What do the lyrics of "American Pie" by Don McLean mean?

Question

This song has a copyright of 1971 during the end of Vietnam war. I think that it is a fitting political song during any time of war. What do you think the lyrics mean and why?

Answer 1

Its was about how he felt when Buddy Holly, Richie Valens, and the Big Bopper died in a plane wreck.
Many people believe the airplane was named American Pie but it was not.
In 1999 Madonna did a awful remake of it that Don Mclean said that it made him want to puke.
Topping in at nearly eight minutes many radio stations refused to play it, thus increasing album sales.
After which many bands started putting longer songs on albums hoping to increase album sales.
Don did not have any other major hits but still performs to this day. Rumor has it he performs AM. Pie last so the crowd don't thin out during his show.

Answer 2

Mostly it's a sort of history from the late 50's through the late 60s - Starting from a sockhop type dance of the 50s:

I saw you dancing at the gym
You both kicked off your shoes
Yeah I dig those rhythm and blues

"The day the music died" is the plane crash that killed Buddy Holly and two other famous musicians. He goes through the early 60's with the "king" (Elvis Presley) and the "jester" (Bob Dylan). He then writes about the Chicago riots of 1968 (4th verse) and the Woodstock and Altamont concerts (5th) ending with the death of Janis Joplin ("I met a girl who sang the blues").

A lot of references are very specific, but its a great song and can probably be stretched to cover other periods.

Answer 3

hmm I am not sure that the song is so much about the vietnam war but I can see how it could relate. I do remember him doing an interview and explaining that the song was written for Buddy Holly, Big Bopper and Richie Valance (?). He went on to explain that when they died in the plane crash for reasons unknown to him, the even had really affected him.

Answer 4

It was written about the tragic & early deaths of Buddy Holly, Richie Vallens and the Big Bopper due to a fatal airplane crash and the impact their deaths had on the music of that time. If you haven't really listened to the lyrics, take the time if you can, put it on headphones & pay attention to the words. To me, it tells a story of a loss of innoscense, of finding hope once again and to never forget those who have left us.

Answer 5

It is a song in tribute to the plane crash that killed Buddy Holly, Big Bopper and Richie Valens. They were all 3 top rock and roll singers/artists of their time. It was a sad, sad day for the nation and rock and roll.

Answer 6

Maybe if you were on drugs it would make sense. Fair enough he wasn't at that moment. He was just in a really bad time in his life where I believe he said his father had just died and then the plane crash that killed "music". It has nothing to do with war. To be honest I don't he even fully understands what he wrote.

Answer 7

It details the rise of Elvis and the Beatles in lieu of the death of Buddy Holly as seen through the retrospective eyes of a man who was a younger man at the time.

Answer 8

Sorry it is long but comprehensive:

AMERICAN PIE by Don McLean

The entire song is a tribute to Buddy Holly and a commentary on how
rock and roll changed in the years since his death. McLean seems to
be lamenting the lack of "danceable" music in rock and roll and
(in part) attributing that lack to the absence of Buddy Holly et. al.

(Verse 1)
A long, long time ago...

"American Pie" reached #1 in the US in 1972, but the album containing
it was released in 1971. Buddy Holly et.al. died in 1959.

I can still remember how
That music used to make me smile.
And I knew if I had my chance,
That I could make those people dance,
And maybe they'd be happy for a while.

One of early rock and roll's functions was to provide dance music for
various social events. McLean recalls his desire to become a musician
playing that sort of music.

But February made me shiver,

Buddy Holly died on the night of February 2, 1959 in a plane crash
in Iowa during a snowstorm. The news came to most of the world
on the morning of February 3, which is why it's known as The Day
The Music Died.

With every paper I'd deliver,

Don McLean's only job besides being a full-time singer-songwriter
was being a paperboy.

Bad news on the doorstep...
I couldn't take one more step.
I can't remember if I cried
When I read about his widowed bride

Holly's recent bride was pregnant when the crash took
place; she had a miscarriage shortly afterward.

But something touched me deep inside,
The day the music died.

The same plane crash that killed Buddy Holly also took the lives of
Richie Valens ("La Bamba") and The Big Bopper ("Chantilly Lace").
Since all three were so prominent at the time, February 3, 1959
became known as "The Day The Music Died".

