the king (Elvis), the jester (bob Dylan), the Beatles, the girl who sang the blues (Janis Joplin) and Jack Flash (the Rolling Stones). there have been college classes dedicated to analyzing this song.
Actually the first mention of the king is Jerry Lee Lewis. He was at one point called that. The reference to looking down was that he married his 14 year old cousin. That destroyed his career.
According to Don himself, most of the interpretations are wrong. It could be that by keeping it unknown he's keeping the debate and convo going, but he said that if he meant a specific person he would have used their name like Lenin/Lennon, James Dean etc he claims he would have said Bob Dylan if he meant Bob Dylan but who knows. I personally always took it to mean that this was the day the music died for him, but not for everyone, therefore the lyrics are purposely left vague so that we can insert a personal meaning/interpretation for ourselves. You can look at every decade of music from the 60s till now and the lyrics apply. To a 30 year old, the girl that sang the blues could easily mean Amy Winehouse. That's why the song is so brilliant. The lyrics, for the most part, are completely subjective yet everyone can relate.
Im not sure if you mentioned this but this was written meaning the day the music died was about the plane crash in 1959 that killed Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and The Big Bopper
I'm old school and I was not sure about the meaning until I seen your comment! Got to have those lyrics on certain songs. The stones "can't always get what you want" those lyrics are deep. Good day.
This is the history of American rock and roll. Buddy Holly, The Big Bopper, and Ritchie Valens died in a plane crash on Feb 3, 1959, the day the music died. This effected a young Don Mclean quite strongly. The subtle reference to both American and British Artists is so remarkably done it is as yet unmatched in songwriting. The King mention refers to Elvis, The birds are referring the the band The Byrds who big song was eight miles high. Many references to Bob Dylan, The Poet. The quartet and the marching band are The Beatles (as in Sgt. Pepper's Marching Band). The Jester, Satan (Sympathy for the Devil), Jack Flash (Jumpin Jack Flash) are all referring to the Rolling Stones. The scared store is the record store he used to hang out in. The point is that Don felt that when Buddy Holly died American rock was decimated and made way for the British invasion. There is much more and you can analyze this song for days. And this is just how I hear the song. Others may interpret it differently. A true masterpiece!
IMO: “The three men I admired most, the Father, Son, the Holy Ghost. They took the last train for the coast the day the music died”)…… represents the deaths of JFK (November 1963), RFK (June 1968) and MLK (April 1968), respectively. The “last train” is the Woody Guthrie song, This Train is Bound For Glory: “This train is bound for glory. Don't carry nothing but the righteous & the holy. This train is bound for glory, this train.
"American Pie" is one of the greatest classic songs of our times. Don McLean is a great songwriter & storyteller. I remember this song growing up. "American Pie" pays tribute to the loss of 3 legends who died so young (Buddy Holly, Richie Valens & The Big Bopper). A lot of references in the song are made to many artists from the early days of music including Elvis, Janis Joplin, The Beatles, Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Byrds & others. Don McLean did an awesome version with Home Free to celebrate the 50th anniversary of this song. Please check it out.
I remember when the plane crashed and killed Buddy Holly , Richie Valens ,and the Big Bopper it was a terrible tragedy. I was fortunate enough to see Richie at our local drive in theater in La Puente California during the intermission I will never forget 8:45 and I was very young. Thank you Shon
user, I don't remember the crash. That is so cool that you can recollect this significant day! In the 1990's I was on assignment, working in Mason City Iowa. Was bored one freezing cold Sunday afternoon. And drove out to the tiny airport in either Mason City or Clear Lake, where the plane crashed. Was nearly deserted, But, walked out and spotted some dead flowers bunched up, way in the distance. found a little plaque marker, inset into a paved area at the far end.... that noted that, as the site of the crash. It was a bit ghostly, as the sun was getting low in the sky.
