American Pie (song)

This article is about the Don McLean song. For the Shea Diamond song, see Shea Diamond.

"American Pie"
U.S. vinyl single. Artwork was also used as the front cover for the album of the same name and many other international releases of the single.
Single by Don McLean
from the album American Pie
B-side
  • "Empty Chairs" (promo)
  • "American Pie part 2" (first release)
Released
  • October 1971 (original)
  • November 1991 (re-release)
RecordedMay 26, 1971
GenreFolk rock[1]
Length
  • 8:42 (LP)
  • 4:11 (single part 1)
  • 4:31 (single part 2)
LabelUnited Artists
Songwriter(s)Don McLean
Producer(s)Ed Freeman
Don McLean singles chronology
"Castles in the Air"
(1971) 		"American Pie"
(1971) 		"Vincent"
(1972)
Music video
"American Pie" on YouTube
Audio
"American Pie" on YouTube
Live video
"American Pie live performance on BBC, July 29, 1972" on YouTube

"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[2] after just eight weeks on the US Billboard charts (where it entered at number 69).[3] The song also topped 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 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[4] before Taylor Swift's "All Too Well (10 Minute Version)" broke the record in 2021.[5] Due to its exceptional length, it was initially released as a two-sided 7-inch single.[6] "American Pie" has been described as "one of the most successful and debated songs of the 20th century".[7]

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 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[7] – the early rock and roll generation – that took place between the 1959 plane crash and either late 1969[8] or late 1970.[9][10] 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 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 was selected for preservation in the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".[11] 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.[12]

  1. ^ DeMain, Bill (August 18, 2021). "The story behind American Pie by Don McLean". Loudersound.com. Archived from the original on October 31, 2021. Retrieved October 31, 2021.
  2. ^ "The Hot 100 Week of January 15, 1972". Billboard. Archived from the original on January 22, 2021. Retrieved January 16, 2021.
  3. ^ "The Hot 100 Week of November 27, 1971". Billboard. Archived from the original on January 23, 2021. Retrieved January 16, 2021.
  4. ^ "The Longest & Shortest Hot 100 Hits: From Kendrick Lamar, Beyoncé & David Bowie to Piko-Taro". Billboard. Archived from the original on May 29, 2018. Retrieved May 11, 2019.
  5. ^ Trust, Gary (November 22, 2021). "Taylor Swift's 'All Too Well (Taylor's Version)' Soars In at No. 1 on Billboard Hot 100". Billboard. Archived from the original on November 23, 2021. Retrieved November 23, 2021.
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference Axelrod was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ a b "Decoding the Ambiguous Lyrics of Don McLean's American Pie". Musicoholics. July 26, 2020. Archived from the original on July 10, 2021. Retrieved July 10, 2021.
  8. ^ "Understanding American Pie – Interpretation of Don Mclean's epic anthem to the passing of an era". UnderstandingAmericanPie.com. Archived from the original on September 6, 2003. Retrieved March 30, 2017.
  9. ^ The Day the Music Died: A Closer Look at the Lyrics of "American Pie" Archived June 28, 2021, at the Wayback Machine: States "I met a girl who sang the blues/And I asked her for some happy news/But she just smiled and turned away – McLean turns to Janis Joplin for hope, but she dies of a heroin overdose on October 4, 1970."
  10. ^ Songfacts: American Pie Archived June 9, 2021, at the Wayback Machine: States that "The line, 'I met a girl who sang the blues and I asked her for some happy news, but she just smiled and turned away,' is probably about Janis Joplin. She died of a drug overdose in 1970."
  11. ^ "National Recording Registry Picks Are 'Over the Rainbow'". Library of Congress. March 29, 2017. Archived from the original on March 29, 2017. Retrieved March 29, 2017.
  12. ^ "Don McLean sets 'American Pie' 50th anniversary Europe/UK tour". AM 880 KIXI. September 21, 2021. Archived from the original on September 21, 2021. Retrieved September 21, 2021.