So...

(Refrain)

Bye bye Miss American Pie,

Miss American Pie *is* rock and roll music.

Don McLean dated a Miss America candidate during the pageant.
(unconfirmed)

Drove my Chevy to the levee but the levee was dry
Them good ol' boys were drinkin whiskey and rye
Singing "This'll be the day that I die,
This'll be the day that I die."

One of Holly's hits was "That'll be the Day"; the chorus contains the
line "That'll be the day that I die".

(Verse 2)
Did you write the book of love,

"The Book of Love" by the Monotones; hit in 1958.

And do you have faith in God above,
If the Bible tells you so?

In 1955, Don Cornell did a song entitled "The Bible Tells Me So".
Rick Schubert pointed this out, and mentioned that he hadn't heard
the song, so it was kinda difficult to tell if it was what McLean
was referencing. Dave Tutelman tells me that this particular song
wasn't exactly a gem of rock 'n roll.

There's also an old Sunday School song which goes:
"Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so"
(Stephen Joseph Smith tells me that Bartlett's gives the source
of this as "The Love of Jesus", by Anna Bartlett Warner, 1858.)

Now do you believe in rock 'n roll?

The Lovin' Spoonful had a hit in 1965 with John Sebastian's
"Do you Believe in Magic?". The song has the lines:
"Do you believe in magic" and
"It's like trying to tell a stranger 'bout rock and roll."

Can music save your mortal soul?
And can you teach me how to dance real slow?

Dancing slow was an important part of early rock and roll dance
events -- but declined in importance through the 60's as things
like psychedelia and the 10-minute guitar solo gained prominence.

Well I know you're in love with him
'Cause I saw you dancing in the gym

Slowdancing COULD just be dancing, or it could be vertical
"making out". It wasn't hard to watch a couple slow-dancing
and figure out whether they had some sort of relationship, if
you knew anything about slow dancing. So just the fact they
were dancing didn't tell you anything, but if "I saw you
dancing in the gym" I could tell from watching whether
there was anything between you (figuratively :-). (Thanks
to Dave Tutelman for this note.)

You both kicked off your shoes

A reference to the beloved "sock hop". (Leather-soled street
shoes tear up wooden basketball floors, and rubber-soled sneakers
grip too much for dance moves, so dancers had to take off their shoes.)

Man, I dig those rhythm 'n' blues

Some history. Before the popularity of rock and roll, music, like
much else in the U. S., was highly segregated. The popular music of
black performers for largely black audiences was called, first,
"race music", later softened to rhythm and blues. In the early 50s,
as they were exposed to it through radio personalities such as
Allan Freed, white teenagers began listening, too. Starting around
1954, a number of songs from the rhythm and blues charts began
appearing on the overall popular charts as well, but usually in cover
versions by established white artists, (e. g. "Shake Rattle and Roll",
Joe Turner, covered by Bill Haley; "Sh-Boom", the Chords,
covered by the Crew-Cuts; "Sincerely", the Moonglows, covered by
the Mc Guire Sisters; Tweedle Dee, LaVerne Baker, covered by
Georgia Gibbs). By 1955, some of the rhythm and blues artists,
like Fats Domino and Little Richard were able to get records on
the overall pop charts. In 1956 Sun records added elements of
country and western to produce the kind of rock and roll tradition
that produced Buddy Holly. (Thanks to Barry Schlesinger for this
historical note. ---Rsk) (Oh...and Barry, Dave Tutelman wants to
know if you were Bronx Science class of '58.)

I was a lonely teenage broncin' buck
With a pink carnation and a pickup truck

"A White Sport Coat (And a Pink Carnation)", was a hit for
Marty Robbins in 1957. The pickup truck has endured as a symbol of
sexual independence and potency, especially in a Texas context.
(Also, Jimmy Buffet does a song about "a white sport coat and a pink
crustacean". :-) )

But I knew that I was out of luck
The day the music died
I started singing...

Refrain

(Verse 3)
Now for ten years we've been on our own

McLean was writing this song in the late 60's, about ten years after
the crash.