So many Easter eggs in this song. To name a few: “The Byrds flew off with a fallout shelter/Eight miles high and falling fast.” Eight Miles high was a major hit from The Byrds. “This’ll be the day that I die.” That’ll be the Day That I Die was a major hit by Buddy Holly. “Sergeants played a marching tune” may be a reference to Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. (Aka The Beatles.)
I count myself fortunate to have grown up in the 70's. The musical masterpieces that are the soundtrack of my youth include this, Imagine, Stairway to heaven, Hotel California, Bohemian rhapsody and Staying Alive. Just wow
I had a few drinks with Don in 2008 before a show in Washington State. He told me alot of stories about his time performing in Greenwich Village and his desire to compose this song. He said that he just wanted to compose a song that came from his heart. We all know the hidden meanings of each stanza, but he just wanted each person to interpret the song on their own level. Spending those minutes with him and then seeing him sing this song brought me back to my college days with my best friends trying to interpret how this may have been the greatest song we had ever heard. Then again back then it may have been the booze, pot and shrooms!! Thank you Mr. McLean for one of the most real and heartfelt times of my life. I was very lucky and you are an American Icon.
Waylon Jennings gave up his seat on the plane for someone didn't feel well. Buddy said "I hope you freeze on the bus" and Waylon said " I hope your plane crashes", this haunted Waylon for years
This is why I love to watch reaction videos. This young man in particular has such a beautifully expressive face and a true enthusiasm for the music. He could have been one of my friends, sitting around in someone’s basement, listening to the latest album. 🥰
Just read that Buddy Holly's wife, Maria, is still alive at age 92. Didn't know that. Also, not only did Waylon Jennings give up his seat on the plane to JP Richardson, who was ill, so did drummer Tommy Allsup who lost a coin flip with Ritchie Valens. Wow!
I saw an article that said she was pregnant in 1959 but lost the baby after the plane crash. The entire story is so tragic. We lost so many stars via air accidents!
**I'll speak just to the verse about the Satan and angels and flames verse... the rolling Stones did a concert in California back in the day, and they hired the Hell's Angels as security for their concert, and not being from the states and not realizing the ramifications of who the Hell's Angels really were... things went South really really fast during the show and you can look that up and read all about what happened. it was horrible and I believe personally the stones must have been completely emotionally scarred for so long after that
This song had so much relevance for us baby boomers who lived through all the events Don sings about, beginning with the sad deaths of Richie, Buddy and the Big Bopper. Sure appreciate your reaction to these profound lyrics. Your reactions are always spot on. 😢
Some other considerations on the Altamonte concert to maybe help fill out the narrative. The main US organizers were mostly hippies from the San Francisco peace and love scene who had ties to the industry. Laurel Canyon movement etc. The Angels used to party a lot with them and were kind of considered outlaw counter culture. The organizers really distrusted the cops because of the times and figured the Angels would be cool since they did drugs and partied with them. Well they kinda forgot the Angels were basically psychopaths and not used to dealing with large crowds like they had. Just because they partied with the hippies didn't mean they shared the same values. So it kind of inevitably became what it became. In a lot of ways the Altamonte concert was the end of the innocence of that movement. Music started changing again after this as well, becoming more disillusioned and cynical. So this was another way the music died as well as the people at the concert.
This is basically a song about American music history through the 60s, starting in '59 with the plane crash. McLean was a young paperboy at the time, which explains the beginning. The widow he talks about is Buddy Holly's widow. Each line after that references a significant artist or an event that took place in the 60s as American music and culture underwent massive changes. You are so right about there being a lot of symbolism in this song. Nearly every line has it. Even today there is debate about what he is referencing in parts of it. McLean has talked about it in general terms, but never specifically went through and explained what each line meant.
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.
Just like with Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" those of us of a certain age grew up knowing all the words to this epic. Both of them just mutated into the blood and became part of us. Great times. Even greater music.
“The Day the Music Died” references the day Buddy Holly (along with Richie Valens and The Big bopper) died in a planet crash in 1959. He said “when I heard about his widowed bride” refers to Holly’s wife… she didn’t die- she became a widow
Every character in this song was a famous rock 'n' roller. The day the music died refers to the airplane crash that killed Buddy Holly, the Big Bopper (Chantilly Lace, White Lightning) and Ritchie Valens (La Bamba, Come On Let's Go).
