American Pie: The Day the Music Died

The iconic 1970’s folk song American Pie was written by American singer/songwriter Don McLean. It touched the hearts not only of the Americans of his day, but also of the next generation because its message remained relevant and its music very relatable.

American Pie spoke, in figures, of American society in the 1970’s from the backdrop of a previous era, the late 50’s and the 60’s. As Don McLean narrates in the opening line of the song,

“A long, long time ago
I can still remember
How that music used to make me smile.”

The late 50’s and the 60’s painted a lovely picture of the American Dream. It was idyllic, innocent, positive, optimistic, and happy. McLean remembers how that music (the American Dream) made him smile as a young boy. But this happy scene shifts into cynicism and chaos in the 70’s.

McLean worked primarily on the music scene, relating events he witnessed as a young boy up to the time he wrote the song in 1971. It was an epic drama of events not only in music but also in politics, that spanned more than a decade.

“Now for ten years we’ve been on our own
And moss grows fat on a rolling stone
But, that’s not how it used to be.”

The song was inspired, according to McLean himself, by the plane crash of (then) rock ‘n’ roll greats, Buddy Holly (Peggy Sue), Richie Valens (La Bamba, Donna), and the Big Bopper, JP Richardson (Chantilly Lace) that took all their lives. The fateful crash happened on February 3, 1959.

“But February made me shiver
With every paper I’d deliver
Bad news on the doorstep
I couldn’t take one more step.”

Looking back perched in the 70’s, he reminisces the deaths of these three rock ‘n’ roll icons as “the day the music died.” In the final stanza, McLean restates his sentiment on the sudden demise of the three rock ‘n’ roll icons of his childhood, as some sort of religious experience.

“And the three men I admire most
The Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost
They caught the last train for the coast
The day the music died.”

Don McLean laments the demise, and bids farewell to the idyllic, innocent, and optimistic outlook of the 50’s and 60’s not only in rock ‘n’ roll, but of life and the great American Dream.

“Them good ole boys were drinking whiskey in rye
Singin’ this’ll be the day that I die.”

“There is no poetry and very little romance in anything anymore,” Don McLean said when he was 68, in 2015.

Bye, bye Miss American Pie!