Kind of like the mystery behind “Miss American Pie” lyrics.
Don MacLean performed American Pie for a small group of Chicago radio and college radio peeps. It must have been ‘68 or ‘69..downtown at WCFL, iirc. The record labels execs said this performance was the song’s debut in the US. Wowzer.
It’d be great to say I was blown away, but I didn’t know Don MacLean, nor could I make one bit of sense out of his classic hearing it for the first time. All of his clever lyrics were too obscure for me....and everyone else, as I remember. “Mystery” describes it pretty well.