A night school is an adult learning school that holds classes in the evening or at night to accommodate people who work during the day. A community college or university may hold night school classes that admit undergraduates .
100-457: Donald McLean III / m ə ˈ k l eɪ n / (born October 2, 1945) is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist, known to fans as the "American Troubadour" or "King of the Trail". He is best known for his 1971 hit " American Pie ", an eight-and-a-half-minute folk rock song that has been referred to as a "cultural touchstone". His other hit singles include " Vincent ", "Dreidel", " Castles in
200-441: A free verse poem written by McLean about William Boyd , also known as Hopalong Cassidy , along with a picture of Boyd in full Hopalong regalia. Its inclusion in the album was interpreted to represent a sense of loss of a simplistic type of American culture as symbolized by Hopalong Cassidy and by extension black and white television as a whole. Mike Mills of R.E.M. reflected: "'American Pie' just made perfect sense to me as
300-457: A state dinner . This has attracted worldwide attention, as well as the attention of Don McLean. American singer Madonna released a cover version of the song in February 2000 to promote the soundtrack of her film The Next Best Thing (2000), with the song being serviced to radio between February 2 and 8, 2000 and being sold in stores on February 22, 2000. Her cover is much shorter than
400-425: A "monumental accomplishment of lyric writing". The sense of disillusion and loss that the song transmits isn't just about deaths in the world of music, but also about a generation that could no longer believe in the utopian dreams of the 1950s... According to McLean, the song represents a shift from the naïve and innocent '50s to the darker decade of the '60s Alva Yaffe, Musicholics, Don called his song
500-527: A 2011 New York Times article quotes McLean as disputing this claim. Some employees at Caffè Lena claim that he started writing the song there, and then continued to write the song in both Cold Spring, New York , and Philadelphia , Pennsylvania. McLean claims that the song was only written in Cold Spring and Philadelphia. Tin & Lint, a bar on Caroline Street in Saratoga Springs, claims
600-716: A bachelor's degree in business administration in 1968. He turned down a scholarship to Columbia University Graduate School in favor of pursuing a career as a singer-songwriter, performing at such venues as Caffè Lena in Saratoga Springs, New York and The Main Point in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania . Later that year, with the help of a grant from the New York State Council on the Arts , McLean began reaching
700-508: A black Dallas hobo named Anderson McCrew who was killed when he leapt from a moving train. No one claimed him, so a carnival took his body, mummified it, and toured all over the South with him, calling him "The Famous Mummy Man". McLean's song inspired radio station WGN in Chicago to tell the story and give the song airplay in order to raise money for a headstone for McCrew's grave. Their campaign
800-574: A book about Van Gogh. As he studied a print of Van Gogh's painting The Starry Night , he realized that a song could be written about the artist through the painting. The song argues that Van Gogh had a psychiatric illness, as opposed to being insane. It reached number 12 on the Billboard Hot 100 and it proved to be a huge hit worldwide, including reaching number 1 in the UK Singles Chart. Mike Mills of R.E.M. said "You can't change
900-403: A bygone simpler age, had been lost; overtaken by events and changes, which themselves had been overtaken by further changes. Mike Mills of R.E.M. reflected on the song, that "'American Pie' just made perfect sense to me as a song and that's what impressed me the most. I could say to people this is how to write songs. When you've written at least three songs that can be considered classic that
1000-670: A children's book titled American Pie: A Fable . The story follows the emotional journey of a newspaper delivery boy in the late 1950s who discovers the joy of friendship and music, eventually learning that when you recognize what truly makes you happy, you are never really alone. McLean led a wave of dropouts from the National Rifle Association of America (NRA) convention after the mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas , saying it would be "disrespectful and hurtful" to perform days after 19 children and two adults were killed in
1100-465: A complicated parable, open to different interpretations. "People ask me if I left the lyrics open to ambiguity. Of course I did. I wanted to make a whole series of complex statements. The lyrics had to do with the state of society at the time." Super seventies, The song has nostalgic themes, stretching from the late 1950s until late 1969 or 1970. Except to acknowledge that he first learned about Buddy Holly 's death on February 3, 1959 – McLean
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#17327765504921200-561: A dignified silence." He also commented on the popularity of his music, "I didn't write songs that were just catchy, but with a point of view, or songs about the environment." In February 2015, however, McLean announced he would reveal the meaning of the lyrics to the song when the original manuscript went for auction in New York City, in April 2015. The lyrics and notes were auctioned on April 7, 2015, and sold for $ 1.2 million. In
