In an interview, Don Mclean was once asked....?

Question

So,what exactly does American Pie mean?" What was his reply?

Answer 1

Years after the original recordings, McLean said in 2000:

“ The song starts off with my memories of the death of Buddy Holly. But it moves on to describe America as I was seeing it and how I was fantasizing it might become, so it's part reality and part fantasy but I'm always in the song as a witness or as even the subject sometimes in some of the verses. ”

He later went on to say, "The song was written as my attempt at an epic song about America, and I used the imagery of music and politics to do that."[3]

Answer 2

It's basically a summary of rock music up until the early 1970s. Don McLean started it by how he reacted when he saw the newspaper headline that Buddy Holly had died. He had a job delivering newspapers at the time. The song goes on to mention Elvis, Bob Dylan, The Beatles in their Sgt. Pepper period, The Rolling Stones at Altamont, the Manson murders, and The Byrds. It's a little confusing but becomes quite clear if you familiarize yourself a bit with rock history. I think Madonna totally ruined the song when she covered it. She took out at least four of the verses and her version is pointless.