What is “American Pie” "American Pie" may represent the youthful, popular American culture of the mid- and late- 1950s that involved the styles in music,

What is “American Pie”

• "American Pie" may represent the youthful, popular American culture of the mid- and late-1950s that involved the styles in music, dance, dress, movies, radio, television, and romance that McLean loved as a child and young teenager.

“The Day the Music Died”

• The repeated line, “The Day The Music Died,” marks the passing of that culture and its values with the accidental deaths of Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J.P. Richardson.

Holly, Valens, Bopper

• The day the music died is the name McLean gave to February 3, 1959, the day an airplane carrying musicians Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and The Big Bopper crashed, killing all three.

• The date has a profound meaning to McLean because it marked a major change in his life.

The Chevy and the levee • Since traveling is a common metaphor for making one's way

through life, driving a Chevy meant making it through life in a patriotic, middle class style that the owner could be proud of.

• A drive on a "road along the levee" beside a river or other body of water represents a scenic, fulfilling sojourn, so, the missing water along the levee implies that the trip, life, became empty.

God and the Bible

• One purpose of the religious elements in "American Pie" might be to remind the listener that music can provide spiritual fulfillment.

• American Pie includes a number of Christian religious elements that includes an allusion to Jesus, The Trinity and Satan.

Dylan’s Accident

• “moss grows fat on a rollin' stone” is referencing to Bob Dylan.

• The phrase is taken from the title of Dylan's 1965 hit about himself, "Like a Rolling Stone".

• The line is a play on words on the proverb that "a rolling stone gathers no moss", but McLean says the stone grew moss by 1970 — a criticism of Dylan's relative, post-1966 motorcycle crash inertness, and diminished daring, creative energy and intensity.

Bob Dylan– When the jester sang for

the king and queen in a coat he borrowed from James Dean

– And a voice that came from you and me

– Oh and while the king was looking down, the jester stole his thorny crown

• A strong case has been made that the jester is Bob Dylan

King and Queen

• “The King" is Elvis Presley for McLean and much of America. The thorny crown, a Christian symbol for suffering, can be taken to represent the price of fame and power — specifically, Presley's struggle to cope with being a celebrity

• Also in music, “The Queen" of rock and roll in the late 1950s was Connie Francis. As with Elvis Presley, Francis' music recording successes were used to launch a successful movie career.

Dean and Dylan

• James Dean famously wore a red windbreaker in the movie Rebel Without a Cause, and Dylan was shown in a windbreaker on the cover of one of his albums, Freewheelin' Bob Dylan. Dylan also described himself as a clown chasing his muse in "Mr. Tambourine Man"

The Voice

• The fact that the jester sang in a "voice that came from you and me" would refer to the populist origins of American folk music.

The Jester and the Crown

• The jester stealing the king's crown probably refers to Dylan overtaking Presley in record sales by the mid-1960s and also suffering the side effects of being a celebrity. McLean's line,“The courtroom was adjourned, no verdict was returned,” may refer to America's continued regard for Presley as "The King" even though Dylan was in the limelight.

The Quartet

– “And while Lennon read a book on Marx, the quartet practiced in the park.”

– “And we sang dirges in the dark the day the music died."

• The Les Stewart Quartet that included George Harrison, John Lennon, and Paul McCartney.

Marx and Lennon

• Marx could mean Karl Marx, a German, and meaning that Lennon read about communism, creating a pun for the political theory Marxist-Leninism.

• In 1970, Lennon released the song "Working Class Hero", which included allusions to communist themes, such as the line[we're] doped on religion, sex and TV, a reference to Karl Marx' dictum that "religion is the opiate of the masses".

The Park

• “Park" as a reference to a stadium could refer to any number Beatles' performances.

• The Beatles' last public concert at Candlestick Park in San Francisco, California on August 29, 1966; or to England or Europe where The Beatles "practiced" before first coming to America in 1964.

Helter Skelter

• The fourth verse begins with “Helter skelter in a summer swelter”

• "Helter Skelter" is a Beatles song that was released in two versions on two albums. The "summer swelter" may allude to The Beatles' efforts during the summer of 1968 to record different versions of the song

Charles Manson

• The "summer swelter" may also or alternatively refer to the August 1969 Tate/LaBianca murders. The mastermind behind the killings, Charles Manson, claimed "Helter Skelter" inspired the bloodbaths he convinced his followers to commit.

The Byrds

• “the birds flew off with a fallout shelter / Eight miles high and fallin' fast, it landed foul on the grass”

• The fact they "flew off with a fallout shelter" refers to their huge initial success, which they owed to their arrangement of Bob Dylan's "Mr. Tambourine Man".

