Vincent (Don McLean song)

"Vincent"
Cover art of UK vinyl release, also used for the US, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, and New Zealand releases
Single by Don McLean
from the album American Pie
B-side"Castles in the Air"
ReleasedFebruary 1972[1]
GenreFolk rock[2]
Length3:55
LabelUnited Artists Records, BGO Records
Songwriter(s)Don McLean
Producer(s)Ed Freeman
Don McLean singles chronology
"American Pie"
(1971) 		"Vincent"
(1972) 		"Dreidel"
(1973)
Music videos
Vincent on YouTube, by Don McLean. (3:58 minutes, with lyrics)
Vincent on YouTube, by Don McLean. Live performance (1972). (3:57 minutes)
Vincent van Gogh's The Starry Night (1889), described in the song

"Vincent" is a song by Don McLean, written as a tribute to Vincent van Gogh. It is often erroneously titled after its opening refrain, "Starry, Starry Night", a reference to Van Gogh's 1889 painting The Starry Night.

McLean wrote the lyrics in 1970 after reading a book about the life of Van Gogh.[3] It was released on McLean's 1971 American Pie album; the following year, the song topped the UK Singles Chart for two weeks,[4] and peaked at No. 12 in the United States,[5] where it also hit No. 2 on the Easy Listening chart.[6] Billboard ranked it as the No. 94 song for 1972.

The song makes use mainly of the guitar, but also includes the accordion, marimba, and violin.

In July 2020, the original handwritten lyrics went up for sale for $1.5 million.[7]

  1. ^ "Vincent / Castles In The Air - Don McLean". 45cat. Retrieved 2021-04-22.
  2. ^ https://donmclean.com/home-free-team-with-all-american-icon-don-mclean-for-reimagined-vincent/
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference telegraph.co.uk was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 274. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
  5. ^ Jason Ankeny (1945-10-02). "Don McLean | Biography". AllMusic. Retrieved 2014-03-27.
  6. ^ Whitburn, Joel (2002). Top Adult Contemporary: 1961-2001. Record Research. p. 166.
  7. ^ "Handwritten lyrics of Don McLean's song 'Vincent' up for sale, expected to fetch $1.5 mn". The Economic Times. Retrieved 2020-07-31.