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
<pause> 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...
Refrain (2x)
Chords to the song:
The song appears to be in G; the chords are:
Intro: G Bm/F# Em
. Am .
C .
Em
. D .
. .
G
Bm/F# Em . Am
. C .
Em
. A .
D . .
.
Em
. Am .
Em . Am .
C
G/B Am . C
. D .
G
Bm/F# Em . Am
. C .
G
Bm/F# Em . Am
. D .
G
. C .
G . D
.
Chorus: G . C
. G .
D .
G
. C .
G . D
.
G
. C .
G . D
.
Em
. . .
A . .
. (all but
Em
. . .
D . .
. last chorus)
C
. D .
G C G
. (last chorus)
[ January 2000 update: currently being rewritten. ]
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This particularly enigmatic song has been discussed at least once a
year
since Usenet has had a newsgroup for discussing music. These
discussions
frequently repeat themselves, but occasionally introduce new information
and new interpretations. Having watched this process repeat itself
for
fifteen years, I've created this, the annotated "American Pie".
This posting consists of: the lyrics to the song (left-justified) with
comments (indented); the chords, for those who'd like to tackle it;
some miscellaneous notes; and references. Comments are most welcome;
comments backed up with references are *very* welcome.
The roots of this posting are in the "Great American Pie" Usenet discussion
of 1983; much of it comes from wombat's (the original wombat, not me)
posting in net.music on June 16, 1985. As Robert Williams has
pointed
out to me, the entire song can be viewed as one big projective test,
so
interpretations vary quite a bit. I've tried to be inclusive
while
also indicating which ones I buy into and which I don't; your mileage
may vary. Note that Don McLean has been rather steadfastly
silent on this over the years; my hunch is that he derives a great
deal of quiet amusement from our attempts to dissect his lyrics.
A few years back, while being interviewed by Bob Costas on the "Later"
TV show, he was fairly surprised to find out that his song had
so much meaning.
Recently, many people have inquired as to why I just don't ask
Don McLean what he meant. Well...I probably could do that.
I'll bet
that he's online *somewhere*. But I think that it's much more
fun for
all of us to speculate and debate and discuss what we think it means.
In many ways, it tells us more about ourselves, and about what our
music
and culture mean to us.
Besides, he gave us this song, which is one of the classics of
our time; I don't feel that we can rightfully ask any more of him.
So, buy his records and tapes and CDs and attend his shows; but please
don't bug him over this one song -- I have a hunch that he's had enough
of it over the years.
I must also tip my hat to Cecil Adams, whose "Straight Dope"
columns and books have been a source of joy and information to me since
I discovered them in the Chicago Reader years ago. If there is
any
merit in this article's contents, credit Uncle Cecil for inspiring
it.
(And my thanks to Ed Zotti for getting this article mentioned in
the latest S.D. book, "The Return of the Straight Dope". Go forth
and buy it and drink deeply from the fountain of wisdom.)
Oh -- and about that. When Uncle Cecil ran a note about American
Pie
in his "Straight Dope" column on June 25, 1993 or so, it included some
additional material from an "interview" with McLean and Casey Kasem.
Several weeks later, the following letter appeared (August 3, 1993):
THE LAST WORD (PROBABLY) ON "AMERICAN PIE"
As you can imagine, over
the years I've been asked many times
to discuss and explain my
song "American Pie" [June25]. I have
never discussed the lyrics,
but have admitted to the Holly
reference in the opening
stanzas. I dedicated the album
American Pie to Buddy Holly
as well in order to connect the
entire statement to Holly
in hopes of bringing about an
interest in him, which subsequently
did occur.
This brings me to my point.
Casey Kasem never spoke to me and
none of the references he
confirms my making were made by me.
You will find many "interpretations"
of my lyrics but none of
them by me. Isn't this fun?
Sorry to leave you all on
your own like this but long ago I
realized that songwriters
should make their statements and move
on, maintaining a dignified
silence.
- Don McLean
Castine, Maine
So, folks, let's leave the man alone. (Special thanks to Malcolm
Humes
for sending this along.)
Incidentally, gentle reader, you'll find a revision history and credits
at the end of all this. Many thanks to those who have contributed.
Rich Kulawiec
rsk@itw.com
Other notes:
"Killing Me Softly With His Song", Roberta Flack's Grammy Award-winning
single of 1973, was written by Charles Gimble and Norman Fox about
McLean.
