American Pie

Don Mclean - American pie (live)
here

Elton John - Imagine
here

Good bye Norma Jeane (Elton John) aka Marilyn Monroe
here

Happy Birthday Mr. President (Marilyn Monroe to JFK)
here

Elton John - Candle In The Wind - Lady Di Funeral - 1997
here

Garden Party (a tribute to Ricky Nelson)
here

Elvis Presley - Live- Last Concert -My Way
here

here
American Pie
The analysis and interpretation of Don McLean's song lyrics
A long, long time ago...

"American Pie" reached #1 in 1972, shortly after it was released. Buddy Holly ;
unfortunately, 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.

Sociologists credit teenagers with the popularity of Rock and Roll, as a part of
the Baby boomer generation, they found themselves in a very influencial
position. Their shear number were the force behind most of our country's recent
major transitions. McLean was a teenager in 1959 and he begins by simply
commenting that the music had an appealing quality to him as well as the
millions of other teens. McLean also had an intense desire to entertain as a
musician. His dream, to play in a band at high school dances, was the dream of
many young boys who wanted to make people dance to Rock and Roll.
But February made me shiver,

Buddy Holly died on February 3, 1959, in a plane crash in Iowa during a
snowstorm. Its rumored that the name of the plane was: American Pie.
With every paper I'd deliver,

Don McLean's only job besides being a full-time singer/song writer 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 tragically 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,

**Don McLean dated a Miss America candidate during a pageant and broke up with
her on February 3, 1959. (Unconfirmed interpretation)
So its probably...
Just a reference to the plane, "American Pie" that crahed.
I 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."

Driving the Chevy to the levee almost certainly refers to the three college
students whose murder was the subject of the film 'Mississippi Burning.' The
students were attempting to register as black voters, and after being killed by
bigoted thugs their bodies were buried in a levee. Them good ol' boys being:
Holly, Valens, and the Big Bopper, They were singing about their death on
February 3. One of Holly's hits was "That'll be the Day"; the chorus contains
the line "That'll be the day that I die."
(Verse 2) Did you write the book of love,

"The Book of Love" by the Monotones; hit in 1958."Oh I wonder, wonder who...
who, who wrote the book of love?"
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." It was
difficult to tell if it was what McLean was referencing. Anyone know for sure?
There is also an old Sunday School song that goes:"Jesus loves me this I know,
for the Bible tells me so" McLean was somewhat religious.

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?

Music was believed to "save the soul" and slow dancing was an important part of
early rock and roll dance events. Dancing declined in importance through the
60's as things like psychedelia and the 10-minute guitar solo gained prominence.
McLean was asking many questions about the early rock 'n roll in an attempt to
keep it alive or find out if it was already dead.

Well I know that you're in love with him 'Cause I saw you dancing in the gym

Back then, dancing was an expression of love,and carried a connotation of
commitment. Dance partners were not so readily exchanged as they would be later.
You both kicked off your shoes

A reference to the beloved "sock hop." (Street shoes tear up wooden basketball
floors, so dancers had to take off their shoes.)
Man, I dig those rhythm 'n' blues

Before the popularity of rock and roll, music, like much elsewhere 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 McGuire 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.
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 ex-tolling 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 Presley, although I don't think he
started to pork out by the late sixties. he-he!

It could refer to rock and rollers, 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, it could refer to the Rolling Stones themselves, many musicians were angry
at the Stones for "selling out." I discovered 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 Stone sat 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 rather obvious. The queen is said to be either Connie Francis or
Little Richard. 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'sa recording of Dylan performing at this
rally. The Jester.)

The third interpretation is that the jester could be Lee Harvey Oswald who sang
(shouted) before he was shot for the murder of the King (JFK).

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 a red windbreaker, posed in a street scene similar to movie starring 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

Likely a reference to Elvis' decline and Dylan's ascendance (i.e. Presley is
looking down from a height as Dylan takes his place). Consider that Elvis was is
the army at the time of Dylan's ascendancy and a common Army marching song
sings, "Ain't no use in looking down, ain't no discharge on the ground". 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.
or...
Lee Harvey Oswald being the jester who ended the reign of JFK and "stole his
crown."
or...
A third interpretation is the quote made by John Lennon and taken out of context
indicating that John felt The Beatles were more popular then Jesus. John and The
Beatles took the crown from Christ.
The courtroom was adjourned, No verdict was returned.

This could be the trial of the Chicago Seven.
but its more likely to be...
The fact that no verdict was returned for the assassination of JFK because the
assassin was killed so the court was adjourned.
And while Lennon read a book on Marx,
Or it could be be...
And while Lenin rean a book on Marx,

Someone has to introduce Vladamir Lenin, the father of Marxist communism, to the
idealogy of Karl Marx.
I love the play on words here...
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 reminiscent of Groucho.)The "Marx-Lennon" word play 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?" The Beatles
"Here, There and Everywhere," for example. Also, a famous French witticism was
"Je suis Marxiste, tendance Groucho. " (I'm a Marxist of the Groucho variety).
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; 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 that played long pieces not meant for dancing. In the dark of the death
of Holly.
The day the music died. We were singing...

