“A long, long time ago… I can still remember how that music used to make me smile” (McLean), recalling a time from which American culture and optimism almost died. Don McLean’s 1971 LP, American Pie, caught large-wave popularity through many generations since its release with enigmatic lyrics. Throughout McLean's foreshadowing and metaphorical lyricism, he declares this song as a turning point in American culture and how the optimism of the 1960s would translate into a downturn of the 1970s. This song not only captures McLean’s bleak visions of the future with detailed literary techniques but also tells a historical tale of how the day the music died through his point of view.
Cryptic lyrics are riddled throughout this song, not to confuse the listener, but to only explain his narrative. A few lines that are important to this piece are used to mention specific groups and artists such as, “The Beatles” as “the quartet”, “The Rolling Stones” as “Satan”, Bob Dylan as “the Jester”, Elvis Presley as “the King”, Janis Joplin as “a girl who sang the blues”, and most importantly, The Big Three; Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and the Big Bopper as “the Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost”. The tale starts with a brief account of McLean’s life as a paper delivery boy, reading the news of the Big Three's tragic plane crash accident on February 3rd, 1959 (Cott). The second verse is a rhetorical and moral question that references the Bible and poses a notion that music is almost like a religion, ”Do you believe in rock ‘n’ roll? Can music save your mortal soul?”. The third verse is where the cryptic lyrics come into play, referring to certain key artists with their nicknames to tell the culture change of rock ‘n’ roll, “While the king was looking down the Jester stole his thorny crown”, and how Elvis Presley declined in popularity while the upcoming artists, Bob Dylan, stole the spotlight. The lyrics later mention the Beatles as a quartet, foreshadowing the culture change otherwise known as the “British Invasion”. The fourth verse is not as quite significant with respect to cryptic lyricism but mentions the Beatles referring to their success after the death of the Big Three, because of their ability to release hit albums and singles, year after year. The fifth verse tracks back to the religious and moral theme again, but takes a darker tone, “And as the flames climbed high into the night To light the sacrificial rite I saw Satan laughing with delight The day the music died". McLean’s interpretation of this lyric has a clear negative emotion towards Mick Jagger and the Rolling Stones because he believes that the death of the Big Three gave rise to the new theme of the 60s "immorality and the loss of all innocence". Finally, the sixth verse takes a melancholic view with his reference to the late great Janis Joplin who died the year before his album release and also recalls his personal point of view on what the public reaction towards the death of the Big Three,” And in the streets: the children screamed, The lovers cried, and the poets dreamed.” The story that McLean tells is a depressing tale, but also shows his predictions to come true and how cultural changes in music proved this prediction to be true (James).
The elusive lyricism utilized by McLean tells a tale, however, the mysterious rhymes also are a survey of the past and a prediction of the future generations, specifically, the American youth. The tale begins with the Big Three dying in a plane crash, which was a nationwide tragedy because all three of the artists were established, folk-rock musicians. Alongside them, Elvis Presley was crowned the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll, but Presley's off-stage issues came with negative publicity and Bob Dylan stole the show in place of the King (Starr-Waterman). The song also depicts the death of folk rock ‘n’ roll via the aforementioned artists. The British Invasion made the previous era of folk rock ‘n’ roll an old, but fond memory. This shift in culture made British bands like the Beatles and the Rolling Stones extremely popular, which brings the audience up-to-date in his narrative in which McLean reveals his prediction about American culture. The prediction that McLean makes comes by the chorus that is repeated several times throughout the song,” Bye-bye, Miss American Pie Drove my Chevy to the levee, but the levee was dry And them good old boys were drinking whiskey 'n rye Singing, ‘That’ll be the day that I die This’ll be the day that I die’”(McLean). A few lines that are key to his predictions are about “the levee” and “them good old boys” because the levee was a typical location for teenagers to go out and participate in rebellious activities like racing and under-age drinking. In an interview with Christie’s catalog reported by People’s Magazine, McLean gives his input about his prediction,”’ Basically, in “American Pie” things are heading in the wrong direction…. don’t know whether you consider that wrong or right, but it is a morality song in a sense”(Nudd). His dreary view on the future came true, and the cultural direction went from the swinging optimism of the 1960s into the morally questionable 1970s.