1300-573: A documentary film about McLean produced by Bob Elfstrom (Elfstrom held the role of Jesus Christ in Johnny and June Cash's Gospel Road) . The film shows McLean in concert at Columbia University as he was interrupted by a bomb scare. He left the stage while the audience stood up and checked under their seats for anything that resembled a bomb. After the all-clear, McLean re-appeared and sang "On the Amazon" from exactly where he had left off. Don Heckman reported
1400-492: A historic piece of artistry. Let's face it, nobody ever wants to lose that No. 1 spot, but if I had to lose it to somebody, I sure am glad it was another great singer/songwriter such as Taylor." When Swift broke McLean's record, she sent him flowers and a handwritten note that read "I will never forget that I'm standing on the shoulders of giants". " Vincent " is a tribute to the 19th-century Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh . The inspiration came to McLean one morning while looking at
1500-459: A long time." For McLean, the song is a blueprint of his mind at the time and a homage to his musical influences, but also a roadmap for future students of history: "If it starts young people thinking about Buddy Holly, about rock 'n' roll and that music, and then it teaches them maybe about what else happened in the country, maybe look at a little history, maybe ask why John Kennedy was shot and who did it, maybe ask why all our leaders were shot in
1600-624: A mass shooting in the state. McLean was first among performers who announced they would no longer perform at the National Rifle Association's annual meeting in Houston. In October 2022, McLean called rapper Kanye West an 'attention-seeking fool' over his antisemitic rants. The "American Pie" singer who briefly lived in Israel said he stands with his Jewish friends. "Lately, a flood of antisemitic invective has been triggered by
1700-535: A note in that song". The song was performed by NOFX on their album 45 or 46 Songs That Weren't Good Enough to Go on Our Other Records and appears on the Fat Wreck Chords compilation Survival of the Fattest . "Vincent" was sung by Josh Groban on his 2001 debut album . In 2018, singer-songwriter Ellie Goulding recorded a new, stripped back, acoustic guitar-driven version of the song. Personnel from
1800-434: A parody of "American Pie". Titled " The Saga Begins ", the song recounts the plot of Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace from Obi-Wan Kenobi 's point of view. While McLean gave permission for the parody, he did not make a cameo appearance in its video, despite popular rumor. McLean himself praised the parody, even admitting to almost singing Yankovic's lyrics during his own live performances because his children played
1900-581: A re-recording of "American Pie" featuring lead vocals by country a cappella group Home Free . The song was featured in Marvel 's Black Widow movie in 2021. It is the favorite song of the character Yelena Belova , and sung by Red Guardian later in the film to comfort her. "American Pie" is also featured in the 2021 Tom Hanks movie Finch . During his visit to the United States in 2023, South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol sang this song at
2000-500: A result ["adjourned"]), the Cuban Missile Crisis ("Jack be nimble, Jack be quick"), the murders of civil rights workers James Chaney , Andrew Goodman , and Michael Schwerner , and elements of culture such as sock hops ("kicking off shoes" to dance, preventing damage to the varnished floor), cruising with a pickup truck , the rise of the political protest song ("a voice that came from you and me"), drugs and
2100-711: A single in December. The song's eight-and-a-half-minute length meant that it could not fit entirely on one side of the 45 RPM record , so United Artists had the first 4 : 11 taking up the A-side of the record and the final 4 : 31 the B-side. Radio stations initially played the A-side of the song only, but soon switched to the full album version to satisfy their audiences. Upon the single release, Cash Box called it "folk-rock's most ambitious and successful epic endeavor since ' Alice's Restaurant .'" Record World called it
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#17327765504922200-413: A song and that's what impressed me the most. I could say to people this is how to write songs. When you've written at least three songs that can be considered classic that is a very high batting average and if one of those songs happens to be something that a great many people think is one of the greatest songs ever written you've not only hit the top of the mountain but you've stayed high on the mountain for
2300-548: A wider audience, with visits to towns up and down the Hudson River . He learned the art of performing from his friend and mentor Pete Seeger . McLean accompanied Seeger on his Clearwater boat trip up the Hudson River in 1969 to raise awareness about environmental pollution in the river. During this time, McLean wrote songs that appeared on his first album Tapestry . McLean co-edited the book Songs and Sketches of
2400-491: Is "mystical and sensual". NME , on the other hand, gave it a negative review, saying that " Killdozer did it first and did it better", that it was "sub-karaoke fluff" and that "it's a blessing she didn't bother recording the whole thing." Night school The scuola serale (evening school) is a structured institution for the education and training of professional adults in Italy . The first evening schools opened in
2500-547: Is a song inspired partly by the deaths of Buddy Holly , Ritchie Valens and J.P. Richardson (The Big Bopper) in a plane crash in 1959, and developments in American youth culture in the subsequent decade. The song popularized the expression " The Day the Music Died " in reference to the crash. The song was recorded on May 26, 1971, and a month later received its first radio airplay on New York's WNEW-FM and WPLJ-FM to mark