Such a terribly sad song, especially to those of us who loved Buddy Holly and the others killed in their airplane crash. Buddy was from Lubbock, Texas so we were in awe of his music...and I'll bet most could tell you where they were when we heard the news on all the national news programs. I have tears now if sadness and joy to know your generation will keep Buddy's music alive. 💜
The Jester is Bob Dylan. The king is Elvis. Satan is Mick Jagger (also a reference to another song is 'Jumpin' Jack Flash') singing Sympathy For The Devil. At the concert, acting as bodyguards, a Hell's Angel killed someone. And Lennon, the Beatle (not the Communist Lenin) read a book on Marx as the Beatles rehearsed at Shea Stadium (the park reference). The players are the guitar players like Jimi Hendrix.
The line “teenage broncin’buck with a pink carnation & a pickup truck” is a reference to the song “White Sport-coat & Pink Carnation” by Marty Robbins. Not a metaphor for something else, just a song reference.
The bride was widowed, which means she survived the death of her husband. When her husband dies, a woman becomes a widow. When a man survives the death of his wife, he becomes a widower.
The widowed bride is Buddy Holly's wife. They were only married a little over a year. The song is about innocence of the 1950's the simple questions and answers and problems of an average American teenager would have; what they drove, wore and listened to on the radio. Then references to the real world troubles of the decade to come, the 1960's. The reference to father son and Holy ghost was Buddy Holly (22 years old), a singer songwriter in a new phase of rock music, Ritche Valens(just 17 had a hit called LaBamba - a classic) and JD "Big Bopper" Richardson, who had a hit song called Chantilly Lace. All three plus the pilot Rodger Peterson died shortly after their plane had only been in the air for less than 5 minutes after performing in Clear Lake Iowa. Teens loved them. And many musicians were influenced by Holly . It was The Day the Music died".
My friend died after a long struggle with cancer, and a couple years later her husband married her sister and they're still together and happy. A little odd but it worked out well for everyone.
@sandrasanders706, the widowed bride was indeed Buddy Holly's wife. She found out about her husband's death on the news. The following day, she had a miscarriage due to the trauma of losing her husband. She was six months pregnant. She survived but her husband and baby were gone.
Weird Al did a parody of this called "The Saga Begins". Fun fact Don McLean has actually admitted to almost singing Weird Al's version by mistake at concerts before.
And we sang dirges in the dark A "dirge" is a funeral or mourning song, so perhaps this is meant literally...or, perhaps, this is a reference to some of the new "art rock" groups which played long pieces not meant for dancing. The day the music died. We were singing... Refrain (Verse 4) Helter Skelter in a summer swelter "Helter Skelter" is a Beatles song which appears on the "white" album. Charles Manson, claiming to have been "inspired" by the song (through which he thought God and/or the devil were taking to him) led his followers in the Tate-LaBianca murders. Is "summer swelter" a reference to the "Summer of Love" or perhaps to the "long hot summer" of Watts? The birds flew off with the fallout shelter Eight miles high and falling fast The Byrd's "Eight Miles High" was on their late 1966 release "Fifth Dimension". It was one of the first records to be widely banned because of supposedly drug-oriented lyrics. It landed foul on the grass One of the Byrds was busted for possession of marijuana. The players tried for a forward pass Obviously a football metaphor, but about what? It could be the Rolling Stones, i.e. they were waiting for an opening which really didn't happen until the Beatles broke up. With the jester on the sidelines in a cast On July 29, 1966, Dylan crashed his Triumph 55 motorcycle while riding near his home in Woodstock, New York. He spent nine months in seclusion while recuperating from the accident. Now the halftime air was sweet perfume Drugs, man. While sergeants played a marching tune Beatles' "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band". Or, perhaps McLean refers to the Beatles' music as "marching" because it's not music for dancing. Alternatively, the "marching tune" could refer to the draft. (See below) We all got up to dance Oh, but we never got the chance The Beatles' 1966 Candlestick Park concert only lasted 35 minutes. Or, following on from the previous comment, perhaps he meant that there wasn't any music to dance to. 