When the RIAA assembled their Songs of the Century project of listing the most important songs of the 20th century, “American Pie” was the fifth song on that list.Ī New York native, Don was drawn to folk music first – not rock & roll -and fell in with Fred Hellerman and Erik Darling of The Weavers, which was Pete Seeger’s group. Released in 1971 from the album of the same name, it went to number one in America, where it stayed for four weeks.

It’s his magnum opus, and though it stretched what was considered a reasonable time-limit for a radio single from the accepted 3 minutes to more than twice that, and also accepted limits of content, it struck a chord then which continues to resound to this day. He coined the term “the day the music died” to paint the scene and its aftermath of a tragedy made mythic by its compounded horror and impact on the country and its popular music: the triple death on Februof Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and JP Richardson, the “Big Bopper” in a plane crash. He picked up old forms common in folk music both Irish and American, which in turn echoed traditions of romantic poetry: long, rhymed epics that tell compelling, often dark, spiritual, and mysterious narratives which gain momentum in meter, with slowly unfolding force.īut in American popular music, few songwriters wrote epics, and none ever attempted anything so bold as to describe the rise and fall of rock & roll in an infectious and expansive radio-friendly pop song. Sure, Bob Dylan had written multiverse songs that blew our minds with expansive, poetic lyrics before this. Which is only one reason why Don McLean’s “American Pie” remains such a remarkable song. Which is no small feat: there are so many disparate aspects to songwriting one must master before gaining the knowhow, power and ability to write any song well, so it makes perfect sense.Įven those undisputed geniuses of song, from Gershwin, Stephen Foster, Woody Guthrie and Hank Williams to Dylan and The Beatles, Paul Simon and beyond, all had to master the form itself before doing their greatest work. Mostly the mission becomes about working within the form, and the challenge of discovering something new within this limited space. Stretching the form itself – that is something rarely tried mostly. They’re busy enough just trying to write a good song.

Most songwriters don’t try to do anything new.

Bye bye miss american pie song meaning