Refrain

(Verse 4) Helter Skelter in a summer swelter

"Helter Skelter" is a Beatles song that 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

Without a doubt this refers to the Byrds who helped launch David Crosby to super
stardom. The Byrd's song "Eight Miles High" was found on their late 1966 release
"Fifth Dimension." They recorded this song when some of the groups members were
considering leaving (some of the groups members actually left the group because
they refused to flyin an airplane). A fallout shelter was sometimes referred to
as the fifth dimension because of the 1950's fascination with sci-fi and the
futuristic appearance of a fallout shelter. This was one of the first records
widely banned because of supposedly drug-oriented lyrics.
But...
Another idea considers The Beatles' "Helter Skelter."A line from the song reads,
'I'm coming down fast but I'm miles above you.' The similarity is pretty
obvious.
It landed foul on the grass

One of the Byrds was busted for possession 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 that really didn't happen until The
Beatles broke up.
With regard to the next idea, the players maybe other musicians who received the
opportunity to shine when Dylan was injured.

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. This gave a chance for many other artists to
become noticed (see the next interpretation).
Now the half-time air was sweet perfume

Drugs, man.
Well, now, wait a minute; that's probably too obvious (wouldn't want to make it
easy). It's possible that this line and the next few refer to the 1968
Democratic National Convention. The "sweet perfume" is probably tear gas.

It could be the fact the since Dylan was temporarily out of the picture, the
future looked bright for many artists. The Stones, for example, may have been
given a brief chance.

While sergeants played a marching tune

Following from the second thought above, the sergeants would be the Chicago
Police and the Illinois National Guard, who marched protesters out of the park
where the Convention was being held 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 as "marching"
because it's not music for dancing.

Or, finally, the "marching tune" could be the draft.

**(What did the Stones release in '66??)

We all got up to dance Oh, but we never got the chance

The Beatles' 1966 Candlestick Park concert only lasted 35 minutes. But at this
point The Beatles were not "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" (1967)
Or, following on from the previous comment, perhaps she was considering the
hippies who were protesting the Convention. They were known for playing their
own folk music.

'Cause the players tried to take the field, The marching band refused to yield.

Some folks think this refers to either the 1968 Democratic Convention or Kent
State. If the players are the protesters 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
that featured some of the same sort of studio and electronic experimentation as
"Sgt. Pepper" (1967). The album sold poorly because of The Beatles.

The other Beatles reference here refers to the Monkees. The Monkees were merely
actors (or players), they were not a true band but a fabrication attempting to
replicate The Beatles. The players tried to take the place of the Fab Four but
the band wouldn't step down.

Or finally, this might be a comment that 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?
**Check for any controversies released on Feb3, 1959.
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
(the first moon landing took place in '69); 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 alienation from their
parents, and partially because of their presumed preoccupation with drugs (which
was referred to as being "spaced-out.")
Being on drugs was sometimes termed -- being lost in space because of the TV
show, "Lost in Space," whose title was usedas a synonym for someone who was
rather high... 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 preferences 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)
Jack Flash is also a cockney slang term for pharmaceutical heroin. If you know
how to use heroin, you understand the reference.

'Cause fire is the devil's only friend

It's possible that this is a reference to the Grateful Dead's "Friend of the
Devil."
An alternate 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"(because of "satan's spell") had somehow incited
the violence and 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 (he
had an extensive religious background)because of "Sympathy for the Devil,"
"Their Satanic Majesties' Request"and so on. This is 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 and "climbing high" while it
was happening. Or the bonfires around the area could provide the flames. The
sacrifice is Meredith Hunter.
(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 no doubt 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

Ms. Janis Joplin, the lady of the blues.
And I asked her for some happy news But she just smiled and turned away

Janis died of an accidental (accidental my ass!)heroin overdose on October 4,
1970.
Or...
The girl might be Roberta Flack. Its rumored that she wrote, "Killing Me Softly
(with his song)," in response to this lyric in his song.
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 long time (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.
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.
It is possible that this refers to the Vietnamese children. Life magazine was
famous for publishing horrifying photos of children in Vietnam during the
Vietnamese War.

The lovers cried and the poets dreamed

The trend toward psychedelic music in the 60's?Or again the hippies who were
both great lovers and poets who would then be crying because of the difficulties
of their struggle and dreaming of peace.
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
(check this) --or -- JFK, Martin Luther King, and Bobby Kennedy -- or -- or
simply 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 it could just be a way of
saying that they've left (or died -- western culture has used "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. Some have suggested that this is an oblique
reference to a line in Procol Harum's "Whiter Shade of Pale," but I'm not sure
I'd buy that; firstly, 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 us on the day the music
died.
And they were singing...

here
Cholame, CA

The intersection at which James Dean died on September 30, 1955, is within yards
of the San Andreas Fault, which may be the source of the predicted Killer Quake
that will devastate California. The little town of Cholame owes it's name to the
Indians who lived here 10,000 years ago. At the time of Dean's death, the gas
station/store was run by Paul Moreno, and his initials are still to be seen
where he placed them in the concrete at the southeast corner of the surviving
building. Torn down are the garage, and the bays where he kept his ambulance and
towtruck. There is still some concrete rubble, all that is left of the garage
where Dean's Porsche was towed, and where the Sanford Roth photos of the wrecked
cars were taken.

In the mid-eighties, Roger Cannon of Carmel began to celebrate the highway and
its connection to Dean with freeform zen-type car rallies. Vintage car
enthusiasts began to make annual drives to coincide with the anniversaries of
Dean's death. The town and the intersection appeared in the seventies Gumball
Rally-type epic, The Junkman. I first visited the intersection and Cholame in
1968, before Ohinishi's monument was erected around the Tree of Heaven. The
restaurant has gone through many hands since Moreno's time, but there have been
remarkably few changes.

Traditionally, crowds gather at the intersection on the last Friday of
September, and on the actual calendar anniversary of Dean's death. Matt and
Glenn Grant, the grandson and son, respectively, of longtime Cholame
postmistress Lily Grant, display Lily's collection of articles, artifacts, and
letters, for the interest of the fans who come from around the world.