2600-511: Is a very high batting average and if one of those songs happens to be something that a great many people think is one of the greatest songs ever written you've not only hit the top of the mountain but you've stayed high on the mountain for a long time." When asked about his record broken by Taylor Swift in a Billboard interview, Don McLean said, "there is something to be said for a great song that has staying power. 'American Pie' remained on top for 50 years and now Taylor Swift has unseated such
2700-465: Is one of them. It accomplished everything I set out to do. And it did so because it was a true collaboration. Don brought so much to the project that all I really had to do was capture what he did, and complement it properly when necessary. In 1977 a brief liaison with Arista Records that yielded the album Prime Time , and in October 1978, the single "It Doesn't Matter Anymore". This was a track from
2800-474: Is rejected in favor of another man for the prom, and The Monotones ' The Book of Love ("Did you write the book of love"). Many additional and alternative interpretations have also been proposed. For example, Bob Dylan's first performance in Great Britain was also at a pub called "The King and Queen", and he also appeared more literally "on the sidelines in a (the) cast" – as one of many stars at
2900-464: Is singer-songwriter Lori Lieberman 's " Killing Me Softly with His Song "; Lieberman was inspired by hearing McLean in concert performing his song "Empty Chairs." Afterwards she shared her reaction with her manager, Norman Gimbel , who had long been searching for a way to use a phrase he had copied from a novel translated from Spanish, "killing me softly with his blues." Gimbel passed the lyrics to his songwriting partner Charles Fox , who in turn composed
3000-509: The American Pie album sessions were retained for his third album Don McLean , including the producer, Ed Freeman, Rob Rothstein on bass, and Warren Bernhardt on piano. The song "The Pride Parade" provides an insight into McLean's immediate reaction to stardom. McLean told Melody Maker in 1973 that Tapestry was an album by someone previously concerned with external situations. American Pie combines externals with internals, and
3100-457: The Billboard Hot 100 in 1981. Orbison himself once described McLean as "the voice of the century", and in a subsequent re-recording of the song, Orbison incorporated elements of McLean's version. For the 1982 animated movie The Flight of Dragons , produced by Jules Bass and Arthur Rankin, Jr. , McLean sang the opening theme. However, no soundtrack has ever been released. Another hit song associated with McLean (though never recorded by him)
Don McLean - Misplaced Pages Continue
3200-1098: The Gaslight Cafe in New York, the Newport Folk Festival , the Cellar Door in Washington, D.C., and the Troubadour in Los Angeles. Gart's 18-year tenure as McLean's manager ended acrimoniously in the 1980s. Following Gart's death in September 2018, McLean wrote: I feel it is important to note that Herb did many good things for me in the beginning but could not deal with my success, as odd as that may sound. In about 1982 Herb told me his associate Walter Hofer who ran Copyright Service Bureau (a collection business for song publishers) had stolen $ 90,000 from my account but had "put it back". This
3300-609: The Royal Albert Hall in London in 1972 were critically acclaimed. American Pie (song) " American Pie " is a song by American singer and songwriter Don McLean . Recorded and released in 1971 on the album of the same name , the single was the number-one US hit for four weeks in 1972 starting January 15 after just eight weeks on the US Billboard charts (where it entered at number 69). The song also topped
3400-631: The 1960s and who did it, maybe start to look at war and the stupidity of it — if that can happen, then the song really is serving a wonderful purpose and a positive purpose." Mark Kennedy, "Don McLean looks back at his masterpiece, 'American Pie'" (2022) When asked what "American Pie" meant, McLean jokingly replied, "It means I don't ever have to work again if I don't want to." Later, he stated, "You will find many interpretations of my lyrics but none of them by me... Sorry to leave you all on your own like this but long ago I realized that songwriters should make their statements and move on, maintaining
3500-815: The Air ", and " Wonderful Baby ", as well as renditions of Roy Orbison 's " Crying " and the Skyliners ' " Since I Don't Have You ". McLean's song " And I Love You So " has been recorded by Elvis Presley , Perry Como , Helen Reddy , Glen Campbell , and others. In 2000, Madonna had a hit with a rendition of "American Pie". In 2004, McLean was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame . In January 2018, BMI certified that "American Pie" had reached five million airplays and "Vincent" three million. McLean's grandfather and father, both also named Donald McLean, were of Scottish origin. McLean's mother, Elizabeth Bucci,
3600-524: The Chapel ", and Cissy Houston provided a backing vocal on "La La Love You". The album's title song was inspired by Jack Kerouac 's book Lonesome Traveler , in which Kerouac tells the story of America's "homeless brothers" or hobos. The song features background vocals by Pete Seeger . The song "The Legend of Andrew McCrew" was based on an article published in The New York Times concerning
3700-656: The Easy Listening chart " Castles in the Air " was a success, and in 1973 "And I Love You So" became a number 1 Adult Contemporary hit for Perry Como . McLean's major break came when Mediarts was taken over by United Artists Records , thus securing the promotion of a major label for his second album, American Pie . The album launched two number one hits in the title song and " Vincent ". American Pie ' s success made McLean an international star and piqued interest in his first album, which charted more than two years after its initial release. McLean's " American Pie "