The Big Bopper's real name was J.P. Richardson. He was a DJ for
a
Texas radio station, KTRM, who had one very big novelty hit, the very
well
known "Chantilly Lace". There was a fourth person who was going
to
ride the plane. There was room for three, ahd the fourth person
lost
the toss -- or should I say won the toss. His name is Waylon
Jennings...and to this day he refuses to talk about the crash.
( Jennings was the bass player for Holly's band at the time.
Some people
say that Holly had chartered the plane for his band, but that Valens
and/or Richardson was sick that night and asked to take the place of
the band members.)
About the "coat he borrowed from James Dean": James Dean's red
windbreaker is important throughout the film, not just at the end.
When he put it on, it meant that it was time to face the world, time
to
do what he thought had to be done, and other melodramatic but
thoroughly enjoyable stuff like that. The week after the movie
came
out, virtually every clothing store in the U.S. was sold out
of red windbreakers. Remember that Dean's impact was similar
to Dylan's: both were a symbol for the youth of their time, a reminder
that they had something to say and demanded to be listened to.
American Pie is supposed to be the name of the plane that crashed,
containing the three musicians who died. (Reported by Ronald van Loon
from the discussion on American Pie, autumn 1991, on rec.music.folk)
Dan Stanley mentioned an interesting theory involving all of this;
roughly put, he figures that if Holly hadn't died, then we would not
have suffered through the Fabian/Pat Boone/et.al. era...and as a consequence,
we wouldn't have *needed* the Beatles -- Holly was moving pop music
away
from the stereotypical boy/girl love lost/found lyrical ideas, and
was
recording with unique instrumentation and techniques...things that
Beatles
wouldn't try until about 1965. Perhaps Dylan would have stuck
with the
rock and roll he played in high school, and the Byrds never would have
created an amalgam of Dylan songs and Beatle arrangements.
Lynn Gold tells me that "Life" magazine carried an annotated version
of American Pie when the song came out; does anybody have a copy?
If so, please contact me, because I'd love to see it.
Still other :-) notes:
Andrew Whitman brings a sense of perspective to all of this by noting:
>As to what they threw off the bridge, Bobbie Gentry once went on record
with
>the statement that it was the mystery that made the song, and that
the mystery
>would remain unsolved. Don McLean later used the same device
to even greater
>success with "American Pie," which triggered a national obsession
on figuring
>out the "real meaning" of the song.
Well, probably not a national obsession, but certainly the life's work
of many talented scholars. According to the latest edition of
the
"American Pie Historical Interpretive Digest" (APHID), noted McLean
historian Vincent Vandeman has postulated that cheezy country
songs may have played a much more prominent role in the epic
composition than had originally been thought. In particular,
the
"widowed bride," usually supposed to be either Ella Holly or
Joan Rivers, may in fact be Billie Jo. According to this radical
exegesis, the "pink carnation" of McLean's song is probably what
was thrown off the Tallahatchie Bridge, and was later found by
the lonely, teenaged McLean as he wandered drunkenly on the levee.
Of course, such a view poses problems. McLean vehemently denies
any
knowledge of Choctaw Ridge, and any theory linking the two songs
must surely address this mysterious meeting place of Billie Jo and
her husband Billy Joe. Vandeman speculates that Choctaw Ridge
may
have been the place McLean drove his Chevy after drinking whiskey
and rye, and that McLean may have been unaware of the name because
of his foggy mental state. Still, there appear to be many tenuous
connections in Vandeman's interpretation - Tammy Wynette as the
girl who sang the blues, the proposed affair between Wynette and
Billie Joe which later led to d-i-v-o-r-c-e and Billy Joe's
suicide, the mysterious whereabouts of George Jones, and why
McLean insisted on driving a Chevy to the levee instead of a more
economical Japanese car.
My own view is that none of it makes much sense. Vandeman's theory
is intriguing, but it seems far more logical to hold to the traditional
interpretation of "American Pie" as an eschatological parable of
nuclear destruction and the rebirth of civilization on Alpha Centauri.
[ Thanks, Andrew. I'll take it under advisement. Oh, and
I've
forwarded this to Mulder and Scully for their take on it. ;-) ---Rsk
]
References:
Billboard Book of Number One Hits, by Fred Bronson, Billboard, 1985.
Encyclopedia of Pop, Rock and Soul, revised edition, by Irwin Stambler,
St. Martin's Press, 1989.
Return of the Straight Dope, by Cecil Adams, Ballatine Books, 1994, p.398.
Rock Chronicle, by Dan Formento, Delilah/Putnam, 1982.
Rock Day by Day, by Steve Smith and the Diagram Group, Guiness Books, 1987.
