In 2022 Don unpicked some of the references in a documentary celebrating the song's 50th anniversary, and said that ultimately it was a fictional, impressionistic piece. It acknowledges the influence those players had on McLean becoming a musician himself ("And I knew if I had my chance/ That I could make those people dance"), and musings on the power of music ("Do you believe in rock 'n' roll? / Can music save your mortal soul?").įrom that starting point, though, the song becomes a whirling storm of impenetrable nods and references that are open to all sorts of interpretation.ĭon McLean - Children's Book, "American Pie: A Fable”. The song directly references the young paperboy Don finding out about the crash on the newspaper front pages ("But February made me shiver/ With every paper I'd deliver"). "If it was over eight minutes, it could have been 16." What is 'American Pie' about?ĭon McLean plays a free show at Hyde Park in 1975.Īs we've already said, and everyone already knows, the main influence behind the song was The Day The Music Died, the tragic plane crash that killed Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and The Big Bopper.
"He just kept writing," Proffer told The Guardian. So on the single, it was split into two parts: side one of the 7" was four minutes and 11 seconds, and side two was four minutes and 31 seconds.ĭocumentary maker Spencer Proffer revealed that there were plenty more lyrics that never even made the cut. That's obviously much too long for a 45rpm single, and the "invention" of the 12" single was still about four years away. On the American Pie album, it clocks in at eight minutes and 36 seconds.
The word "epic" is overused, but 'American Pie' is just that. A Celebration of American Pie - As Featured on KTLA (Los Angeles)
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