American Pie by Don Mclean An interpretation of the song as an allegory for the evolution of rock music in the sixties: Verse 1: Childhood, innocence, and the day the music died. A long, long, time ago, I can still remember how that music made me smile. And I knew if I had my chance, that I could make those people dance. And maybe theyd be happy for a while. But February made me shiver, with every paper Id deliver. In 1959, Mclean was a paperboy in his home town of Purchase, NY. His dream was to be a rock singer like his idol, Buddy Holly. Buddy Holly and the Crickets, 1958. Bad news on the door step. I couldnt take one more step. I cant remember if I cried when I read about his widowed bride. But something touched me deep inside the day the music died. February 3, 1959 On February 3, 1959, Hollys plane crashed in Iowa. Two other musicians died in the crash, Richie Valens and J.P. Richardson, known as The Big Bopper. Travelers still decorate the site of the crash in Iowa. Did you write the book of love and do you have faith in God above? If the bible tells you so. Now do you believe in rock and roll? Can music save your mortal soul? And can you teach me how to dance real slow? Now I know that youre in love with him, cause I saw you dancing in the gym. You both kicked off your shoes. Man, I dig those rhythm and blues. I was a lonely teenage broncing buck with a pink carnation and a pick-up truck. But I knew I was out of luck the day the music died. Verse 2: The early sixties bring hope, change, and tragedy. Now for ten years, weve been on our own and moss grows fat on a rolling stone, but thats not how it used to be. In 1965, Bob Dylan released Like a Rolling Stone. It was a complete departure from his earlier acoustic music. By 1969, Dylan had grown disillusioned with the music industry and was a recluse in his home in Woodstock, NY. Dylans earlier folk songs had made him an icon of the anti-Vietnam war protest movement. Dylan went electric in part to escape that attention. It worked. Members of the folk community called him Judas. 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. In 1963, he played the Newport Folk Festival with folk-singers Pete Seeger and Joan Baez, making him an immediate star. The album cover from The Freewheelin Bob Dylan mimicked photographs of movie star James Dean. Dean had died in a car accident in In many songs, Dylan referred to a joker. Mclean calls him the jester. Oh and while the king was looking down, the jester stole his thorny crown. Elvis Presley, the King of Rock n Roll, was drafted into the army in He finished his service in 1960, but his post-military recordings were not as popular as his earlier songs. In 1963, Bob Dylans political folk music became the new craze. The courtroom was adjourned. No verdict was returned. In 1963, President John F. Kennedy was shot in Dallas. The Warren Commission found that Lee Harvey Oswald was the lone gunman, but many Americans believed that the real truth about the murder was covered up. While Lennon read a book on Marx, the quartet practiced in the park. The Beatles, and particularly John Lennon, were evolving. Their music became political, reflecting communist views (Karl Marx wrote The Communist Manifesto.) In 1966, Lennon claimed that The Beatles were more popular than Jesus now. Later that year, the group retired from playing concerts. Their last show was in Candlestick Park in San Francisco. And we sang dirges in the dark the day the music died. Martin Luther King Jr. died in April, 1968 from an assassins bullet. Robert Kennedy died in June of the same year while running for president. A dirge is a funeral song. Verse 3: Drugs and violence ruin everything. Helter Skelter in a summer swelter, Things got worse for The Beatles. In 1968, Charles Manson claimed that their White album was talking directly to him. He and his friends broke into a house in Los Angeles and killed four people. Manson referred to the murders as the Helter Skelter, the title of a Beatles song. The bird flew off to a fallout shelter. Eight miles high and falling fast. The first psychedelic rock song was Eight Miles High by the Byrds. They wrote the song while taking amphetamines. The fallout shelter could be a reference to drug rehab. Then landed in the foul grass, the players tried for a forward pass. The players are the social protesters of the sixties, who became more aggressive as the Vietnam war continued. Mclean refers to the irony that prevalent drug use undermined their desire for social justice and change. With the jester on the sidelines in a cast. In 1966 Bob Dylan broke his leg in a motorcycle accident. Once the messiah of the social justice movement, by this time he had completely dropped away from the music scene. He bought a farmhouse in Woodstock, NY with his wife and two children. He continued to record music, but didnt release it. Now the halftime air was sweet perfume as the sergeants played a marching tune. We all got up to dance, but we never got the chance. As youth culture embraced flower power, The Beatles released what many still consider the greatest album of all time. Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band used four-track recording to create an avant-garde pop album. It was definitely not dance music. Cause the players tried to take the field, the marching band refused to yield. Do you recall what was revealed the day the music died? As the protests against the war heated up, many turned into violent confrontations between protesters and police. John Lennon and the Beatles refused to support the violent, revolutionary tactics some of the protesters advocated. And then we were all in one place, a generation lost in space with no time left to start again. In the summer of 1969, Woodstock became the largest attended rock festival in history. Over 400,000 people attended. So come on, Jack be nimble, Jack be quick, Jack flash sat on a candlestick, cause fire is the devils only friend. Big hits for the Rolling Stones: Jumpin Jack Flash Sympathy for the Devil off of Their Satanic Majestys Request 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 Satans spell. As the flames climbed high into the night, to light the sacrificial light I saw Satan laughing with delight the day the music died. In December of 1969, the Rolling Stones tried to emulate Woodstock by holding a festival at the Altamont Speedway in California. They hired members of the Hells Angels Motorcycle gang as bodyguards. While Woodstock had been peaceful, Altamont turned bloody. I met a girl who sang the blues and I asked her for some happy news. But she just smiled and turned away. Janis Joplin became a star singing in an older blues style. She died of a drug overdose in October, 1970. I went down to the sacred store where I heard the music years before but the man there said the music wouldnt play. The sacred store is a record shop. And in the streets the children screamed. The lovers cried and the poets dreamed. In May of 1970, college students at Kent State University in Ohio held a protest against the war. The National Guard opened fire on a crowd of students, killing four of them. The optimistic era of peace and love was over. But not a word was spoken. The church bells all were broken. And the three men I admired most, the father, son, and the holy ghost. They took the last train for the coast the day the music died. McLean was a practicing Catholic. What does this final verse reveal about his reactions to the musical and social movements of the sixties? How does he reconcile his religion with his love for rock and roll?