Durfee, James R., et al. "Aircraft Accident Report, File # 2-0001". Civil Aeronautics Board. Release September 23, 1959. Accessed at http://data.desmoinesregister.com/holly/documents/CABreport.pdf. Accessed 26 December, 2011.
Howard, Alan, & McLean, Don. "About Don McLean: A Short Biography". Don McLean Online: The Official Website of Don McLean and American Pie. http://www.don-mclean.com/aboutdon.asp. Accessed 27 December, 2011.
Howard, Alan, & McLean, Don. "American Pie". Don McLean Online: The Official Website of Don McLean and American Pie. http://www.don-mclean.com/americanpie.asp. Accessed 26 December, 2011.
Howard, Alan, & McLean, Don. "Trivia: Did You Know That". Don McLean Online: The Official Website of Don McLean and American Pie. http://www.don-mclean.com/didyouknow.asp. Accessed 26 December, 2011.
McLean, Don. "Buddy Holly, Rock Music Genius". Commentay. CNN. http://articles.cnn.com/2009-02-01/entertainment/mclean.buddy.holly_1_music-grown-ups-records?_s=PM:SHOWBIZ 1 February, 2009. Accessed 26 December, 2011.
The Article
Saturday, September 8, 2012
The Meaning of American Pie, Part 1
Don McLean has been pretty reticent regarding the meaning of the lyrics to "American Pie," preferring the song to speak for itself, but he has made statements about a few points in the song. For the rest, all we have is conjecture, in some cases a lot of it, of varying quality.
What is known for certain is that Buddy Holly was an important figure in McLean's life[[McLean, CNN]], and that he died in a plane crash early in the morning of February 3, 1959. Along with Holly, fellow musicians Ritchie Valens and J. P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson were killed, as was Roger Peterson, the pilot. There were no survivors, and no witnesses, but the Civilian Air Board (then the governmental agency charged with investigating plane crashes) report concluded that pilot inexperience, coupled with poor weather and darkness, essentially caused him to fly the plane into the ground.[[Durfee Accident Report]] That day, February 3, 1959, has subsequently become known as "The Day the Music Died," though whether it would have done so without Mr McLean's song isn't clear.
McLean wrote "American Pie" in 1971, looking back at the events of over a decade ago, and musing over the changes that had come to himself and to America in the interim. As McLean's website pus it,
A long long time ago
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
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
But something touched me deep inside
The day the music died
So
McLean is writing in the early 1970s about something that happened in the late 1950s. A dozen years have passed, and a lot has happened during that time, both for McLean and for the country. For McLean, who was born on October 2nd, 1945, he started the period as a child, dreaming of being a musician, and finished it as an adult professional musician. In early 1959, of course, Buddy Holly died in a plane crash (more on that below). In 1961, McLean's father died. Don went to college in 1963, only staying for four months before he dropped out to become a musician, though by taking night classes he gained a bachelor's degree in business management in 1968. He played small venues for several years, gaining some local celebrity and joining the first crew of the Pete Seeger's Clearwater sloop in 1969. With the sloop, McLean toured and played along the United States eastern seaboard and later that year McLean released his first album.[[Howard & McLean, "About Don McLean: A Short Biography"]]
America had also undergone major changes, from the general optimism of the late 1950s, through the unrest of the 1960s, to the uncertainty of the early 1970s. In 1962, the Cuban Missle Crisis threatened globar nuclear war. Martin Luther King, Jr., gave his "I Have a Dream" speech during a major march on Washington in 1963. President Kennedy was assassinated later that year, and King himself was assassinated in 1968. The Cold War heated up with increasing U.S. involvement in Vietnam. President Nixon was elected in 1968, promising to end the war, but the draft was reinstituted the next year. The Space Race culminated with Apolo 11's landing on the moon in 1969. In 1970, National Guardsmen shot and killed four students at Kent State University, and permanently paralyzed a fifth. Whereas in the 1950s we all felt pretty sure that we were the good guys, by 1970 that was no longer so clear. Not to mention the threat of nuclear annihilation.
So, McLean has gone from childhood to adulthood, and America has lost its innocence as well. And, music has undergone changes. By the calendar 1959 may not be a long, long time ago, but in terms of personal and national change, a lot of time has passed.
Sources
What is known for certain is that Buddy Holly was an important figure in McLean's life[[McLean, CNN]], and that he died in a plane crash early in the morning of February 3, 1959. Along with Holly, fellow musicians Ritchie Valens and J. P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson were killed, as was Roger Peterson, the pilot. There were no survivors, and no witnesses, but the Civilian Air Board (then the governmental agency charged with investigating plane crashes) report concluded that pilot inexperience, coupled with poor weather and darkness, essentially caused him to fly the plane into the ground.[[Durfee Accident Report]] That day, February 3, 1959, has subsequently become known as "The Day the Music Died," though whether it would have done so without Mr McLean's song isn't clear.
McLean wrote "American Pie" in 1971, looking back at the events of over a decade ago, and musing over the changes that had come to himself and to America in the interim. As McLean's website pus it,
"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 popular music and politics over these years, from the lightness of the 1950s to the darkness of the late 1960s, but metaphorically the song continues to evolve to the present time. It is not a nostalgia song. "American Pie" changes as America, itself, is changing.[[Howard & McLean, "American Pie"]]This seems to suggest that the meaning of "American Pie" is not intended to be fixed, but rather to change as America changes, and it can only add to the number of interpretations and reinterpretations of the song. This makes producing a complete interpretation impossible, something akin to tilting at windmills, nevertheless I here pick up my lance, and don my visor, in an attempt at instilling some sense of order to the many interpretations now available.
A long long time ago
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
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
But something touched me deep inside
The day the music died
So
McLean is writing in the early 1970s about something that happened in the late 1950s. A dozen years have passed, and a lot has happened during that time, both for McLean and for the country. For McLean, who was born on October 2nd, 1945, he started the period as a child, dreaming of being a musician, and finished it as an adult professional musician. In early 1959, of course, Buddy Holly died in a plane crash (more on that below). In 1961, McLean's father died. Don went to college in 1963, only staying for four months before he dropped out to become a musician, though by taking night classes he gained a bachelor's degree in business management in 1968. He played small venues for several years, gaining some local celebrity and joining the first crew of the Pete Seeger's Clearwater sloop in 1969. With the sloop, McLean toured and played along the United States eastern seaboard and later that year McLean released his first album.[[Howard & McLean, "About Don McLean: A Short Biography"]]
America had also undergone major changes, from the general optimism of the late 1950s, through the unrest of the 1960s, to the uncertainty of the early 1970s. In 1962, the Cuban Missle Crisis threatened globar nuclear war. Martin Luther King, Jr., gave his "I Have a Dream" speech during a major march on Washington in 1963. President Kennedy was assassinated later that year, and King himself was assassinated in 1968. The Cold War heated up with increasing U.S. involvement in Vietnam. President Nixon was elected in 1968, promising to end the war, but the draft was reinstituted the next year. The Space Race culminated with Apolo 11's landing on the moon in 1969. In 1970, National Guardsmen shot and killed four students at Kent State University, and permanently paralyzed a fifth. Whereas in the 1950s we all felt pretty sure that we were the good guys, by 1970 that was no longer so clear. Not to mention the threat of nuclear annihilation.
So, McLean has gone from childhood to adulthood, and America has lost its innocence as well. And, music has undergone changes. By the calendar 1959 may not be a long, long time ago, but in terms of personal and national change, a lot of time has passed.
Sources
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