'Cause the players tried to take the field, The marching band refused to yield. This could be a reference to the dominance of the Beatles on the rock and roll scene. For instance, the Beach Boys released "Pet Sounds" in 1966, an album which featured some of the same sort of studio and electronic experimentation as "Sgt. Pepper", but the album sold poorly because the Beatles' release got most of the press. Some folks think this refers to either the 1968 Democratic Convention or Kent State. This might also be a comment about how the dominance of the Beatles in the rock world led to more "pop art" music, leading in turn to a dearth of traditional rock and roll. Or finally, this might be a comment which follows up on the earlier reference to the draft: the government/military-industrial-complex establishment refused to accede to the demands of the peace movement. Do you recall what was revealed, The day the music died? We started singing Refrain (Verse 5) And there we were all in one place Woodstock. A generation lost in space Some people think this is a reference to the US space program, which it might be; but that seems a bit too literal. Perhaps this is a reference to "hippies", who were sometimes known as the "lost generation", partially because of their particularly acute alienation from their parents, and partially because of their presumed preoccupation with drugs. It could also be a reference to the awful TV show, "Lost in Space", whose title was sometimes used as a synonym for someone who was rather high... but I keep hoping that McLean had better taste. :-) With no time left to start again The "lost generation" spent too much time being stoned, and had wasted their lives? Or, perhaps, their preference for psychedelia had pushed rock and roll so far from Holly's music that it couldn't be retrieved. So come on Jack be nimble Jack be quick Probably a reference to Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones; "Jumpin' Jack Flash" was released in May, 1968. Jack Flash sat on a candlestick The Stones' Candlestick park concert? 'Cause fire is the devil's only friend It's possible that this is a reference to the Grateful Dead's "Friend of the Devil". An alternative interpretation of the last four lines is that they may refer to Jack Kennedy and his quick decisions during the Cuban Missile Crisis; the candlesticks/fire refer to ICBMs and nuclear war. And as I watched him on the stage My hands were clenched in fists of rage No angel born in hell Could break that Satan's spell While playing a concert at the Altamont Speedway in 1968, the Stones appointed members of the Hell's Angels to work security (on the advice of the Grateful Dead). In the darkness near the front of the stage, a young man named Meredith Hunter was beaten and stabbed to death -- by the Angels. Public outcry that the song "Sympathy for the Devil" had somehow incited the violence caused the Stones to drop the song from their show for the next six years. This incident is chronicled in the documentary film "Gimme Shelter". It's also possible that McLean views the Stones as being negatively inspired (remember, he had an extensive religious background) by virtue of "Sympathy for the Devil", "Their Satanic Majesties' Request" and so on. I find this a bit puzzling, since the early Stones recorded a lot of "roots" rock and roll, including Buddy Holly's "Not Fade Away". And as the flames climbed high into the night To light the sacrificial rite This could be a reference to Jimi Hendrix burning his Stratocaster at the Monterey Pop Festival. It's possible that this refers to the burial of Kennedy, but I'm not sure I buy this. For one thing, it doesn't fit chronologically, and for another, McLean seems more interested in music than politics. I saw satan laughing with delight The day the music died He was singing... Refrain (Verse 6) I met a girl who sang the blues Janis Joplin. And I asked her for some happy news But she just smiled and turned away Janis died of an accidental heroin overdose on October 4, 1970. I went down to the sacred store Where I'd heard the music years before There are two interpretations of this: The "sacred store" was