Don McLean-American Pie

[Craig in Indy]

I love the song, I like his work, Castles in the air is another great one, I saw him live and he played American Pie made the hairs stand up on my head and the whole place went quiet, classic man.

"Castles in the Air" is a great song. Thanks for posting that video - I always enjoy hearing McLean perform live because he likes to play with the timing of his songs and frequently sings behind the beat. I find that interesting. Other people, I'm sure, are annoyed by it.

McLean has had many great, great songs, and in fact, nearly the entire American Pie album is at least as good as the title track. There is really only one, or maybe two songs that fall short. OTOH, he's also put out more than his share of dud records. I think he loves so many different styles that he's sometimes unable to resist dabbling in them rather than distilling their essence and letting that inform his songwriting. At his best, that's what he does, better than just about anyone. At his worst, he ends up with a collection of novelty songs.

For anyone who wants to get into the heart of his best material, I'd recommend either AP or his two-disc live album, Solo.

 

[LG]

I have to agree Craig the whole AP album is good, if it wasn't for you jogging my memory months ago I wouldn't have picked up the CD...simply breathtakingly good music.

 

[Magic]

“American Pie” is partly biographical and partly the story of America during the idealized 1950s and the bleaker 1960s. It was initially inspired by Don’s memories of being a paperboy in 1959 and learning of the death of Buddy Holly. “American Pie” presents an abstract story of McLean’s life from the mid-1950s until the end of the 1960s, and at the same time it represents the evolution of popular music and politics over these years, from the lightness of the 1950s to the darkness of the late 1960s, but metaphorically the song continues to evolve to the present time. It is not a nostalgia song. “American Pie” changes as America, itself, is changing.

Great song, with a lot of history and nostalgia behind it.

 

[Lynch]

the story(s) in this song are cool. The way it was written was very cool. It's way too damn long, but that's besides the point. Classic rock radio and karaoke both ruined this song for me in ways only comparable to say, Hit Me With Your Best Shot, One Way or Another, and nearly every song off of Led Zeppelin IV.

If I never heard it again, I'd have no problem with that. I remember back when I was bartending in college, on the jukebox, we had the 45 version of it. Was only like 3-4 minutes long, which was perfect. Of course, the rest of the song was on the flip side, so, we still got hammered with it all the time. Just with about a 30 second pause in the middle of it.

 

[Magic]

speaking of how long the song is....I did read somewhere that the original single release was on a 45 and they had to split it between side A and B, therefore, disc jockeys didn't play the song much until the album version was released.

 

[Lynch]

You are correct ma'am

 

[Craig in Indy]

Any thread about Don McLean also needs to include the fact that he was the subject of the Charles Fox/Norman Gimbel song "Killing Me Softly with His Song" that Roberta Flack made into a huge hit.

 

[Mr. Shadow]

The song begins with the death of Buddy Holly, but extends into the changes in music that resulted... including the major players (Dylan, Beatles, and Stones.)

 

[Tattoo'd Lady]

It was my understanding that "Amercian Pie (The Day the Music Died)", was written about Buddy Holly who died tragically in a plane crash...

thats pretty much what the song is meant to be about but Don then goes on to sing about how music evolved after that fateful crash and show what has happened since that tragic day

 

[LG]

^^When I first heard the song, when it came out...I know that is a long long time ago......I always thought it was about the day JFK was shot and died. I remember my Mom crying when we watched the newcast and Walter Cronkite reported the story. It wasn't till many years later I was reading Rolling Stone (when it was a decent magazine) and they were talking about Buddy Holly and the other historically significant events the song draws upon.