And moss grows fat on a rolling stone

It's unclear who the "rolling stone" is supposed to be. It could be
Dylan, since "Like a Rolling Stone" (1965) was his first major hit;
and since he was busy writing songs extolling the virtues of simple
love, family and contentment while staying at home (he didn't tour
from '66 to '74) and raking in the royalties. This was quite a
change from the earlier, angrier Dylan.

The "rolling stone" could also be Elvis, although I don't think he'd
started to pork out by the late sixties.

It could refer to rock and rollers in general, and the changes that
had taken place in the business in the 60's, especially the huge
amounts of cash some of them were beginning to make, and the
relative stagnation that entered the music at the same time.

Or, perhaps it's a reference to the stagnation in rock and roll.

Or, finally, it could refer to the Rolling Stones themselves;
a lot of musicians were angry at the Stones for "selling out".
Howard Landman points out that John Foxx of Ultravox was sufficiently
miffed to write a song titled "Life At Rainbow's End (For All The
Tax Exiles On Main Street)". The Stones at one point became
citizens of some other country merely to save taxes.

But that's not how it used to be
When the jester sang for the King and Queen

The jester is Bob Dylan, as will become clear later. There are several
interpretations of king and queen: some think that Elvis Presley is
the king, which seems pretty obvious. The queen is said to be either
Connie Francis or Little Richard. But see the next note.

An alternate interpretation is that this refers to the Kennedys
-- the king and queen of "Camelot" -- who were present at a
Washington DC civil rights rally featuring Martin Luther King.
(There's a recording of Dylan performing at this rally.)

In a coat he borrowed from James Dean

In the movie "Rebel Without a Cause", James Dean has a red windbreaker
that holds symbolic meaning throughout the film (see note at end).
In one particularly intense scene, Dean lends his coat to a guy who
is shot and killed; Dean's father arrives, sees the coat on the
dead man, thinks it's Dean, and loses it.

On the cover of "The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan", Dylan is wearing just
such as red windbreaker, and is posed in a street scene similar to
one shown in a well-known picture of James Dean.

Bob Dylan played a command performance for the Queen of England.
He was *not* properly attired, so perhaps this is a reference
to his apparel.

And a voice that came from you and me

Bob Dylan's roots are in American folk music, with people like
Pete Seeger and Woody Guthrie. Folk music is by definition the
music of the masses, hence the "...came from you and me".

Oh, and while the King was looking down
The jester stole his thorny crown

This could be a reference to Elvis's decline and Dylan's ascendance.
(i.e. Presley is looking down from a height as Dylan takes his place.)
The thorny crown might be a reference to the price of fame. Dylan has
said that he wanted to be as famous as Elvis, one of his early idols.

The courtroom was adjourned,
No verdict was returned.

This could be the trial of the Chicago Seven, but McLean seems
to be talking about music, not politics at this point in the song.
With that in mind, perhaps he meant that the arguments between
Dylan and Elvis fans over who was better just couldn't be settled.

And while Lennon read a book on Marx,

Literally, John Lennon reading about Karl Marx; figuratively, the
introduction of radical politics into the music of the Beatles.
(Of course, he could be referring to Groucho Marx, but that doesn't
seem quite consistent with McLean's overall tone. On the other hand,
some of the wordplay in Lennon's lyrics and books is reminiscint
of Groucho.) The "Marx-Lennon" wordplay has also been used by others,
most notably the Firesign Theatre on the cover of their album
"How Can You Be In Two Places At Once When You're Not Anywhere At All?".
Also, a famous French witticism was "Je suis Marxiste, tendance
Groucho."; "I'm a Marxist of the Groucho variety".

It's also a pun on "Lenin".

The quartet practiced in the park

There are two schools of thought about this; the obvious one is the
Beatles playing in Shea Stadium, but note that the previous line has
John Lennon *doing something else at the same time*. This tends to
support the theory that this is a reference to the Weavers, who were
blacklisted during the McCarthy era. McLean had become friends with
Lee Hays of the Weavers in the early 60's while performing in
coffeehouses and clubs in upstate New York and New York City.
He was also well-acquainted with Pete Seeger; in fact, McLean,
Seeger, and others took a trip on the Hudson river singing
anti-pollution songs at one point. Seeger's LP "God Bless the Grass"
contains many of these songs.

