This particularly enigmatic song has been discussed at least once a year since Usenet had a newsgroup for discussing music. These discussions frequently repeat themselves, but occasionally introduce new information and new interpretations. Having tired of watching the same process repeat itself for ten years, I've created this, the annotated "American Pie".
This posting consists of: the lyrics to the song (left-justified) with comments (indented); the chords, for those who'd like to tackle it; some miscellaneous notes; and references. Comments are most welcome; comments backed up with references are *very* welcome. I have attempted to note where the interpretation is questionable.
The roots of this posting are in the "Great American Pie" Usenet discussion of 1983; much of it comes from wombat's (the original wombat, not me) posting in net.music on June 16, 1985. As Robert Williams has pointed out to me, the entire song can be viewed as one big projective test, so interpretations vary quite a bit. I've tried to be inclusive while also indicating which ones I buy into and which I don't; your mileage may vary.
---Rsk 4/3/93
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. McLean seems to be lamenting the lack of "danceable" music in rock and roll and (in part) attributing that lack to the absence of Buddy Holly et. al.
There's also an old Sunday School song which goes:
"Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so"
Refrain
(Verse 3)
Now for ten years we've been on our own
The "rolling stone" could also be Elvis, although I don't think he'd
started to pork out by the late sixties.
It could refer to rock and rollers in general, 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, perhaps it's a reference to the stagnation in rock and roll.
Or, finally, it could refer to the Rolling Stones themselves;
a lot of musicians were angry at the Stones for "selling out".
Howard Landman points out 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 Stones at one point became
citizens of some other country merely to save taxes.
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's a recording of Dylan performing at this rally.)
On the cover of "The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan", Dylan is wearing just
such as red windbreaker, and is posed in a street scene similar to
one shown in a well-known picture of 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.
Also, a famous French witticism was "Je suis Marxiste, tendance
Groucho."; "I'm a Marxist of the Groucho variety".
Refrain
(Verse 4)
Is "summer swelter" a reference to the "Summer of
Love" or perhaps to the "long hot summer" of Watts?
Well, now, wait a minute; that's probably too obvious. It's possible
that this line and the next few refer to the 1968 Democratic National
Convention. The "sweet perfume" is probably tear gas.
Alternatively, this could refer to the Beatles' "Sgt. Pepper's
Lonely Hearts Club Band". Or, perhaps McLean refers to the
Beatles' music in general as "marching" because it's not music
for dancing. Or, finally, the "marching tune" could be the draft.
Or, following on from the previous comment, perhaps
he meant that there wasn't any music to dance to.
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 which featured some of the same sort of studio
and electronic experimentation as "Sgt. Pepper" (1967) -- but the album
sold poorly.
Some folks think this refers to either the 1968
Deomcratic Convention or Kent State.
This might also be a comment about how the dominance of the Beatles
in the rock world led to more "pop art" music, leading in turn
to a dearth of traditional rock and roll.
Or finally, this might be a comment which 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.
Refrain
(Verse 5)
It could also be a reference to the awful TV
show, "Lost in Space", whose title was sometimes
used as a synonym for someone who was rather high...
but I keep hoping that McLean had better taste. :-)
An alternative 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.
It's also possible that McLean views the Stones as being negatively
inspired (remember, he had an extensive religious background) by
virtue of "Sympathy for the Devil", "Their Satanic Majesties' Request"
and so on. I find this a bit puzzling, since the early Stones
recorded a lot of "roots" rock and roll, including Buddy Holly's
"Not Fade Away".
(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 set in 1968.)
Refrain
(Verse 6)
I met a girl who sang the blues
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?")
Refrain (2x)
Bye bye Miss American Pie,
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."
Did you write the book of love,
If the Bible tells you so?
And can you teach me how to dance real slow?
'Cause I saw you dancing in the gym
With a pink carnation and a pickup truck
The day the music died
I started singing...
When the jester sang for the King and Queen
The jester stole his thorny crown
No verdict was returned.
We were singing...
Helter Skelter in a summer swelter
Eight miles high and falling fast
Oh, but we never got the chance
The marching band refused to yield.
The day the music died?
We started singing
And there we were all in one place
My hands were clenched in fists of rage
No angel born in hell
Could break that satan's spell
To light the sacrificial rite
He was singing...
But she just smiled and turned away
Where I'd heard the music years before
The church bells all were broken
The Father Son and Holy Ghost
Chords to the song: The song appears to be in G; the chords are: Intro: G Bm/F# Em . Am . C . Em . D . . . G Bm/F# Em . Am . C . Em . A . D . . . Em . Am . Em . Am . C G/B Am . C . D . G Bm/F# Em . Am . C . G Bm/F# Em . Am . D . G . C . G . D . Chorus: G . C . G . D . G . C . G . D . G . C . G . D . Em . . . A . . . (all but Em . . . D . . . last chorus) C . D . G C G . (last chorus)
The Big Bopper's real name was J.P. Richardson. He was a DJ for a Texas radio station who had one very big novelty hit, the very well known "Chantilly Lace". There was a fourth person who was going to ride the plane. There was room for three, ahd the fourth person lost the toss -- or should I say won the toss. His name is Waylon Jennings...and to this day he refuses to talk about the crash. ( Jennings was the bass player for Holly's band at the time. Some people say that Holly had chartered the plane for his band, but that Valens and/or Richardson was sick that night and asked to take the place of the band members.)