3800-569: The Executioner , as his character walks to the execution chamber. In 2012, the City of Grand Rapids , Michigan, created a lip dub video to "American Pie" in response to a Newsweek article that stated the city was "dying". (Due to licensing issues, the version used in the video was not the original, but rather a later-recorded live version.) The video was hailed as a fantastic performance by many, including film critic Roger Ebert , who said it
3900-493: The First Clearwater Crew , with sketches by Thomas B. Allen , for which Seeger wrote the foreword. Seeger and McLean sang " Shenandoah " on the 1974 Clearwater album. McLean thought very highly of Seeger and spoke fondly of his experiences working with him: "Hardly a day goes by when I don't think of Pete and how generous and supportive he was. If you could understand his politics and you got to know him, he really
4000-683: The Netherlands first, followed by the UK and then Australia. McLean's number 1 successes in Europe and Australia led to a new deal in the United States with Millennium Records, which issued Chain Lightning two and a half years after it had been recorded in Nashville and two years after its release in Europe. It charted on February 14, 1981, and reached number 28, and "Crying" climbed to number 5 on
4100-693: The Train " (U.S. country number 49), and "Eventually". The latter two songs were written by Terri Sharp . In 1991, EMI reissued " American Pie " as a single in the United Kingdom, and McLean performed on Top of the Pops . In 1992, previously unreleased songs became available on Favorites and Rarities , and Don McLean Classics featured new studio recordings of " Vincent " and " American Pie ". McLean has continued to record new material, including River of Love in 1995 on Curb Records , and more recently,
Don McLean - Misplaced Pages Continue
4200-632: The Trinity head to ("caught the last train for the coast"), commenting "even God has been corrupted". He also said that the line "This'll be the day that I die" originated from the John Wayne film The Searchers (which inspired Buddy Holly's song " That'll Be the Day "), and the chorus's line "Bye-bye, Miss American Pie" was inspired by a song by Pete Seeger , "Bye Bye, My Roseanna". McLean had originally intended to use "Miss American apple pie", but "apple"
4300-421: The United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia. At 8 minutes and 42 seconds, McLean's combined version is the sixth longest song to enter the Billboard Hot 100 (at the time of release it was the longest). The song also held the record for almost 50 years for being the longest song to reach number one before Taylor Swift 's " All Too Well (10 Minute Version) " broke the record in 2021. Due to its exceptional length, it
4400-549: The United States, but through continuing deals, Chain Lightning was released by EMI in Europe and by Festival Records in Australia. In April 1980, the Roy Orbison song " Crying " from the album began picking up airplay on Dutch radio stations and McLean was called to Europe to appear on several important musical variety shows to plug the song and support its release as a single by EMI. The song achieved number 1 status in
4500-520: The album Chain Lightning that should have been the second of four with Arista. McLean had started recording in Nashville, Tennessee, with Elvis Presley 's backing singers, the Jordanaires , and many of Presley's musicians. However the Arista deal broke down following artistic disagreements between McLean and the Arista chief, Clive Davis . Consequently, McLean was left without a record contract in
4600-475: The albums You've Got to Share , Don McLean Sings Marty Robbins and The Western Album for his own Don McLean Music label. Addicted to Black was released in May 2009. McLean's other well-known songs include the following. The American Pie album features a version of Psalm 137 , titled "Babylon". The song is based on a canon by Philip Hayes and was arranged by McLean and Lee Hays (of The Weavers). "Babylon"
4700-619: The back far right of the cover art of the Beatles' album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band ("the Sergeants played a marching tune"). The song title itself is a reference to apple pie , an unofficial symbol of the United States and one of its signature comfort foods , as seen in the popular expression "As American as apple pie" . By the twentieth century, this had become a symbol of American prosperity and national pride. The original United Artists Records inner sleeve featured
4800-582: The best of them. He's a very talented singer and songwriter and he deserves his success." McLean had further chart successes in the United States in the early 1980s with " Since I Don't Have You ", a new recording of "Castles in the Air" and "It's Just the Sun". In 1987, the release of the country-based album Love Tracks gave rise to the hit singles "Love in My Heart" (a top-10 in Australia), " You Can't Blame
4900-485: The better-known references in the song's lyrics, including mentions of Elvis Presley ("the king") and Bob Dylan ("the jester"), and confirmed that the song culminates with a description of the killing of Meredith Hunter at the Altamont Free Concert , ten years after the plane crash that killed Holly, Valens and Richardson, and that the song broadly depicts how the early rock innocence of the 1950s, and