Bill Graham's Fillmore East, one of the great rock and roll venues of all time. Alternatively, this refers to record stores, and their longtime (then discontinued) practice of allowing customers to preview records in the store. It could also refer to record stores as "sacred" because this is where one goes to get "saved". (See above lyric "Can music save your mortal soul?") But the man there said the music wouldn't play Perhaps he means that nobody is interested in hearing Buddy Holly et.al.'s music? Or, as above, the discontinuation of the in-store listening booths. And in the streets the children screamed "Flower children" being beaten by police and National Guard troops? The lovers cried and the poets dreamed The trend towards psychedelic music in the 60's? But not a word was spoken The church bells all were broken It could be that the broken bells are the dead musicians: neither can produce any more music. And the three men I admire most The Father Son and Holy Ghost Holly, The Big Bopper, and Valens -- or -- Hank Williams, Presley and Holly -- or -- JFK, Martin Luther King, and Bobby Kennedy -- or -- the Catholic aspects of the deity. McLean had attended several Catholic schools. They caught the last train for the coast Could be a reference to wacky California religions, or could just be a way of saying that they've left. Or, perhaps this is a reference to the famous "God is Dead" headline in the New York Times. The day the music died This tends to support the conjecture that the "three men" were Holly/Bopper/Valens, since this says that they left on the day the music died. And they were singing... Refrain (2x)
My mom graduated high school in 1959. She was a huge fan of early rock and roll. The instantaneous loss of Buddy, Richie and the Big Bopper was such a traumatic event, it signalled the end of childhood and innocence for her whole generation. Waking up one morning to find them all gone, all young.......She really liked this tribute song and as I grew up, she played it along with all the early rock.
This has to be the most poetic song of all time. It is sad but, uplifting as well. You cannot be driving down the road and Not turn up the radio and sing along Every Time. Love your reactions, please keep exploring all of our brilliant music 🎶
There's a movie about Ritchie Valens' life called La Bamba that shows part of what this song is referencing. It's a great movie, you might give it a watch.
It is a very sad song about a sad event in American Music History. RIP Buddy Holly, JP “The Big Bopper” Richardson, and Ritchie Valens. FEB 3, 1959 The Day The Music Died.
@shon1303, loved your enthusiasm when you reacted to this classic! It's pronounced like "Mc-Lane". As much as I enjoy reaction videos, American Pie is one song that begs for a tutorial -- an explanation of all the meanings. So, so many meanings & references. It's the history of Rock & Roll from the end of the early days (the day the music died) through the turbulent mid-Sixties / early-Seventies. The Jester is Dylan, who's in a cast from a serious 1966 motorcycle accident. The King is Elvis, who's looking down while in the Army & making fluff movies. The Quartet and Sergeants are The Beatles. Jack Flash on a candlestick / No Angel Born in Hell refers to when the Rolling Stones hired the Hell's Angels for security at an Altamont concert where security killed someone in the audience. A Girl Who Sang the Blues is Janis Joplin. And so on.
Fantastic song! Fantastic reactions! I can safely speak for most of the "older" generation who watch your reactions, and say THANK YOU for reacting to the music we grew up with, and still stays strong today -- especially with sites like Shon's site keeping this music alive!
This song described so many historical Events and Artists and the day the Music died. The day the Music died refers to the Plane crash and deaths of buddy Holly and Richie Valens and the Big Bopper. Elvis is the King and the Jester is Bob Dylan and the Quartet was the Beetles.
Your reactions are THE BEST!! You listen so intently and sincerely; and you convey your reactions mostly through facial expressions, rather than yapping alot. (And let's face it...not everyone looks THIS good with his shirt off !)
they called the day the music died is when the plane crash happened that killed Buddy Holly and Big Bopper and Richie Vallens......please react to the documentary on that stoey....please????