And we sang dirges in the dark

A "dirge" is a funeral or mourning song, so perhaps this is meant
literally...or, perhaps, this is a reference to some of the new
"art rock" groups which played long pieces not meant for dancing.

The day the music died.
We were singing...

Refrain

(Verse 4)
Helter Skelter in a summer swelter

"Helter Skelter" is a Beatles song which appears on the "white"
album. Charles Manson, claiming to have been "inspired" by the
song (through which he thought God and/or the devil were taking
to him) led his followers in the Tate-LaBianca murders.

Is "summer swelter" a reference to the "Summer of
Love" or perhaps to the "long hot summer" of Watts?

The birds flew off with the fallout shelter
Eight miles high and falling fast

The Byrd's "Eight Miles High" was on their late 1966 release
"Fifth Dimension". It was one of the first records to be widely
banned because of supposedly drug-oriented lyrics.

It landed foul on the grass

One of the Byrds was busted for possesion of marijuana.

The players tried for a forward pass

Obviously a football metaphor, but about what? It could be
the Rolling Stones, i.e. they were waiting for an opening which
really didn't happen until the Beatles broke up.

With the jester on the sidelines in a cast

On July 29, 1966, Dylan crashed his Triumph 55 motorcycle while
riding near his home in Woodstock, New York. He spent nine months
in seclusion while recuperating from the accident.

Now the halftime air was sweet perfume

Drugs, man.

Well, now, wait a minute; that's probably too obvious. It's possible
that this line and the next few refer to the 1968 Democratic National
Convention. The "sweet perfume" is probably tear gas.

While sergeants played a marching tune

Following from the thought above, the sergeants would be the Chicago
Police and the Illinois National Guard, who marched the protestors
out of the park and into jail.

Alternatively, this could refer to the Beatles' "Sgt. Pepper's
Lonely Hearts Club Band". Or, perhaps McLean refers to the
Beatles' music in general as "marching" because it's not music
for dancing. Or, finally, the "marching tune" could be the draft.

We all got up to dance
Oh, but we never got the chance

The Beatles' 1966 Candlestick Park concert only lasted 35 minutes.

Or, following on from the previous comment, perhaps
he meant that there wasn't any music to dance to.

'Cause the players tried to take the field,
The marching band refused to yield.

Some folks think this refers to either the 1968 Deomcratic Convention
or Kent State; following on from the Chicago reference above,
this could be another comment on protests. But perhaps the players
are the protestors at Kent State, and the marching band the
Ohio National Guard...

This could be a reference to the dominance of the Beatles on the rock
and roll scene. For instance, the Beach Boys released "Pet Sounds"
in 1966 -- an album which featured some of the same sort of studio
and electronic experimentation as "Sgt. Pepper" (1967) -- but the album
sold poorly.

This might also be a comment about how the dominance of the Beatles
in the rock world led to more "pop art" music, leading in turn
to a dearth of traditional rock and roll.

Or finally, this might be a comment which follows up on the earlier
reference to the draft: the government/military-industrial-complex
establishment refused to accede to the demands of the peace movement.

Do you recall what was revealed,
The day the music died?
We started singing

Refrain

(Verse 5)
And there we were all in one place

Woodstock.

A generation lost in space

Some people think this is a reference to the US space program,
which it might be; but that seems a bit too literal. Perhaps this
is a reference to hippies, who were sometimes known as the
"lost generation", partially because of their particularly acute
alientation from their parents, and partially because of their
presumed preoccupation with drugs.

It could also be a reference to the awful TV
show, "Lost in Space", whose title was sometimes
used as a synonym for someone who was rather high...
but I keep hoping that McLean had better taste. :-)

With no time left to start again

The "lost generation" spent too much time being stoned, and had wasted
their lives? Or, perhaps, their preference for psychedelia had pushed
rock and roll so far from Holly's music that it couldn't be retrieved.

So come on Jack be nimble Jack be quick

Probably a reference to Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones;
"Jumpin' Jack Flash" was released in May, 1968.

Jack Flash sat on a candlestick

The Stones' Candlestick park concert? (unconfirmed)

'Cause fire is the devil's only friend

"Sympathy for the Devil", by the Stones -- seems to fit with
some of the surrouding material.