Rock Topicon, by Dave Marsh, Sandra Choron and Debbie Geller,
Contemporary Books, 1984.
Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll, ed. by Jon Pareles and
Patricia Romanowski, Rolling Stone Press/Summit Books, 1983.
Rolling Stone Record Guide, ed. by Dave Marsh with John Swenson, Random
House/Rolling Stone Press, 1979.
The Sixties: Years of Hope, Days of Rage, by Todd Gitlin, Bantam Book, 1987.
Smiling Through the Apocalypse: Esquire's History of the Sixties, ed.
by
Harold Hayes, Esquire Press, 1987.
It was Twenty Years ago Today: An Anniversary Celebration of 1967, by
Derek Taylor, Fireside, 1987.
Don Wegeng mentioned that some of his comments came from an interpretation
broadcast by radio station WIFE (AM) in Indianapolis, which was the
most
popular station in Indy when American Pie was a hit.
Credits, in rough chronological order:
(The names of these first
few are lost in the mists of the
heady early days of Usenet.
If they'd like to step forward,
I'd be happy to add their
real names to their !-land addresses.)
wombat@ccvaxa.uucp
ihuxr!steck
steiny@idsvax.uuucp
ihldt!bnp
sbcs!murray
fortune!grw
iws@rayssdb.ray.com (Ihor
W. Slabicky)
tugs@csri.toronto.edu (Stephen
Hull)
dko@calmasd.ge.com (Dan
O'Neill)
ssm@calmasd.ge.com (Sharon
McBroom)
mfterman@phoenix.princeton.edu
(Martin Terman)
rsk@gynko.circ.upenn.edu
(Rich Kulawiec)
tim@tcom.stc.co.uk (Tim
Kennedy)
rns@tortuga.sandiego.ncr.com
(Rick Schubert)
paul@moore.com (Paul Maclauchlan)
rvloon@cv.ruu.nl (Ronald
van Loon)
wirth@sdsc.edu (Colleen
Wirth)
nelson@berlioz.nsc.com (Taed
Nelson)
bschlesinger@nssdca.gsfc.nasa.gov
(Barry Schlesinger)
Thomas.Sullivan@cs.cmu.edu
(Tom Sullivan)
H.Edwards@massey.ac.nz (Howard
Edwards)
gerry@macadam.mpce.mq.edu.au
(Gerry Myerson)
rice@mcz.harvard.edu
dave@jato.jpl.nasa.gov (Dave
Hayes)
rlwilliams@gallua.bitnet
(Robert L. Williams)
bee@ms.uky.edu (Elizabeth
Gilliam)
chris@gandalf.ca (Chris
Sullivan)
dtpilkey@mailbox.syr.edu
(David T. Pilkey)
Dan Stanley at Fitchburg
State College (courtesy of
Timothy J. Stanley, tjs@z.eecs.umich.edu)
lgold@cadence.com (Lynn
Gold)
ajw@cbnews.cb.att.com (Andrew
J. Whitman)
landman@hal.com (Howard
Landman)
wegeng@eso.mc.xerox.com
(Don Wegeng)
al@jupiter.nmt.edu (Al Stavely)
David (D.C.) Cromwell <cromwell@bnr.ca>
Jeffrey Ma (jma@pediatrics.medsch.ucla.edu)
Jim Burrill (James_N._Burrill.OSBU_North@xerox.com)
Jim Jewett <jewett@medici.ils.nwu.edu>
Dave Tutelman <dtutelman@attmail.att.com>
HISCAP@LUSTA.latrobe.edu.au
exuhag@exu.ericsson.se (James
Hague)
Brian.Scearce@Eng.Sun.COM
(Brian Scearce)
jimh@ci.ft-wayne.in.us (James
Haley)
sjsmith@cs.UMD.EDU (Stephen
Joseph Smith)
kjbogart@midway.uchicago.edu
(Kevin John Bogart)
Revision history:
1/20/92 Constructed from
various old postings
1/27/92 Added comments from
Usenetters on first draft
2/3/92 More comments
folded in; reposted today, the
anniversary of The Day the Music Died
8/18/92 Added comments generated
by the Februrary posting.
1/3/93 Caught up on
lots of updates that have been languishing
in my inbound mail queue for months.
4/2/93 Rearranged
much of the text, incorporated more feedback
from readers, and moved the credits and history to the end.
2/3/95 Reposted again
on the day the music died, even though
many of the changes aren't in yet.
2/3/97 Massively updated
and reposted again on the day the music died.
Submitted to the FAQ queue so that it'll come out once
a month in the future.
