Who was American Pie written about?
Some of the best songs that have ever been written are the ballads. When you feel the sadness in that person’s voice you know that something’s wrong. In “American Pie” By Don McLean you hear a story in the lyrics and you hear the sadness in his voice. This song was written for the death of Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens in the plane accident that would ring across the country and make everyone cry. This song was written because this day everyone thought music would never be able to come back from this.
This song has such a deep meaning to it about it really makes you think about all the bad things that happen to people you look up to most in this world. Justin Wm. Moyer wrote about the meaning behind this song in an article entitled “Gloomy Don McLean reveals meaning of ‘American Pie’- and sells lyrics for $1.2 million”. In 1959 on February 3rd a 3 person plane with an not certified pilot took off from Clear Lake, Iowa to go to Fargo, North Dakota and 2 of this biggest young men in Rock and Roll were getting on a plane in bad weather and died that same day (Moyer). Ritchie Valens (17) and Buddy Holly (22) both were touring and were heading to the next stop on tour when they died (Moyer). Almost 13 years after the death of theses rising superstars Don McLean wrote this song to tell the story of “the day the music died.” (Moyer). “McLean has said the song was inspired by the 1959 plane crash, but has been cagey about other details.” So this song also maybe about something else which is up for your interpretation according to McLean (Moyer). If you listen to this song you notice that McLean is telling a story about something else because he has so many characters like “a king, a queen, good ol’ boys drinking whiskey and rye as well as ‘Miss American Pie’ herself” so do those characters represent someone from the 50’s (Moyer). Saying goodbye is always such a hard thing no matter who it’s too because no matter who it is that person has influenced you so much. “I would say to young songwriters who are starting out to immerse yourself in beautiful music and beautiful lyrics and think about every word you say in a song,” (Moyer). McLean really did touch so many this every song he wrote and he made the world know when he first released the song he wasn’t happy with where we were in the world and in 2015 he still wasn’t (Moyer). This song was a way to say goodbye to one part and hello to something better and that’s something to live by.
This song has defined a life time for people like me. Whenever I’m sad I put this song on repeat and just cry. Growing up my dad would tell me if you want to be in music you need to listen to all kinds of music, he was mainly talking about 50’s-90’s because that’s what he likes. Well whenever we’d listen to music I would ask what this song is about and normally he’d make up an answer which wasn’t very good and I wouldn’t believe him. This song I could tell was about a sad day in life but I didn’t know when so I asked him “Father what is this song about” and he said “It’s about the death of Ritchie Valens and Buddy Holly” and I knew that it was right. My face was all bright to dim like a candle really quick. This song has only meant on thing to me which is the death of all these amazing artist because they changed how music was forever.
This song defined a lifetime and showed the emotions of how everyone felt. When this song is played you know what’s happening. This songs soulful note and amazing music but understanding the true meaning in the music is very difficult. The complexity of the song bring out such a deeper meaning like the way you don’t understand what’s going on and how to change it.
Work Cited
Moyer, Justin Wm. “Gloomy Don McLean Reveals Meaning of ‘American Pie’ — and Sells Lyrics for $1.2 Million.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 8 Apr. 2015, 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/?utm_term=.ca56b2b937a6.
By Frank Davies