It's possible that this is a reference to the Grateful
Dead's "Friend of the Devil". But I doubt it.

An alternative interpretation of the last four lines is that they
may refer to Jack Kennedy and his quick decisions during the
Cuban Missile Crisis; the candlesticks/fire refer to ICBMs
and nuclear war.

And as I watched him on the stage
My hands were clenched in fists of rage
No angel born in hell
Could break that satan's spell

While playing a concert at the Altamont Speedway in 1968, the Stones
appointed members of the Hell's Angels to work security (on the
advice of the Grateful Dead). In the darkness near the front of the
stage, a young man named Meredith Hunter was beaten and stabbed to
death -- by the Angels. Public outcry that the song "Sympathy for
the Devil" had somehow incited the violence caused the Stones to
drop the song from their show for the next six years. This incident
is chronicled in the documentary film "Gimme Shelter".

It's also possible that McLean views the Stones as being negatively
inspired (remember, he had an extensive religious background) by
virtue of "Sympathy for the Devil", "Their Satanic Majesties' Request"
and so on. I find this a bit puzzling, since the early Stones
recorded a lot of "roots" rock and roll, including Buddy Holly's
"Not Fade Away".

And as the flames climbed high into the night
To light the sacrificial rite

The most likely interpretation is that McLean is still talking
about Altamont, and in particular Mick Jagger's prancing and posing
while it was happening. The sacrifice is Meredith Hunter, and the
bonfires around the area provide the flames.

(It could be a reference to Jimi Hendrix burning his Stratocaster
at the Monterey Pop Festival, but that was in 1967 and this verse
is set in 1968.)

I saw satan laughing with delight

If the above is correct, then Satan would be Jagger.

The day the music died
He was singing...

Refrain

(Verse 6)
I met a girl who sang the blues

Janis Joplin.

And I asked her for some happy news
But she just smiled and turned away

Janis died of an accidental heroin overdose on October 4, 1970.

I went down to the sacred store
Where I'd heard the music years before

There are two interpretations of this: The "sacred store" was
Bill Graham's Fillmore West, one of the great rock and roll venues
of all time. Alternatively, this refers to record stores, and their
longtime (then discontinued) practice of allowing customers to
preview records in the store. (What year did the Fillmore West
close?)

It could also refer to record stores as "sacred" because this is where
one goes to get "saved".
(See above lyric "Can music save your mortal soul?")

But the man there said the music wouldn't play

Perhaps he means that nobody is interested in hearing Buddy Holly
et.al.'s music? Or, as above, the discontinuation of the in-store
listening booths.

It's also possible that this line and the two before it refer
to the closing of the Fillmore West in 19?? -- but I've been
unable to verify that it was actually closed when this song
was written.

And in the streets the children screamed

"Flower children" being beaten by police and National Guard troops;
in particular, perhaps, the People's Park riots in Berkeley in
1969 and 1970.

The lovers cried and the poets dreamed

The trend towards psychedelic music in the 60's?

But not a word was spoken
The church bells all were broken

It could be that the broken bells are the dead musicians: neither can
produce any more music.

And the three men I admire most
The Father Son and Holy Ghost

Holly, The Big Bopper, and Valens
-- or --
Hank Williams, Presley and Holly
-- or --
JFK, Martin Luther King, and Bobby Kennedy
-- or --
or the Catholic aspects of the deity.
McLean had attended several Catholic schools.

They caught the last train for the coast

Could be a reference to wacky California religions, or could just be
a way of saying that they've left (or died -- western culture often
uses "went west" as a synonym for dying). Or, perhaps this is a
reference to the famous "God is Dead" headline in the New York Times.
David Cromwell has suggested that this is an oblique reference to
a line in Procol Harum's "Whiter Shade of Pale", but I'm not sure
I buy that; for one thing, all of McLean's musical references are
to much older "roots" rock and roll songs; and secondly, I think it's
more likely that this line shows up in both songs simply because it's
a common cultural metaphor.

The day the music died

This tends to support the conjecture that the "three
men" were Holly/Bopper/Valens, since this says that
they left on the day the music died.

And they were singing...