This is such a history of rock and roll music.I think the references to the phases rock music transition through makes this a one of a kind song.Great chorus that sticks in your head. The first reference is to Buddy Holly dying in a plane crash just as rock n roll was gathering steam ,leaving his pregnant widow behind.Feb. 3, 1959-the day music idols Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J.P. Richardson, Jr. (“The Big Bopper”) were killed in a plane crash near Clear Lake, Iowa
The song is actually about the plane crash on the 3rd of February 1959, that involved, Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and Jiles Richardson (AKA The Big Bopper). Ritchie Valens after that tour was actually going to get married to his high school sweetheart. That’s why he sings the lyric, when I read about his widowed bride. Back, then those three were among the top artists of the time. Sorry, I sound like a history teacher here. LOL. Thanks so much for doing this one. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I like Don McLean. If you want to pronounce his last name, just think of John McLean from all the die hard movies. Please keep up the great work and blessings to you from England.
@@sadfaery that could possibly be as well but from what I was told by my father, when I was a kid, he told me that it was about Ritchie Valens getting married because he had already proposed to his then high school sweetheart. But you could be right. Cheers for that. Take care.
The song's historical touchstones carry emotional weight, yet they also obscure how phenomenally masterful the lyrics are: "And as the flames climbed high into the night, to moonlight the sacrificial rite, I saw satan laughing with delight."
" Widowed bride" means the woman's husband died. The song is about the plane crash of several rock stars several decades ago. You have to listen carefully to the lyrics. Big Bopper, Richie Valens , Buddy Holly all died in the plane crash. McLean then sings about the following years as the evolution of rock and roll changed our lives and the events occurring along with it.
Everybody always attributes this song to being a tribute to Buddy Holly, Richie Valens, and the Big Bopper and I think it is. But I also think it is a song of self-awareness to growing up and losing your childhood innocence.
Maybe you should do some songs from the three that were killed in that plane crash. Chantilly lace is an excellent song from the big bopper, any song from Buddy Holly, and any from Richie. Please think about it! Love your work my man!
This song has been on my all-time favorite list since it came out in 1971. (Incidentally, also the year I met my husband. Not a related event, I'm sure. 🙂) I can still remember how the radio DJs were wondering about "levee" -- nobody seemed to know what and/or where this place was. (They apparently hadn't heard of this weird invention called a "dictionary" yet ...) Anyway, we were lucky to see it performed live once, in the mid-1980s. Don McLean still rocked the venue! Thanks for another great reaction!
The widowed bride refers to him seeing the headlines of the newspaper and the plane crash that killed Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper (the crash left Buddy Holly’s wife a widow). Don McLean was a huge Buddy Holly fan and the day of the plane crash was “the day the music died” for him. Btw, maybe the greatest song ever written. “The three men I admired most, the father, son and Holy Ghost, caught the last train for the coast”, might be my favorite lyric of all time.
Released in 1971. Until recently, it was the longest song recorded and released 8 mins. 42 seconds. When asked Don about the meaning of the he lyrics he replied, I never have to work again. Lol
My favorite experience in the Uk was being the only American in a packed pub and the entire pub singing this top of the lungs with a band ! I literally cried .
I remember when this song first came out & I love it just as much now, as I did back then ♥️. GOD BLESS BUDDY HOLLY, RITCHIE VALENS, THE BIG BOPPER (J.P. RICHARDSON) & THE PILOT, ROGER A. PETERSON 🙏♥️✝️
Now that you’ve done American Pie, do Vincent by McLean. As many have said, this is about the plane crash that killed Buddy Holly, The Big Bopper, and Ritchie Valens. Waylon Jennings was supposed to be on that flight instead of Valens, but he gave up his seat.
Piling on somewhat to previous comments, but for Mr. "Shon" to appreciate this song so much without the understanding that it was a tribute to the day Buddy Holly, Richie Valens and the Big Bopper died, i.e., the "day the music died," is a testament to the genius of this song. Very difficult for those of a different generation to appreciate the impact of that loss, but God Bless Mr. Don McLean for immortalizing it in this song.
When I was in High School, we dove into this song in my English class if you can believe it. It's so full of music history it's unbelievable. I am so grateful for having lived when I did, and that at that time, my English Teacher, Mr. Tappan, thought this was worth exploring. I've never forgotten that
Recently Mr McClean rerecorded this with the Acapella group Home Free. He still sounds good 53 years later. Feb 3, 1959 was the Day the Music died (the plane crash) all the rest of the song is obscured mentions of all the other musical stars or groups.
