Don McLean Tells The Story Of ‘American Pie’ & Explains The Lyrics In New Documentary

NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE – MAY 12: Singer & songwriter Don McLean performs at the Ryman Auditorium on … [+] May 12, 2022 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Jason Kempin/Getty Images)

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Fifty years after Don McLean’s eight-and-a-half-minute epic reached No. 1 on the Billboard chart, “American Pie” remains one of the most popular songs in music.

The song is part of American culture, people young and old know the lyrics, and it’s been recorded by artists like Garth Brooks, Madonna, and Jon Bon Jovi, just to name a few. There is even a new version featuring Don McLean and the a cappella group Home Free.

But there have always been questions about some of the lyrics and who, or what, McLean was referring to. Was the Court Jester – Bob Dylan? Did the reference to “the King” mean Elvis? Where did the title “American Pie” even come from?

“The Day the Music Died” documentary streaming now on Paramount+.

Courtesy of Paramount+

“The Day the Music Died,” a documentary now streaming on Paramount+, looks at the history behind the song, and answers many of those questions. It also celebrates the song as a music masterpiece, even as it documents the challenges McLean would go through to get it recorded.

McLean wrote the song, much of it biographical, as a reflection of what was happening in America during the 1960s with the assassinations of the Kennedys, Martin Luther King, Jr, and the Vietnam War. For McLean, it started with what he called the end of the happy 50s, the tragic plane crash of Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and JD “the Big Bopper” Richardson in February of 1959. The day the music died.

McLean who describes “American Pie” as a kaleidoscopic, dreamlike song about America, has remained silent about the meaning of the lyrics, until now.

“It was too hard in an interview to explain the subtlety of what I was trying to say. So, I would say, ‘Look I really don’t talk about the lyrics. And that’s all I would say. Because it would require a set-up such as this movie makes, for me to then come in and talk about how I lived through this.”

The film, under the guidance of director Mark Moormann, goes into McLean’s life, beginning with his childhood in New Rochelle, New York when he earned money as a young kid delivering newspapers. McLean would learn of Buddy Holly’s death when he saw the headline with news of the plane crash.

LONDON – MARCH 25: Buddy Holly of the rock and roll band Buddy Holly And The The Crickets plays a … [+] Fender Stratocaster guitar as he performs onstage on the set of the BBC television show ‘Off The Record’ during their UK tour on March 25, 1958 in London, England. (Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)

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A group of men view of the wreckage of a Beechcraft Bonanza airplane in a snowy field outside of … [+] Clear Lake, Iowa, early February 1959. The crash, on February 3, claimed the lives of American rock and roll musicians Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J. P. ‘The Big Bopper’ Richardson. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

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The documentary is well-paced as it moves between the events of the time, the stories of the people, and the popularity of the song itself, featuring interviews with artists like Garth Brooks, Brian Wilson, and others.

Brooks, who describes “American Pie” as “quite possibly the greatest song in music history,” began singing it early in his career. When he played Central Park in August of 1997 for his recording-breaking live show broadcast on HBO, Brooks invited McLean to join him onstage to sing the song with him.

Although it’s celebrated now, McLean struggled to get “American Pie” recorded. He says the reality of it struck him as he sat back and watched the finished documentary.

“I realized how everything was against me and I didn’t allow it to defeat me. The record producer didn’t think I had any talent, he didn’t really care about my songs.”

UNSPECIFIED – CIRCA 1970: Photo of Don McLean Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

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Once in the studio, there was a problem getting it to sound the way McLean wanted it to sound, until a piano player named Paul Griffin was added to the mix.

“Then the thing is eight-and-a-half minutes long, so how is that going to become a No. 1?” he adds. And all of that was compounded by negative reviews by Rolling Stone Magazine.

And yet, the song went on to reach No. 1 in early 1972, and has been an American favorite ever since.

After the documentary goes through much of the back story of “American Pie,” McLean sits down and does what he’s never done before. Verse by verse, he goes through what he means by the lyrics.

Although the first verse clearly refers to the pain he felt over the death of Buddy Holly, many lines of the song relate to McLean’s childhood and other life experiences. Others come from songs, the culture, or things happening in the world at the time.

Some references are deeply personal.

“Well, I know that that you’re in love with him, I saw you dancing in the gym. You both kicked off your shoes, Man I dig those rhythm and blues” refers to a young, lonely McLean, watching other kids have happy experiences.

His line “For 10 years we’ve been on our own, Moss grows fat on a rolling stone” is about McLean and his mother, following the death of his father in 1960.

As he moves through the song, he addresses some of the lyrics that have raised questions through the years.

“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.”

There has been speculation the Jester refers to Bob Dylan, and the King to Elvis. McLean says that’s not the case.

“I said James Dean in the song. If I meant Elvis or Bob Dylan I would have said their names.”

He goes on to say his next reference to “thorny crown” should remove any doubt regarding Elvis.

“If you want to think the King is Elvis you can, but the King in my song has a thorny crown. That’s Jesus Christ.”

With regard to another famous musician, McLean says his Lenin reference in the song has dual meaning and “does” refer to John Lennon.

“If you look at where I talk about John Lennon, I say ‘Lenin read a book on Marx.’ Well, Lenin read Marx, and then there was Marxist Leninism, and John Lennon certainly read Marx because he wanted socialism. So, it’s both.”

In the documentary, he continues moving through the rest of the song, explaining more of the imagery. Some of the later lines are references to his frustration with the war in Vietnam.

Regarding the title of the song itself, McLean explained earlier in the film that it came from the idea of “American as apple pie,” minus the apple.

Watching “The Day the Music Died,” getting a glimpse of the behind-the-scenes history, and hearing McLean offer insight on what he meant when he wrote the song, is actually somewhat illuminating after so many years.

It adds even more depth and richness to an American classic that, half a century later, is still going strong.