The transition from the 1960s to the 1970s was a cultural change for America since two major events had taken place: The Vietnam War and the Civil Rights movement. The United States went from an optimistic 1960s to a morally distraught 1970s that was centered around nihilism and hedonism. McLean briefly addresses this point in verse five, line 2,” there we were all in one place A generation lost in space With no time left to start again.” This is a nihilistic perspective; the generation that McLean came from was growing older and kept running into issues like racial division, Vietnam War, the Watergate scandal, and an energy crisis which led his generation into a hedonistic era. He has a specific lyric in the song that points out this change of optimism towards nihilistic and hedonistic values, ”No angel born in hell Could break that Satan’s spell And as the flames climbed high into the night To light the sacrificial rite I saw Satan laughing with delight.” He uses Satan as another religious figure or reference in the song to portray that there was a higher power in control of a negative shift in American culture. This shift not only affected McLean’s views and influence on life, but a few of these changes influenced this song and it was reflected throughout his album (Moyer).
The most significant event that influenced his album was the failure of McLean’s first marriage, which contributed to his negative view of the 1970s. However, there are positive influences for McLean’s production of the album, the first being Buddy Holly. Holly is already a significant influencer of the song, but McLean idolized him as a child and also dedicated the album to him (Junior). Additionally, the British Invasion also had an impact on McLean as well, because of the Beatles album, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, also influenced this album because he envisioned these albums being similar in content. This song and album as a whole was a masterpiece from start to finish with great historic value and predictions.
“American Pie" by Don McLean is an artistic feat that captured the scenes of the future and a recall of the past that is supported by mysterious lyrics, rhetoric, and positive and negative themes on morality. The heavy foreshadowing and metaphorical lyricism are used articulately to declare this song as a turning point in American culture and how the buoyancy of the 1960s would translate into a hedonistic 1970s. This eight-minute thirty-three-second song was a success that defined a generation and explained to future generations that this “American Pie” was not all that sweet.
Works Cited
McLean, Don. “Don McLean – American Pie (Song).” 26 May 1971,
“Don McLean – American Pie (Album).” Record Plant Studios, New York City.
Cott, Jonathan. "The Last Days of Buddy Holly." Rolling Stone, Feb 05, 2009, pp. 48-51, 77. ProQuest, https://login.cyrano.ucmo.edu/login?url=https://search-proquest-com.cyrano.ucmo.edu/docview/1198387?accountid=6143.
Crilly, Rob. “Don McLean Reveals Secrets behind American Pie.” The Telegraph, Telegraph Media Group, 7 Apr. 2015, www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/11518734/Don-McLean-reveals-secrets-behind-American-Pie.html.
Junior, Chris M. "Not Fade Away: Buddy Holly's Legacy Raves on." Goldmine, vol. 30, no. 11, May 28, 2004, pp. 9-9, 27. ProQuest, https://login.cyrano.ucmo.edu/login?url=https://search-proquest-com.cyrano.ucmo.edu/docview/1502825?accountid=6143.
Morgan, James. “What Do American Pie's Lyrics Mean?” BBC News, BBC, 7 Apr. 2015, www.bbc.com/news/magazine-32196117.
Moyer, Justin Wm. “Gloomy Don McLean Reveals Meaning of 'American Pie' - and Sells Lyrics for $1.2 Million.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 3 May 2019, www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/04/08/gloomy-don-McLean-reveals-meaning-of-American-pie-and-sells-lyrics-for-1-2-million/.
Nudd, Tim. “Don McLean Opens Up About the Meaning of 'American Pie'.” PEOPLE.com, People Magazine, 7 Apr. 2015, people.com/celebrity/don-mclean-talks-american-pie-song-meaning-before-manuscript-auction/.
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. EMI and Regent Sound, London.Starr, Larry, and Christopher Waterman. American Popular Music from Minstrelsy to MP3. Oxford University Press, 2018.