When I was in junior high, we spent a couple of weeks interpreting the lyrics and meaning of this song in my English class. What an awesome teacher to incorporate a lesson plan into a brilliant teaching moment and one of the few things I actually remember from junior high now that it's over 50 later. It's worth it to research the meaning of every sentence in this song. You really can't appreciate the song fully until you know the history.
😢❤when you say the death of the American dream, I was touched to my soul! As a kid we would sing this walking home from elementary school. I new the deaths of rock stars was his reasoning, but yours was TRUTH❤😢
It’s about 3 big singers who died in February ‘59. In a plane crash. The start of Viet Nam war. Kennedy’s assignation. Mentioned many different bands and singers of the time. It’s like a history lesson from 1959 to for me 1965. Maybe other years for different people.
You were partially right when you said "he as going to sing about things that happened in his life' The partial part is he was singing about what everyone (his age) went through. Starting when Buddy Holly died (the day the music died). The rest of the song is all about the music tat came after Buddy Holly, during the sixties. This song is very difficult for a reactor to react to because so much of it references what he, and his audience at the time, experienced.
This song is basically a history lesson of the baby boomer generation with every lyric representing either a moment of social or musical importance. "The halftime air was sweet perfume" is the tear gas at Kent State. "The Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost" are (musically) the Big Bopper, Ritchie Valens, and Buddy Holly; and (socially) JFK, RFK, and MLK. So much packed into one song.
In the song, the day the music died actually happened three times: 1959: the death of buddy holly 1969: the death at the Altamont Free Concert (the flames climbed high into the night To light the sacrificial rite I saw Satan laughing with delight. The day the music died ) 1970: the death of Janis Joplin (I met a girl who sang the blues And I asked her for some happy news. But she just smiled and turned away)
Roberta Flack's song "Strumming My Pain With His Fingers" is about her seeing Don McLeen in concert. Knowing that piece of info changes the whole experience of the entire song.
This song had a very symbolic meaning and puzzles to it. It is hard to understand at first, but once you realize it is about the music artist who lost their lives, then it makes you feel sad because it seemed like a joyful song, but it wasn't.
This song is about the death of Buddy Holly, the Big bopper, and Richie Valens. In Early 50s when all 3 died in the same plane crash. These 3 musician along with Elvis started Rock n Roll. It's like Jimi Hendrix, Elvis, and the Beatles all dying on the same day. The music died that day.
Studied this song in my creative writing class in college, it's a work of genius... 1. ‘Drove My Chevy To The Levee But The Levee Was Dry’ There was an advertisement for Chevrolet sang in 1953 by Dinah Shore who was a top-charting female vocalist of the 40s and 50s. The fact it was now dry refers to the change in the social climate in the 60s compared to the 50s. 2. ‘Singin' This'll Be The Day' - in the chorus Likely refers to Buddy Holly's song "That'll Be the Day." 3. ‘But February Made Me Shiver’ Of course refers to the deaths of Buddy Holly, along with singers the Big Bopper and Ritchie Valens, and pilot Roger Peterson, perished in a plane incident February 3, 1959. Their small aircraft went down on a snowy late night after a concert in Clear Lake, IA. (Made me shiver - plane crashed in a blizzaed_ 4. ‘With Every Paper I'd Deliver / Bad News On The Doorstep / I Couldn't Take One More Step’ McLean worked as a newspaper delivery boy. And on February 3, 1959, the "bad news" was Buddy Holly's demise, on the cover of every paper that he delivered. 5. ‘When I Read About His Widowed Bride’ Buddy Holly was married to his young wife, Maria Elena Santiago-Holly, for only six months when he perished.His widowed, pregnant new bride was so traumatized by the news of his demise that she had a miscarriage. 