I said, Don, it’s time for you to reveal’: 50 years later, the truth behind American Pie

The Guardian ^ | Jim Farber

[P.O.E.]

Why I don't play "American Pie" on My Show - by Andy Breckman

I originally heard Breckman rant against McClean on his radio show on WFMU years ago.

Breckman later went on to co-create the TV series "Monk", btw.

[P.O.E.]

Sorry, by the way, for your loss. Amazing how music can transport us back in time.

[mewzilla]

Weird Al ruined this song for me.

Whenever I hear it, I start singing Weird Al's version...

The Saga Begins

[ckilmer]

that site doesn’t load.

can you try again?

[Red Badger]

Maybe he meant the Lennon Sisters!..................😜.

[Red Badger]

What site?..................

[Engraved-on-His-hands]

So sorry for your loss. Tragedies can help us to understand the griefs of others. But tragedies are still tragedies. So sorry for you. I’m glad that you have grown and persevered through it all.

[Boogieman]

“The world is likely more complex than Maclean could divine”

The world is more complex than anyone can put into a pop song, even one that runs at 8 minutes and 41 seconds. The point of art is hardly to explain the entire complexity of the world in one work.

[SamAdams76]

Thanks for posting the explanation behind each verse, gives me more of an appreciation for the song.

I know a lot of people like to hate on that song but for me, it's a nice time capsule of what was going on in pop culture at the time.

The best backstory (about the 1959 crash) was when Waylon Jennings gave up his plane seat to the Big Bopper because he was not feeling well and unable to sleep on the tour bus. Supposedly Waylon then had a good natured verbal exchange with Buddy that went something like this:

Buddy Holly: "I hope your darn bus freezes up again"

Waylon Jennings: "Well I hope your 'ol plane crashes."

Perhaps apocryphal but Waylon got mileage out of that one for decades.

Nothing about Waylon got into the song though so I guess Don McLean was not a country fan.

[x]

A lot of people thought it had something to do with the Kennedys. Back then, every November TV news would talk about JFK, and a lot of the Sixties Generation was really into JFK. I think maybe Don McLean knew that some people would give the song that interpretation. Yes, it's about Buddy Holly, the Big Bopper, etc. but he must have known his generation would give it all kinds of other interpretations.

It's also not clear how much McLean was driven by some intention or meaning or sense and how much he just followed the rhymes. Even people who had no trouble spotting references to the Beatles and the Rolling Stones still wondered what -- if anything -- McLean was trying to say.

[HKMk23]

Nice find. Thanks for posting.

And — boy — wouldja look at all the critics comin’ out.

FR sure ain’t what it once was.

[NEMDF]

Thank you for sharing this story. Many songs take us back to a moment, a day, or a season. You probably turned into an adult that day, I would bet.

[Cecily]

I still play the American Pie album. Lots of good songs. I skip the title song because I have heard it so many times.

[Red Badger]

Original source:

http://www.whrc-wi.org/americanpie.htm

[alancarp]

MacArthur Park was just bizarre... it’s like the ultimate millenium-cupcake moment (or would have been if the era had been right) because of the lyrics “Someone left the cake out in the rain — I don’t think that I can take it”

[mmichaels1970]

Maybe he meant the Lennon Sisters!

flippin' commies.

[Hot Tabasco]

until I can listen to something else to forget it.

How about "I want a hippopotamus for Christmas?

[aspasia]

Too true.

OTH, I would say that lyricism is not innocent because we like it sung.

[Red Badger]

According to the movie, and Waylon, they flipped a coin for the ride...................

[Red Badger]

http://www.whrc-wi.org/americanpie.htm