Don McLean: American Pie Meaning

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American Pie Lyrics

A long long time ago
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.

But February made me shiver
With every paper I'd...
↓ See the rest of these lyrics ↓

1.  

   anonymous

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   Feb 14th 2006, 22:28 report

   
   

   Another link to a very interesting and unique interpretation of American Pie's lyrics...
   
   www.roytaylorministries.com

   This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
   
   
   
   

2.  

   anonymous

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   Jun 1st 2006, 12:54 report

   
   

   Really good link. Takes it verse by verse...
   
   http://waxwolf.com/taper/americanpie.html

   
   
   
   

3.  

   anonymous

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   Mar 27th 2008, 22:51 report

   
   

   Part of the mystique of this song is Mclean's silence about what it means. He's joked it means he won't have to work again, and said people wouldn't believe him if he did tell them...

   
   
   
   

4.  

   anonymous

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   Mar 29th 2008, 13:57 report

   
   

   I asked my dad about this and he said it makes all sorts of references to rock bands, and everyone said rock n' roll would die. And I think this is from the voice of rock itself.
   
   Signed,
   
   Jackson Porteger

   
   
   
   

5.  

   anonymous

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   Sep 3rd 2008, 22:02 report

   
   

   I believe this song is a tribute to many celebrities and leaders that have been accidentally killed, assassinated etc. and basically the narrator thinks about all these things that happened while he was a teenager and as he is older it makes him sad to think there is more of this going on around him. Also in the line "I asked a girl for some happy news and she just smiled and turned away" I think he's talking about a girl he proposed to but she just gave him a polite answer and walked away out of his life.

   This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
   
   
   
   

6.  

   m320753

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   Sep 9th 2008, 10:11 report

   
   

   I too wrote an essay about this song from the youthful days as a paper bboy in suburban New Rochelle, N.Y. up to the time when he wrote this un believable classic song. It goes from the plane crash in Iowa to teenage crushes from Elvis to the Beatles and stones and the Jester (Dylan) I Would try hitting Don McLean and see all the good interpretations of this song. Incidentally Roberta Flack's "Killing Me Softly is about seeing McLean singing American Pie.

   
   
   
   

7.  

   m320753

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   Sep 9th 2008, 16:42 report

   
   

   This song is definitely not about the Holy Scriptures nor can it be about any thing in the bible. It is about Don's life after the plane crash in Iowa including but not limited to Dylan -the jester-Elvis the king-Janis the girl who sang the blues the Beatles the Marching band (Sgt. Pepper) a lost love in high school. The stones in two instances American Pie a time in the life of the U.S.A. when things were not complicated the 50s and early 60s.and more and more.

   
   
   
   

8.  

   anonymous

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   Sep 21st 2008, 18:52 report

   
   

   Early on and shortly after the song was released, I saw an interview with McClain on television. I believe it was Dick Cavett or Merv Griffin. McClain was asked directly what the meaning of the song was. His reply? The record company was after him to produce another song, and this is what he came up with. There was no meaning other than free thought being put to paper. Sorry if this pops a few bubbles but it’s the truth. Maybe it’s why McClain has never explained it, because there is no meaning. He could never make up as intricate and mystifying an explanation as that which was created by the collective imaginations of hundreds of minds. Besides, it keeps the song being played and sold. So, his so called “joking” comments about the meaning being that he will never have to work again is actually the truth, not a joke!

   This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
   
   
   
   

9.  

   Whiskey_angel

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   Oct 4th 2008, 06:12 report

   
   

   This site takes the song line by line and explains it really freaking well!!
   
   www.whrc-wi.org/americanpie.htm

   
   
   
   

10.  

    anonymous

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    Oct 19th 2008, 22:55 report

    
    

    The thing that I've learned that is most important about this song is simply "the day the music died" is when Buddy Holly (among others) went down in a plane crash. The Jester is Bob Dylan. The Quartet is the Beatles. The King... well, you figure it out. But the question that still plagues most I ask about it is "Who is Miss American Pie?"

    
    
    
    

11.  

    anonymous

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    Apr 12th 2009, 14:43 report

    
    

    This song is about buddy holly and how sucky rock has been since his death

    
    
    
    

12.  

    ReeseAlias

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    Jul 19th 2009, 17:07 report

    
    

    This song was written after Buddy Holly died in a plane crash. It was about how his music was amazing, but after he died there was just something missing in the music industry.

