Bye, bye Miss American Pie
Drove my Chevy to the levee but the levee was dry
And them good ole boys were drinking whiskey and rye
Singin’ this’ll be the day that I die
This’ll be the day that I die
Don McLean, 1971
Chesapeake Beach, MD – The Recording Industry Association of America had a project called Songs of the Century (20th). the top 5 songs on that 365-song list were:
1. “Over the Rainbow” by Judy Garland
2. “White Christmas” by Bing Crosby
3. ‘This Land is Your Land” by Woody Guthrie
4. “Respect” by Aretha Franklin
5. “American Pie” by Don McLean
It is fitting that American Pie would make the list because in many ways the song is an anthem of the history and popular culture of the mid-20th century. The song has made a good living for the author/performer Don McLean ever since and to this day it is the main reason why people attend his concerts, such as the one held Sept. 2 as part of the Rock the Dock series at Chesapeake Bay Resort and Spa.
More about the concert later, but first let’s focus on American Pie. What does it mean? That’s the question asked of McLean repeatedly. For many years McLean, who is now 70, has been reluctant to talk about it, maintaining the poet’s stance of the meaning is left for the eyes and ears of the beholder. And American Pie is indeed a work of poetry.
But recently McLean auctioned the song’s original manuscript for $1.5 million that included notes that described the song. In an interview at the time, he said, “Basically in American Pie things are headed in the wrong direction….It (life) is becoming less idyllic. I don’t know whether you consider that wrong or right but it is a morality song in a sense.”
Okay, sure if you say so Don! But the song obviously had as its inspiration that plane crash on Feb. 3, 1959 that killed Buddy Holly, J.P. Richardson (the Big Bopper) and Richie Valens, almost assuredly “the Day the Music Died.”
McLean reveals in an American Pie verse the impact on him when he first learned about the plane crash while he was folding newspapers for his delivery route when he was 13 years old:
But February made me shiver
With every paper I’d deliver
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
Something touched me deep inside
The day the music died
The song is replete with references to rock and roll singers and songs. Elvis Presley is the “king” and Bob Dylan is the jester. And there are apparently some autobiographical moments in American Pie. “Drove the Chevy to the levee but the levee was dry,” reportedly is something from his past.
McLean’s recent revelations could help us understand the line “Do you have faith in God above” and the mysterious:
And the three men I admire the most
The Father, Son and the Holy Ghost
They caught the last train for the coast
The day the music died.
But the truth remains that the greatness of American Pie still lies in the eyes and ears of the beholder. It’s one of the those that when you hear it again, as did the audience Sept. 2 in Chesapeake Beach, the music hardly dies, but rolls around in your head for days, with random lines popping in almost uncontrollably, such as “Did you write the book of love,” or “I was a lonely teenage broncin’ buck,” or “Helter skelter in a summer swelter.”
This reviewer was in radio during the time American Pie was released and I still remember it as the song that we played when we needed a bathroom break. It’s 8 minutes and 30 seconds, topped only in radio lore by Arlo Guthrie’s Alice’s Restaurant (16:36), which we rarely played.
As this reviewer was walking in the parking lot towards the venue someone noticed my press badge and asked what is going on and I said it’s a Don McLean concert. American Pie, I said. The man looked at me and said he could sing that better than Don McLean. I said I could sing it too, so in the parking lot we preceded to do a duo of the opening lines. It’s definitely one of those songs with staying power.
The somewhat sad thing (keeping in mind that $1.5 million auction) is that Don McLean is a singer/songwriter with a lot more to offer that just one song, as he showed in the long set at the Rock the Dock concert. The set started somewhat slowly as if he was bored, but he quickly warmed up to his own music and the appreciative crowd.
By the time he said he always liked to play a Buddy Holly song (hint, hint) and launched into “Everyday” everything seemed fine with him and with those of us in the audience.
McLean described his music likes as being eclectic and his performance showed that ranging from standards such as Judy Garland’s “When We Were Young” to Roy Orbison’s “Crying” to a lot of rockabilly and folk rock, including many songs penned by him, including the hit “And I Love You So.”
Interestingly he told the audience that Perry Como’s last hit was a version of his “And I Love You So.” He attended Villanova (I didn’t do very well) and while he was there who should he see parked in the middle of the campus but Perry Como waiting to pick up his son.
His poeticism comes through in the songs he has written. For instance, one I had never heard before from the American Pie album includes the line “I’ve heard about people like me but I never made the connection.”
McLean said his band members have been with him forever and he introduced them. They are an accomplished group, He asked for a loud round of applause for them, “We want to have you be a proverbial force so we can do more for you,” he edged on the audience.
He slipped American Pie into the set about three-quarters of the way through, bringing everyone to their feet, causing everyone to join with him in the refrain and by the end creating a frenzy. While most performers do an encore off another song. McLean did an encore of the opening verses of American Pie. It was a good move, appreciated by everyone. And then he continued playing for a half dozen more songs
Opening act for McLean was 2 4 U Band. In a gracious moment, McLean praised the group’s lead singer Kathy, saying he really enjoyed her music.
Contact Dick Myers at dick.myers@thebaynet.com
