15 or 20 years ago McClean was on CBS FM with the DJ explaining the song line by line. I came in at the end and was sorry to have missed it. Still don’t know what half of it is about.
Might be on youtube somewhere.
In my freshman year of high school, the year that American Pie came out, my way-cool first-year English teacher took us through the lyrics. Every phrase has a meaning. I’ll get a copy of the lyrics and post that later on today.