About the "coat he borrowed from James Dean": James Dean's red windbreaker is important throughout the film, not just at the end. When he put it on, it meant that it was time to face the world, time to do what he thought had to be done, and other melodramatic but thoroughly enjoyable stuff like that. The week after the movie came out, virtually every clothing store in the U.S. was sold out of red windbreakers. Remember that Dean's impact was similar to Dylan's: both were a symbol for the youth of their time, a reminder that they had something to say and demanded to be listened to.
American Pie is supposed to be the name of the plane that crashed, containing the three guys that died. (Reported by Ronald van Loon from the discussion on American Pie, autumn 1991, on rec.music.folk)
Dan Stanley mentioned an interesting theory involving all of this; roughly put, he figures that if Holly hadn't died, then we would not have suffered through the Fabian/Pat Boone/et.al. era...and as a consequence, we wouldn't have *needed* the Beatles -- Holly was moving pop music away from the stereotypical boy/girl love lost/found lyrical ideas, and was recording with unique instrumentation and techniques...things that Beatles wouldn't try until about 1965. Perhaps Dylan would have stuck with the rock and roll he played in high school, and the Byrds never would have created an amalgam of Dylan songs and Beatle arrangements.
Lynn Gold tells me that "Life" magazine carried an annotated version of American Pie when the song came out; does anybody have a copy?
As to what they threw off the bridge, Bobbie Gentry once went on record with the statement that it was the mystery that made the song, and that the mystery would remain unsolved. Don McLean later used the same device to even greater success with "American Pie," which triggered a national obsession on figuring out the "real meaning" of the song.
Well, probably not a national obsession, but certainly the life's work of many talented scholars. According to the latest edition of the "American Pie Historical Interpretive Digest" (APHID), noted McLean historian Vincent Vandeman has postulated that cheezy country songs may have played a much more prominent role in the epic composition than had originally been thought. In particular, the "widowed bride," usually supposed to be either Ella Holly or Joan Rivers, may in fact be Billie Jo. According to this radical exegesis, the "pink carnation" of McLean's song is probably what was thrown off the Tallahatchie Bridge, and was later found by the lonely, teenaged McLean as he wandered drunkenly on the levee.
Of course, such a view poses problems. McLean vehemently denies any knowledge of Choctaw Ridge, and any theory linking the two songs must surely address this mysterious meeting place of Billie Jo and her husband Billy Joe. Vandeman speculates that Choctaw Ridge may have been the place McLean drove his Chevy after drinking whiskey and rye, and that McLean may have been unaware of the name because of his foggy mental state. Still, there appear to be many tenuous connections in Vandeman's interpretation - Tammy Wynette as the girl who sang the blues, the proposed affair between Wynette and Billie Joe which later led to d-i-v-o-r-c-e and Billy Joe's suicide, the mysterious whereabouts of George Jones, and why McLean insisted on driving a Chevy to the levee instead of a more economical Japanese car.
My own view is that none of it makes much sense. Vandeman's theory is intriguing, but it seems far more logical to hold to the traditional interpretation of "American Pie" as an eschatological parable of nuclear destruction and the rebirth of civilization on Alpha Centauri.
[ Thanks, Andrew. I'll take it under advisement. ;-) ---Rsk ]
wombat@ccvaxa.uucp ihuxr!steck steiny@idsvax.uuucp ihldt!bnp sbcs!murray fortune!grw iws@rayssdb.ray.com (Ihor W. Slabicky) tugs@csri.toronto.edu (Stephen Hull) dko@calmasd.ge.com (Dan O'Neill) ssm@calmasd.ge.com (Sharon McBroom) mfterman@phoenix.princeton.edu (Martin Terman) rsk@gynko.circ.upenn.edu (Rich Kulawiec) tim@tcom.stc.co.uk (Tim Kennedy) rns@tortuga.sandiego.ncr.com (Rick Schubert) paul@moore.com (Paul Maclauchlan) rvloon@cv.ruu.nl (Ronald van Loon) wirth@sdsc.edu (Colleen Wirth) nelson@berlioz.nsc.com (Taed Nelson) bschlesinger@nssdca.gsfc.nasa.gov (Barry Schlesinger) Thomas.Sullivan@cs.cmu.edu (Tom Sullivan) H.Edwards@massey.ac.nz (Howard Edwards) gerry@macadam.mpce.mq.edu.au (Gerry Myerson) rice@mcz.harvard.edu dave@jato.jpl.nasa.gov (Dave Hayes) rlwilliams@gallua.bitnet (Robert L. Williams) bee@ms.uky.edu (Elizabeth Gilliam) chris@gandalf.ca (Chris Sullivan) dtpilkey@mailbox.syr.edu (David T. Pilkey) Dan Stanley at Fitchburg State College (courtesy of Timothy J. Stanley, tjs@z.eecs.umich.edu) lgold@cadence.com (Lynn Gold) ajw@cbnews.cb.att.com (Andrew J. Whitman) landman@hal.com (Howard Landman) wegeng@eso.mc.xerox.com (Don Wegeng) al@jupiter.nmt.edu (Al Stavely) David (D.C.) Cromwell <cromwell@bnr.ca>
1/20/92 Constructed from various old postings 1/27/92 Added comments from Usenetters on first draft 2/3/92 More comments folded in; reposted today, the anniversary of The Day the Music Died 8/18/92 Added comments generated by the Februrary posting. 1/3/93 Caught up on lots of updates that have been languishing in my inbound mail queue for months. 4/2/93 Rearranged much of the text, incorporated more feedback from readers, and move the credits and history to the end.