What is the meaning of the song "American Pie"? Its infectious lyrics speak about "the day the music died," but when did that occur?
There are few songs in the historical past of music that jam as a lot popular culture into their runtimes as "American Pie" does. Don McLean's definitive 1971 hit song stays, to this day, the singer's largest monitor. Despite popping out over part a century in the past, it is nonetheless entertaining new listeners day by day.
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"American Pie" is a journey through America's cultural panorama spanning over a decade of events during one of its most formative instances of the 20th century. With that being stated, what is the meaning of the song? Keep studying to find out.
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What is the meaning of "American Pie"?
The deeper meaning in the back of "American Pie" is one thing that has been hotly debated via enthusiasts of the song for decades now. However, after we take the song merely at its lyrical face price, it's transparent that the track is telling a tale about the occasions that transpired between the years 1959 and 1970 in the U.S.
At the best of the song, Don sings of how "something touched me deep inside / The day the music died." The day that he is regarding is Feb. 3, 1959, the infamous date of the aircraft crash that killed Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper. The three stars were individually at the top of the tune world at the time of the tragic crash, and their deaths all on the similar day of the similar circumstance was in large part referred to in popular culture as "the day the music died."
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Its iconic chorus is a connection with a number of things. "Miss American Pie" is a term created via Don that seems to mix Miss America, as in the attractiveness competition, and apple pie, a well-liked American dessert. "Drove my Chevy to the levee, but the levee was dry" is in large part thought to be a reference to Chevrolet being standard in the Fifties and Sixties, discussing how younger other people would hang around/race their automobiles at native levees.
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"And them good old boys were drinkin' whiskey 'n rye," touches on some stereotypical American alcoholic drinks. The following line, "Singin', 'This'll be the day that I die' / 'This'll be the day that I die'" Is a connection with Buddy Holly's song "That'll Be The Day."
The first verse sees Don recalling growing up in the era of rock's takeover in mainstream tune ("Now do you believe in rock 'n' roll / Can music save your mortal soul"). It talks of his highschool years and dropping love through strains comparable to "Well, I know that you're in love with him / 'Cause I saw you dancin' in the gym."
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After repeating the refrain, Don fast-forwards ten years to offer what had changed in the American panorama. He sings, "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," he is referencing Bob Dylan. On the quilt of his second album, "The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan," Bob wears a coat similar to the jacket James wore in the 1955 film Rebel Without A Cause.
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References to Bob proceed with "Oh, and while the king was looking down / The jester stole his thorny crown." This line discusses how Elvis Presley was once drafted into the military despite being the "king" of track at the time and how Bob got here in right through his absence to grow to be the de-facto chief of the counterculture.
Shots at John Lennon's known far-left ideologies came in the next line when Don sang, "And while Lennon read a book on Marx / The quartet practiced in the park."
After repeating the refrain, the 3rd verse strikes on to talk about Charles Manson ("Helter skelter in a summer swelter"), the upward push of each mythical 1960s musician in the wake of Bob's 1966 motorbike twist of fate ("The players tried for a forward pass / With the jester on the sidelines in a cast"), and more.
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The fourth verse continues the adventure thru time, arriving at the overdue Sixties when counterculture began to dissolve ("A generation lost in space"). Then, it wholly transitions to discussing the tragic Altamont Free Concert hung on Dec. 6, 1969, in California. At that event, Hells Angel bikers employed through The Rolling Stones as safety stabbed an 18-year-old guy named Meredith Hunter, in line with The Bulletin in 1969.
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In the song's closing lines, Don in point of fact hammers home the notion that the tune has died once more. Through traces akin to "I went down to the sacred store / Where I'd heard the music years before / But the man there said the music wouldn't play," he makes it known that the spirit of the industry that existed previous to "the day the music died" had totally dissolved at this level, over ten years removed from the tournament.
To bookend the track, Don sings once more of the dying of Buddy, Richie, and the Big Bopper. "And the three men I admire most / The Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost / They caught the last train for the coast / The day the music died."
All-in-all, "American Pie" is a memorable snapshot of a technology and a poignant reminder of how a lot things can exchange in a rather brief length of time.
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