5000-425: The blues" but just "turned away" – she died of a heroin overdose the following year). It has also been speculated that the song contains numerous references to post- World War II American political events, such as the assassination of John F. Kennedy (known casually as "Jack"), First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy ("his widowed bride"), and subsequent killing of his assassin (whose courtroom trial obviously ended as
5100-464: The bomb scare in his review for The New York Times titled "Don McLean Survives Two Obstacles". The fourth album Playin' Favorites was a top-40 hit in the UK in 1973 and included the Irish folk classic, "Mountains of Mourne" and Buddy Holly's " Everyday ", a live rendition of which returned McLean to the UK Singles Chart. McLean said "The last album ( Don McLean ) was a study in depression whereas
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#17327765504925200-555: The charts in Australia, Canada, and New Zealand. In the UK, the single reached number 2, where it stayed for three weeks on its original 1971 release, and a reissue in 1991 reached No. 12. The song was listed as the No. 5 song on the RIAA project Songs of the Century . A truncated version of the song was covered by Madonna in 2000 and reached No. 1 in at least 15 countries, including
5300-586: The closing of Fillmore East , the famous New York concert hall. "American Pie" reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 from January 15 to February 5, 1972, and remains McLean's most successful single release. The single also topped the Billboard Easy Listening chart. With a total running time of 8:36 encompassing both sides of the single, it was also the longest song to reach number one until Taylor Swift 's " All Too Well " broke
5400-572: The counterculture , the Manson Family and the Tate–LaBianca murders in the "summer swelter" of 1969 (the Beatles' song " Helter Skelter ") and much more. Apparent allusions to notable 50s songs include Don Cornell 's The Bible Tells Me So ("If the Bible tells you so?"), Marty Robbins ' A White Sport Coat , the lonely teenager ("With a pink carnation") mirroring Robbins' narrator who
5500-587: The cultural vanguard passed from Pete Seeger and Joan Baez (the "King and Queen" of folk music), then from Elvis Presley (known as "the King" of Rock and Roll), to Bob Dylan ("the Jester" – who wore a jacket similar to that worn by cultural icon James Dean , was known as "the voice of his generation" ("a voice that came from you and me"), and whose motorcycle accident ("in a cast") left him in reclusion for many years, recording in studios rather than touring ("on
5600-589: The documentary The Day the Music Died: The Story of Don McLean's American Pie , produced by Spencer Proffer, was released on the Paramount+ video on-demand service. Proffer said that he told McLean: "It's time for you to reveal what 50 years of journalists have wanted to know." McLean stated that he "needed a big song about America", and the first verse and melody ("A long, long time ago...") seemed to just come to mind. McLean also answered some of
5700-547: The final verse in a comparison with the Christian Holy Trinity ), that writing the first verse of the song exorcised his long-running grief over Holly's death and that he considers the song to be "a big song... that summed up the world known as America". McLean dedicated the American Pie album to Holly. Some commentators have identified the song as outlining the darkening of cultural mood, as over time
5800-464: The first half of the nineteenth century under the pressure of the first civil strike organised by labor movements , with the main aim of reducing illiteracy . Major philanthropic actions contributed to the continued spread of scuola serale. Beginning with elementary education , the first evening schools employed the educational process of "mutual education" (or mutual teaching) originated by British educators Andrew Bell and Joseph Lancaster , despite
5900-557: The first time in 50 years the meaning of the lyrics in "American Pie". In February 2022, McLean recorded a performance of "Vincent" at the Immersive Van Gogh exhibit in Los Angeles in honor of Van Gogh's birthday and the 50th anniversary of the song. In April 2022, Tyson Fury teamed up with McLean to remake "American Pie". McLean won six Telly Awards for the Fury-Whyte fight opening. In June 2022, McLean published
6000-537: The group declined as it lost members, changed genres, and alienated fans), to The Rolling Stones (who released Their Satanic Majesties Request and the singles " Jumpin' Jack Flash " and " Sympathy for the Devil " ("Jack Flash", "Satan", "The Devil"), and used Hells Angels – "Angels born in Hell" – as event security, with fatal consequences , bringing the 1960s to a violent end ), and to Janis Joplin (the "girl who sang
6100-411: The long-standing questions on the song's lyrics, although not all. He revealed that Presley was not the king referenced in the song, Joplin was not the "girl who sang the blues", and Dylan was not the jester, although he is open to other interpretations. He explained that the "marching band" refers to the military–industrial complex , "sweet perfume" refers to tear gas, and Los Angeles is the "coast" that
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#17327765504926200-438: The lyrics until 1978. Since then McLean has stated that the lyrics are also somewhat autobiographical and present an abstract story of his life from the mid-1950s until the time he wrote the song in the late 1960s. The original United Artists Records inner sleeve featured a free verse poem written by McLean about William Boyd , also known as Hopalong Cassidy , along with a picture of Boyd in full Hopalong regalia. This sleeve
