerised. Their relationship became less of an idol-fan connection, and McLean wasn't always happy with the younger man. I assume that was because Bob Dylan changed the 1960s and the American culture with it.
However the musical influence flowed from Buddy Holly and Elvis Presley, to Don McLean and then to Bob Dylan :)
Andrew
Don McLean was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2004. And American Pie was voted #5 in a poll of the 365 _Songs of the Century_ compiled by the Recording Industry Association of America and the National Endowment for the Arts. Most surprisingly for me, he was awarded a star on L.A's Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Importantly for McLean, he sold his original manuscript for American Pie for $1,205,000 at Christie's New York in 2015. A nice little retirement thank you for a now elderly man :)
diane b
Hearing McLean singing his song with some musicians was always moving. But listening to over 30,000 singing the same song in public, en masse, was epic. Brisbane was playing brilliantly and the fans thanked them in the finest way.
jabblog
there are songs we learned in primary school, high school or uni that are in the brain for EVER. For me, "Me and Bobby McGee" by Janis Joplin is one them. So are "Sisters of Mercy" and "So Long, Marianne" by Leonard Cohen. If I was dementing in an elderly care home, I would still remember the words and music of Bye Bye Miss American Pie.
My older grandchildren, aged 20 and 18, both sang Bye Bye Miss American Pie at the family lunch today. They were spot on for the music and knew a lot of the words. I was so proud :)
It’s definitely a song that plays over and over in my head, a favourite. It was one of the tunes played at my twenty first birthday party. I did know about “the day the music died”, but not the story behind his writing it.
Sue
you and I might well be twins :) Not just born at the same time-ish, but also raised to value the same music, literature etc. For me the late 1960s were the best time EVER, despite the hideous Vietnam War!
Singers and songwriters are among the most sensitive people; their music and performance stays with us forever, enriching our life. Don McLean and Bob Dylan are definitely such performers.
This is a great song. I remember it when it came out. I knew the story about the plane crash and Buddy Holly, but not McClean's personal story. I can see why people sing the first few lines at a sports event though, at least for the BYe bye part. Happy new week Hels.
DUTA
Yes!
But I cannot tell if so many people in the arts grew up with sensitivity, and this lead them to seek work in literature, music, sculpture etc rather than working in the police or in lorry driving. Or if people working in the arts saw life in the raw, depression, deaths, poverty etc and this made them extra sensitive.
Erika
I knew the words of the first verse and the chorus, but I also knew nothing about Mclean's life. This is strange since I remember every detail of Cohen and Joplin's complex lives.
Hello Hels, Sometimes sports teams can latch onto the oddest songs. An example is the Chattanooga Lookouts baseball team, which always played "They Cut Down the Old Pine Tree". I first heard this song on the TV show The Munsters, and I assumed the lyrics ("To make a coffin of pine/For that sweetheart of mine") were written as a deliberate joke to suit the show, but later found that they were accurate. Some people have said this song is "very sad" but I am sure it is meant to be mock-bathos-humorous. Think of There is a Tavern in the Town, or My Darling Clementine. A real song with those words would be downright morbid, and often They Cut Down the Old Pine Tree is recorded in a somewhat ridiculous manner. At any rate, these very non-baseball words and song were adopted by a real team.
Carson Robinson Trio:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLA-_iR-iTw
Gene Autry (supposedly the original version, and with yodeling!):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rjzoBiiJTE
--Jim
Hi Hels - interesting backstory which I didn't know ... but the 'networking' all these musicians, poets, creatives mix and match don't they - I love learning more. I too love this song - cheers Hilary
I have always loved this song without giving the lyrics any thought whatsoever. Such was the child of ghe fifties.
Parnassus
I am beginning to think that the words in these songs are not as significant as the music for singing inside sports stadiums. After all, who would think that singing "to make a coffin of pine/for that sweetheart of mine" would make people feel supportive of their team? Or wanting to be part of a great community spectacle? So the music has to be simple, repeatable, a bit emotional and familiar to the general population.
When Jerry and the Pacemakers' song You'll Never Walk Along was sung by 60,000 people at a Liverpool soccer match, I sang along in tears. And I barely watch soccer matches!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=weec_jzudc8
Hilary
I agree. Normally workers have their unions, professional organisations, work colleagues, family and friends. But for people on the road and a long way from home, who perform in the evenings and sleep during the day, networking is life saving. And supports creativity.
Fun60
me too. By 1971, when Bye Bye Miss American Pie was first released, we all remembered the plane crash and the death of the rock stars. But the lyrics were not obvious back then, and still may not be now.
Great article! If you want to learn more about this topic and gain further insights, click here.
Anthony
many thanks. I will read the post over the weekend. By the way, did you see Brisbane Lions win an important Australian Football match when squillions of people sang Bye Bye Miss American Pie? It was very moving.
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