Eight Miles High

• The Byrds popularity suffered ("falling fast") when their reputation for drug use rubbed off on their 1966 release of "Eight Miles High". Many radio stations banned the recording when some thought it was about drug consumption ("it landed foul on the grass").

The Players and the Jester• “The players tried for a forward

pass with the jester, on the sidelines in a cast”

• This line might refer to The Byrds' less than successful bids to outdo The Beatles without Bob Dylan songs after 1966.

• The jester is mentioned again in the fourth verse line ... with the jester on the sidelines in a cast. Assuming the jester is Dylan, this probably refers to his July 29, 1966, motorcycle crash that left him badly injured.

Beatles Final Performance• “while the sergeants played a

marching tune / We all got up to dance, oh but we never got the chance”

• This can refer to The Beatles' (the sergeants) last live concert that occurred on the last leg of their 1966 North American tour at Candlestick Park in San Francisco on August 29, because their performance lasted for only 35 minutes.

The Marching Band

• “Cause the players tried to take the field, The marching band refused to yield”

• The reference is that the music of the sixties was dominated by the Beatles, and for this reason other artists (The Byrds) did not get a chance to shine.

Woodstock

– Oh, and there we were all in one place, a generation lost in space

– With no time left to start again.

– The generation is represented by the 400,00 to 500,000 mostly young people "all in one place", the Woodstock Music and Art Fair held at White Lake, New York, August 15-19, 1969

Jack Flash

• McLean may have felt his generation permanently lost its innocence to drug use since it had "no time left to start again". The loss is represented in the verse's next lines that open a nursery rhyme to which McLean adds a perverted twist:– So, come on Jack be nimble, Jack be

quick, Jack Flash sat on a candlestick 'cause

– Fire is the devil's only friend

The Stones and Altamont

• The fifth verse is believed to describe a December 9, 1969, free concert, organized by The Rolling Stones, at the Altamont Speedway near Livermore, California, in which The Rolling Stones, The Grateful Dead and others performed.

Sympathy for the Devil

• The Stones and The Dead are identified by references to their songs, "Jumpin' Jack Flash" (1968) and "Friend of the Devil" (1970), respectively: So come on Jack be nimble, Jack be quick, Jack Flash sat on a candlestick 'cause / Fire is the devil's only friend, though the "devil" may rather allude to The Stones' 1968 song, "Sympathy for the Devil", a more historically consistent interpretation

The Devil

• The "devil" is Mick Jagger, who performed "Sympathy for the Devil" that night dressed in black with a red cape before 300,000 people. "Angels born in hell" refers to members of the Hells Angels gang, who were hired to provide security.

Angel Born in Hell

• That night, gang members were beating concert goers and Marty Balin of the band Jefferson Airplane. McLean, who did not attend the concert, wrote that he was enraged:– Oh, and as I watched him on the stage my

hands were clenched in fists of rage – No angel born in hell – Could break that Satan's spell

Hells Angels

• McLean imagined the music agitating the Hells Angels into a killing frenzy that resulted in their stabbing to death the armed concert goer Meredith Hunter: And as the flames climbed high into the night to light the sacrificial rite. The murder was captured on film. Hundreds were injured in the violence.

Janis Joplin• The final verse opens with I met a girl who sang

the blues, which probably alludes to Janis Joplin, who many consider to be the greatest white blues artists of all time. Her death through an accidental heroin overdose in October 1970, is alluded to in the third line: But she just smiled and turned away. Another possibility is jazz singer Billie Holiday who died in July 1959.

Vietnam

• Some people interpret part of the fourth verse as a reference to the Vietnam War. The section reads: ... while the sergeants played a marching tune / We all got up to dance, oh but we never got the chance / 'Cause the players tried to take the field, the marching band refused to yield.

The Draft

• The conflict could be between the U.S. government (represented by the sergeants) administering the draft and young people resisting it.

Vietnam Protests

• The players getting up to dance (the opposite of marching) trying to take the field might represent anti-war and anti-draft protesters. The marching band refusing to yield may represent America's collective refusal to withdraw from Vietnam during the 1960s.

The 70’s

• The concluding verse, which opens by referring to death of Janis Joplin, thus, marking 1970, the last year of the decade, contains the lines:– And in the streets the children screamed, the

lovers cried and the poets dreamed,

– But not a word was spoken, the church bells all were broken.

Kent State Massacre

• McLean may have written these lines in response to the May 4, 1970, Ohio National Guard shootings at Kent State University that killed four and wounded nine unarmed people

• The phrase "not a word was spoken" might refer to President Nixon's silence on the matter.

Kennedy And King

• The broken church bells may also refer to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy who were opponents of the War.

• Both were assassinated in 1968