6300-519: The music to "Killing Me Softly with His Song". Lieberman recorded the song (now credited to Gimbel and Fox) and released it in 1972. This initial version was heard by Roberta Flack , who recorded it with slight changes to create a number-one hit. Two decades later it was recorded by the Fugees , who had another hit. The Don McLean Story: Killing Us Softly With His Songs was published in 2007. Biographer Alan Howard conducted extensive interviews for this,
6400-426: The new one ( Playin' Favorites ) is almost the quintessence of optimism." The 1974 album Homeless Brother , produced by Joel Dorn , was McLean's final studio recording for United Artists. The album featured fine New York session musicians, including Ralph McDonald on percussion, Hugh McCracken on guitar and a guest appearance by Yusef Lateef on flute. The Persuasions sang the background vocals on " Crying in
6500-427: The only book-length biography of the often reclusive McLean to date. McLean is credited as a co-writer on Drake 's song "Doing It Wrong", featuring Stevie Wonder. The song includes lyrics from two McLean compositions – "The Wrong Thing to Do" and "When a Good Thing Goes Bad" – both of which were featured on his 1977 album Prime Time . In a July 2022 documentary, titled The Day The Music Died , McLean discussed for
6600-406: The original (it contains only the beginning of the first verse and all of the second and sixth verses) and was recorded as a dance-pop song. It was co-produced by Madonna and William Orbit and released on the singer's Maverick label, after Rupert Everett (Madonna's co-star in The Next Best Thing ) had convinced her to cover the song for the film's soundtrack. Madonna said of her choice to cover
6700-496: The people. Living there changed my life forever." McLean's albums did not match the commercial success of American Pie , but he became a major concert attraction in the United States and overseas. His repertoire included old concert hall numbers and the catalogues of singers such as Buddy Holly and Frank Sinatra . The years spent playing gigs in small clubs and coffee houses in the 1960s transformed into well-paced performances. McLean's first concerts at Carnegie Hall in New York and
6800-504: The plane crash that killed Holly, Valens, and Richardson, and did acknowledge that some of the more well-known symbols in the song were inspired by figures such as Elvis Presley ("the king") and Bob Dylan ("the jester"). In 2017, Bob Dylan was asked about how he was referenced in the song. "A jester? Sure, the jester writes songs like ' Masters of War ', ' A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall ', ' It's Alright, Ma ' – some jester. I have to think he's talking about somebody else. Ask him." In 2022,
6900-437: The pop singles chart. Orbison himself thought that McLean's version was the best interpretation he'd ever heard of one of his songs. Orbison thought McLean did a better job than he did and even went so far as to say that the voice of Don McLean is one of the great instruments of 20th-century America. According to Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys, "McLean's voice could cut through steel – he is a very pure singer and he's up there with
7000-405: The ranting of a stupid attention-seeking fool we all know," McLean wrote in the statement that did not mention Ye by name. "I want to say I stand with my Jewish friends and I stand with the state of Israel. When this kind of thing happens, we should realize why the state of Israel must be respected and protected." McLean lived in Israel on-and-off from 1978 to 1982 and he "grew to love the country and
7100-577: The record in 2021. Some stations played only part one of the original split-sided single release. WCFL DJ Bob Dearborn unraveled the lyrics and first published his interpretation on January 7, 1972, four days after the song reached number 1 on rival station WLS , six days before it reached number 1 on WCFL, and eight days before it reached number 1 nationally (see "Further reading" under " American Pie "). Numerous other interpretations, which together largely converged on Dearborn's interpretation, quickly followed. McLean declined to say anything definitive about
7200-542: The resultant success of that album makes the third one ( Don McLean ) entirely introspective." Other songs written by McLean for the album include "Dreidel" (number 21 on the Billboard chart) and "If We Try" (number 58), which was recorded by Olivia Newton-John . "On the Amazon" from the 1920s musical Mr. Cinders was an unusual choice but became an audience favorite in concerts and featured in Till Tomorrow ,
7300-428: The sale catalogue notes, McLean revealed the meaning in the song's lyrics: "Basically in 'American Pie' things are heading in the wrong direction. It [life] is becoming less idyllic. I don't know whether you consider that wrong or right but it is a morality song in a sense." The catalogue confirmed that the song climaxes with a description of the killing of Meredith Hunter at the Altamont Free Concert , ten years after
7400-484: The scarcity of teachers. Initially, classes operated during the afternoon and evening. They were mainly frequented by peasants, workers and child laborers. At the end of the century, provoked by a growing need to provide a complete technical and vocational training, evening classes spread in large industrial cities. Port technical schools helped initiate "Festive Sundays", a complement to the workshops that were only open on Sundays. Subsequently, these Sunday courses moved to
7500-476: The sidelines")), to The Beatles ( John Lennon , punned with Vladimir Lenin , and "the Quartet" – although McLean has stated the Quartet is a reference to other people ), to The Byrds (who wrote one of the first psychedelic rock songs, " Eight Miles High ", and then "fell fast" – the song was banned, band member Gene Clark entered rehabilitation , known colloquially as a "fallout shelter", and shortly after,