    
    
    
    

13.  

    bobola

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    Aug 7th 2010, 21:54 report

    
    

    Everyone is correct in asserting the tribute in the song, but the main thing about the song is it is written in dream sequences. Like it is all a dream and one word leads to a whole different dream sequence and it all jumps around like in a dream but is all tied together just like a dream.

    
    
    
    

14.  

    anonymous

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    Jan 10th 2011, 23:43 report

    
    

    Now the half-time air was sweet perfume
    (Pot smoke on the quad at Kent State University in Ohio)
    While the Sergeants played a marching tune
    (National Guard called to deal with the war protesters)
    We all got up to dance Oh, but we never got the chance 'Cause the players tried to take the field
    (students continued to protest)
    The marching band refused to yield
    (The Guard began with tear gas and a riot ensued ending in the shooting deaths of 4 students)
    Do you recall what was revealed
    The day the music died (America's youth changed that day forever)

    
    
    
    

15.  

    anonymous

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    Jan 10th 2011, 23:48 report

    
    

    All in one place, a generation lost in space is a no-brainer... Woodstock, NY

    
    
    
    

16.  

    anonymous

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    Mar 14th 2011, 08:07 report

    
    

    Now the half-time air was sweet perfume
    While sergeants played a marching tune
    We all got up to dance
    Oh, but we never got the chance
    'Cause the players tried to take the field
    The marching band refused to yield
    Do you recall what was revealed
    The day the music died?
    
    This is NOT about Kent State, or the riots in Chicago during the Democratic Convention.
    
    The reference here is this:
    
    The "Sergeants" are the Beatles, They played a concert at Candlestick Park in San Francisco that last a mere 30 minutes.
    
    (I lived near San Francisco and trust me people were PISSED about the concert)
    
    "We all got up to dance, but we never got the chance" refers to the shortness of the concert.
    
    "The marching band refused to yield" means the Beatles refused to do an encore.
    
    "Do you recall what was revealed" refers to John Lennon and Yoko Ono Posing naked on a record album.
    
    The entire album is about Music and artists and some of the events that happened from the 50-70's
    
    If you get the chance watch VH1's "Behind the Music" episode called "The Day the Music died" I can guarantee you the you won't have dry eyes by the end of the program. I believe "American Pie" was the name of the Airplane that they crashed in.

    
    
    
    

17.  

    m320753

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    Mar 14th 2011, 15:29 report

    
    

    while the reason the day the music died is about the plane crash in iowa it means more than that. it's about it's about elvis who was the king from 1955 til his death but how others came upon the music scene and changed the way the songs were sung. elvis recorded 3 minute songs written by other people and his crown was tarnished when dylan hit a nerve in music and changed it forever when he wrote and sang " like a polling stone" after that song the beatles started writing deeper and longer songs(the marching band of sargeant pepper) how a lady who sang the blues; nobody sang a blues song like janis joplin, or we clenched our fists at the stones with their sympathy for the devil and the show at altamont. the jester on te side line in a cast ( dylan's dropping out for a couple of years due to his accident? or vacation) when lvis tried to make his comeback to the top with his unbelievable concerts in vegas( before he made a fool of himself due to drugs) the beatles were so good they couldn't be topped. so it all comes down to the fact that people were devastated when that plane crashed, rock and roll and new types of music far out distanced anything the three victims could ever done had they lived. i'm sure i missed a few events but this is only my opinion. i could be wrong

    
    
    
    

18.  

    anonymous

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    Apr 17th 2011, 01:15 report

    
    

    The song is about the time Buddy Holly died in a plane crash. Many of the songs lyrics are in Buddy Holly's songs. Buddy Holly was a bigger star than most people realised. He died early and never reached his potential. He was also over shadowed by Elvis, Cash and the others that toured together at the time.

    
    
    
    

19.  

    anonymous

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    Feb 14th, 08:24 report

    
    

    Miss American Pie is Marilyn Monroe

    
    
    
    

20.  

    anonymous

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    Mar 6th, 10:32 report

    
    

    Sep12Jean Future of Forestry was absolutely aiuutefbl. I was held up.Your piece was great and I agree with you. I was brought up singing the Latin in the choir and then left the church for many years and when I came back it was to the guitar and folk music. I go to Mass not for the music but for what is on the altar. The music and singing should glorify what is going on. It is not a performance that I seek.God bless you.