I believe “American Pie” by Don McLean makes a reference to the JFK assassination. Musician Don McLeans recollection of the day (as a paperboy) he cut open a stack of newspapers to find that rock-n-roll pioneer Buddy Holly had died led him to coin the term the day the music died to describe 3 February 1959: the date on which a plane crash took the lives of Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J.P. Richardson (the Big Bopper). He was 13 when it happened. Singer/songwriter Don McLean is lamenting the lack of "danceable" good time party music in rock and roll and (in part) attributing that lack to the absence of Buddy Holly et. The album American Pie was intended as a unified work, as McLean has said that he was influenced by the Beatles' Sgt Pepper album and envisioned American Pie to be a similar album. “American Pie” is the (early) Baby Boomer coming-of-age story, as the chronology of the song runs roughly from 1959 to 1971, the year “America Pie” was released. Buddy Holly, The Big Bopper, and Ritchie Valens were killed in a plane crash that day. But Jim Fan, the author of "understanding American Pie… Don McLean sang the song for the first time March 14, 1971 in Philadelphia, while he was performing at Temple University. If you want to write songs, you’ve got to go back to the Irving Berlins, and The Beatles, and the good stuff from the 1950s. al. “American Pie” presents an abstract story of McLean’s life from the mid-1950s until the end of the 1960s, and at the same time it represents the evolution of … Please first glance at my very recent, short article here which explains how profound is the timing. The song was about McLean’s reaction to the crash. al. 50th Anniversary of American Pie Feb 4, 2021 February 3 is the anniversary of "the day the music died," referring to the 1959 plane crash that killed rock and roll pioneers Buddy Holly, The Big Bopper, and Ritchie Valens. Recorded and released on the American Pie album in 1971, the single was the number-one US hit for four weeks in 1972 and also topped the charts in Australia, Canada, and New Zealand. The phrase became a part of popular culture when McLean used it in his hit song American Pie, a cr… Part of what "American Pie" is, is a spiritual song, about the spirit of the country and what was happening to it. It was a single-engine chartered plane and would therefore only have a number as identification. "Vincent" is a song by Don McLean written as a tribute to Vincent van Gogh. And the music represents that.� And this was the theory of "American Pie." The song is about disillusion, and each of the song’s six verses describes a moment … "American Pie" - The song's line by line meaning The entire song is a tribute to Buddy Holly and a commentary on how rock and roll music changed in the years since his death. And he had a part-time job delivering newspapers. “American Pie was written 50 years ago by Don McLean in honor of the plane crash that killed Buddy Holly, Big Popper, and Ritchie Valens on February 3 1959.” “So, bye-bye, Miss American Pie Drove my … JFK Assassination Reference in “American Pie” by Don McLean. The event later became known as "The Day the Music Died", after singer-songwriter Don McLean referred to it as such in his 1971 song "American Pie". Dancing Queen (Tribute in the Style of Abba) 4. Don McLean gave permission for “Weird Al” Yankovic to create a parody of the song in 1999 titled “The Saga Begins,” which retells the plot of Star Wars Episode I. Its two dozen verses blend American history and … Note– due to […] Home Free and Don McLean ditch traditional instruments for a vocal rendition of the 50-year-old folk-rock epic 'American Pie.' McLean was a protégé of Pete Seeger, having played with him in the 1960s. Buddy Holly's death was a "personal tragedy" for the 12-year-old McLean Contrary to popular rumour, "American Pie" was not the name of the plane that rock and … Devil Woman (Tribute in the Style of Cliff Richard) 5. Thirteen years later, Don McLean wrote a song about this tragedy: “American Pie,” an 8½-minute epic with an iconic lyric about “the day the music died.” When McLean was asked what the song meant he simply replied " it means I don't need to work no more". The repeatedly mentioned phrase "the day the music died" refers to the plane crash in 1959 that killed early rock and roll performers Buddy Holly, The Big Bopper, and Ritchie Valens. The meaning of the other lyrics has long been debated, and for decades, McLean declined to explain the symbolism behind the many characters and events mentioned; he eventually released his songwriting notes in 2015, … It was released on McLean's 1971 American Pie album, and the following year the song became the No. The American Pie Prophecy: an End Times Lament for Babylon America September 10, 2019 serayah Original article posted on August 27, 2011 I am republishing this archived article, with extensive updates, in light of the 2520 week marker which appears tomorrow (September 11). American Pie (Tribute in the Style of Don Mclean) 2. Play the game of working out the hidden references or give up and Google it before you go crazy. McLean has been cagey about the song for decades, but has always insisted that “American Pie” was inspired by musicians Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P “The Big Bopper” Richardson, who died in a tragic plane crash on Feb. 3, 1959. On Instagram, the group shared the powerful story behind the song. An Explanation of the Song, American Pie 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. 1 hit in the UK … al. The “day the music died” was indeed February 3rd, 1959, the day a plane crash took the lives of Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and The Big Bopper. It is often erroneously titled after its opening refrain, "Starry Starry Night", a reference to Van Gogh's 1889 painting The Starry Night. Jul 11, 2019. McLean has expressed that fact many times. I have never discussed the lyrics, but have admitted to the Holly reference in the opening stanzas. “American Pie” is partly biographical and partly the story of America during the idealized 1950s and the bleaker 1960s. It was initially inspired by Don’s memories of being a paperboy in 1959 and learning of the death of Buddy Holly. McLean wrote the lyrics in 1971 after reading a book about the life of Van Gogh.