7600-461: The song but eventually relented. McLean and the session musicians rehearsed for two weeks but failed to get the song right. At the last minute, the pianist Paul Griffin was added, which is when the tune came together. McLean used a 1969 or 1970 Martin D-28 guitar to provide the basic chords throughout "American Pie". The song debuted in the album American Pie in October 1971 and was released as
7700-498: The song goes beyond mourning McLean's childhood music heroes, reflecting the deep cultural changes and profound disillusion and loss of innocence of his generation – the early rock and roll generation – that took place between the 1959 plane crash and either late 1969 or late 1970 . The meaning of the other lyrics, which cryptically allude to many of the jarring events and social changes experienced during that period, has been debated for decades. McLean repeatedly declined to explain
7800-457: The song so often. An unrelated comedy film franchise by Universal Pictures , who secured the rights to McLean's title, also debuted in 1999. "American Pie" was the last song to be played on Virgin Radio before it was rebranded as Absolute Radio in 2008. It was also the last song played on BFBS Malta in 1979. Jeremy Renner sings an a cappella version in the 2006 movie Love Comes to
7900-501: The song was a worldwide hit, reaching No. 1 in many countries, including the United Kingdom, Australia, Iceland, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Finland. The song was the 19th-best-selling single of 2000 in the UK and the ninth best-selling single of 2000 in Sweden. The single was not released commercially in the United States, but it reached No. 29 on the Billboard Hot 100 due to strong radio airplay. Chuck Taylor of Billboard
8000-516: The song was written there, and a plaque marks the table. While a 2022 documentary on the history of the song claims Saint Joseph's University as where the song was first performed, McLean insists that the song made its debut in Philadelphia at Temple University when he opened for Laura Nyro on March 14, 1971. The song was produced by Ed Freeman and recorded with a few session musicians. Freeman did not want McLean to play rhythm guitar on
8100-527: The song: "To me, it's a real millennium song. We're going through a big change in terms of the way we view pop culture, because of the Internet. In a way, it's like saying goodbye to music as we knew it—and to pop culture as we knew it." It is included as an international bonus track on her eighth studio album, Music . "American Pie" was not included in the 2001 greatest hits compilation GHV2 (2001) because Madonna had regretted putting it on Music . "It
8200-463: The symbolism behind the many characters and events mentioned; he eventually released his songwriting notes to accompany the original manuscript when it was sold in 2015, explaining many of these. McLean further elaborated on the lyrical meaning in a 2022 documentary celebrating the song's 50th anniversary, in which he stated the song was driven by impressionism , and debunked some of the more widely speculated symbols. In 2017, McLean's original recording
8300-462: The third highest auction price achieved for an American literary manuscript. In the sale catalogue notes, McLean finally revealed the meaning in the song's lyrics: "Basically in American Pie things are heading in the wrong direction. ... It [life] is becoming less idyllic. I don't know whether you consider that wrong or right but it is a morality song in a sense." The catalogue confirmed some of
8400-562: The time of the plane crash that killed early rock and roll musicians Buddy Holly , Ritchie Valens , and The Big Bopper : I first found out about the plane crash because I was a 13-year-old newspaper delivery boy in New Rochelle, New York, and I was carrying the bundle of the local Standard-Star papers that were bound in twine, and when I cut it open with a knife, there it was on the front page. McLean reportedly wrote "American Pie" in Saratoga Springs, New York , at Caffè Lena, but
8500-483: Was "American Pi" by mathematics education professor Dr. Lawrence M. Lesser. The contest was in honor of "Pi Day of the Century" because "3/14/15" would be the only day in the 21st-century showing the first five digits of π ( pi ). On April 20, 2015, John Mayer covered "American Pie" live on the Late Show with David Letterman , at the request of the show's eponymous host . On January 29, 2021, McLean released
8600-567: Was "the greatest music video ever made". On March 21, 2013, Harmonix announced that "American Pie" would be the final downloadable track made available for the Rock Band series of music video games. This was the case until Rock Band 4 was released on October 6, 2015, reviving the series' weekly releases of DLC. On March 14, 2015, the National Museum of Mathematics announced that one of two winners of its songwriting contest
8700-456: Was 15, his father died. Fulfilling his father's request, McLean graduated from Iona Preparatory School in 1963, and briefly attended Villanova University , dropping out after four months. After leaving Villanova, McLean became associated with the famed folk music agent Harold Leventhal for several months before teaming up with his personal manager, Herb Gart. For the next six years, he performed at venues and events including The Bitter End and
8800-433: Was a cover story and a lie. Furthermore the amount turned out to be more like $ 200,000 and because Gart was now complicit in this crime I fired him. He sued me but settled for a small amount and was never heard from again. There is so much of this in my business and artists usually sweep it under the rug but I don't. I want people to know the truth about my journey. McLean attended night school at Iona College and received
8900-512: Was age 13 – when he was folding newspapers for his paper route on the morning of February 4, 1959 (hence the line "February made me shiver/with every paper I'd deliver"), McLean has generally avoided responding to direct questions about the song's lyrics; he has said: "They're beyond analysis. They're poetry." He also stated in an editorial published in 2009, on the 50th anniversary of the crash that killed Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J. P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson (all of whom are alluded to in
9000-474: Was allowed to flourish. By age 16, he had bought his first guitar and began making contacts in the music business, becoming friends with the folk singers Erik Darling and Fred Hellerman of the Weavers. Hellerman said, "He called me one day and said, 'I'd like to come and visit you', and that's what he did! We became good friends — he has the most remarkable music memory of anyone I've ever known." When McLean
9100-421: Was dropped. On the whole, McLean stated that the lyrics were meant to be impressionist , and that many of the lyrics, only a portion of which were included in the finished recording, were completely fictional with no basis in real-life events. Credits from Richard Buskin, except where noted. Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone. In 1999, "Weird Al" Yankovic wrote and recorded
9200-426: Was impressed by the recording and commented, "Applause to Madonna for not pandering to today's temporary trends and for challenging programmers to broaden their playlists. ... In all, a fine preview of the forthcoming soundtrack to The Next Best Thing ." Peter Robinson of The Guardian called the cover as "brilliant". Don McLean himself praised the cover, saying it was "a gift from a goddess", and that her version
9300-438: Was initially released as a two-sided 7-inch single . "American Pie" has been described as "one of the most successful and debated songs of the 20th century". The repeated phrase " the day the music died " refers to a plane crash in 1959 that killed early rock and roll stars Buddy Holly , The Big Bopper , and Ritchie Valens , ending the era of early rock and roll ; this became the popular nickname for that crash. The theme of
9400-640: Was of Italian origin: Her parents originated from Abruzzo in central Italy . He has other extended family in Los Angeles and Boston. McLean grew up in New Rochelle, New York , where he delivered newspapers as a boy. Though some of his early musical influences included Frank Sinatra and Buddy Holly , as a teenager, McLean became interested in folk music , particularly the Weavers ' 1955 recording The Weavers at Carnegie Hall . He often missed long periods of school because of childhood asthma , and although McLean slipped in his studies, his love of music
9500-463: Was performed in the Mad Men episode of the same name despite the fact that the song would not be released until 10 years after the time in which the episode is set. In 1981, McLean had an international number one hit with a version of the Roy Orbison classic "Crying". It was only after the record became a success overseas that it was released in the United States. The single hit reached number 5 on
9600-714: Was removed within a year of the album's release. The words to this poem appear on a plaque at the hospital where Boyd died. The Boyd poem and picture tribute do appear on a special remastered 2003 CD. In 2001, "American Pie" was voted number 5 in a poll of the 365 Songs of the Century compiled by the Recording Industry Association of America and the National Endowment for the Arts . On April 7, 2015, McLean's original working manuscript for "American Pie" sold for $ 1,205,000 (£809,524/€1,109,182) at Christie's auction rooms, New York, making it
9700-647: Was selected for preservation in the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". To mark the 50th anniversary of the song, McLean performed a 35-date tour through Europe, starting in Wales and ending in Austria, in 2022. Don McLean drew inspiration for the song from his childhood experience delivering newspapers during
9800-478: Was some kind of modern day saint." McLean recorded Tapestry in 1969 in Berkeley, California, during the student riots. After being rejected 72 times by labels, the album was released by Mediarts , a label that had not existed when he first started to look for one. He worked on the album for a couple of years before putting it out. It attracted good reviews but little notice outside the folk community, though on
9900-450: Was something a certain record company executive twisted my arm into doing, but it didn't belong on the album so now it's being punished... My gut told me not to [put the song on Music ], but I did it and then I regretted it so just for that reason it didn't deserve a place on GHV2 ," she said. However, the song's remix was featured on her remix compilation album Finally Enough Love: 50 Number Ones (2022). Released on February 28, 2000,
10000-631: Was successful, and McCrew's body was exhumed and buried in the Lincoln Cemetery in Dallas. Joel Dorn later collaborated on the McLean career retrospective Rearview Mirror , released in 2005 on Dorn's label, Hyena Records. In 2006, Dorn reflected on working with McLean: Of the more than 200 studio albums I've produced in the past 40 plus years, there is a handful; maybe 15 or so that I can actually listen to from top to bottom. Homeless Brother
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