6. ‘The Day The Music Died’ Since there was the loss of all three rock musicians in the same incident was seen as a tragedy, and in McLean's mind, marked the end of a musical era that would never be reclaimed. 7. ‘Did You Write The Book Of Love?’ "The Book of Love" is a famous song by The Monotones, a group from Newark, NJ. The song was released in 1958, topping pop and R&B charts. It must have left an impression on young McLean. As the lyrics to the song go: "I wonder, wonder who, mmbadoo-ooh, who...Who wrote the book of love" 8. ‘If The Bible Tells You So?’ "The Bible Tells Me So" was written by Dale Evans in 1955 and recorded by a handful of singers the same year. It was a pop(ish) version of the of the Sunday school song "Jesus Loves Me" 9. ‘You Both Kicked Off Your Shoes’ Refers to sock hops. Teenage dance parties in the '40s and '50s that involved playing popular music in gymnasiums or community halls. Kids were told to take their shoes off to protect the varnish on gymnasiums and dance floors. 10. ‘With A Pink Carnation And A Pickup Truck’ In 1957, Marty Robbins released the heartbreak song "A White Sport Coat (And a Pink Carnation)" about a young man "all dressed up for the dance" and "all alone in romance." 11. ‘And Moss Grows Fat On A Rolling Stone’ A year after Bob Dylan released "Like a Rolling Stone" in 1965, he was involved in a motorcycle accident that made him lie low for a year or two at the height of his career. He had just transformed himself from a folk singer to an electric guitar-playing rock musician, which caused a lot of controversy within the American music scene. Some people believe McLean's intention was to highlight the evolution of music between the '50s and early '70s while also pushing the action of the song into the '60s. 12. ‘When The Jester Sang For The King And Queen’ Bob Dylan is the jester, Pete Seeger is the king, and Joan Baez is the queen. Bob Dylan opened for them at the Newport Folk Festival in 1963, where the three of them sang Dylan's "Blowin' in the Wind" together on stage. 13. ‘In A Coat He Borrowed From James Dean’ On the cover of his 1963 album The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan, Dylan wears a red windbreaker similar to the one worn by James Dean in the film Rebel Without a Cause. 14. ‘And While The King Was Looking Down’ Reference to Pete Seeger looking down on the way Bob Dylan experimented with music in the 1960s. 15. ‘The Jester Stole His Thorny Crown’ Bob Dylan the jester became the king, taking the crown when he won hearts with his brand of folksy rock 'n' roll. Some people believe he took the crown from Elvis, the "King of Rock 'n' Roll." Others stick with Pete Seeger. 16. ‘The Courtroom Was Adjourned / No Verdict Was Returned’ Refering tothe JFK assination. After he was slain in 1963 , the man accused of the slaying, Lee Harvey Oswald, was himself slain. Therefore, "no verdict was returned" because no trial actually occurred. Also, the Warren Commission showed no real explanation to the event. 17. ‘And While Lennon Read A Book On Marx’ The popular theory is that he's singing about the Beatles becoming more political with their music as tensions soared in the '60s. The Beatles, adored by American youth, were deemed inappropriate by older generations who thought their music was too rowdy. Also, the Beatles released songs like "Revolution" in 1968, whose message is in line with the Communist writer Karl Marx, known for The Communist Manifesto.
18. ’The Quartet Practiced In The Park’ The quartet is likely the Beatles: Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr. 19. ‘And We Sang Dirges In The Dark’ A dirge is a funereal song of mourning, and there a lot of funerals in the '60s: President John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr., and Robert F. Kennedy among them. The line could also refer to the Vietnam conflict; many drafted service members sent overseas never made it back home. 20. ‘Helter Skelter In A Summer Swelter’ "Helter Skelter" is a song the Beatles released in 1968, a year of political and social turmoil in the United States. The next August, "in a summer swelter," followers of Charles Manson (who called for racial war he refered to as "Helter Skelter") brutally slayed five people, including the actress Sharon Tate. 21. ‘The Birds Flew Off From A Fallout Shelter’ Some fans speculate this is an reference to the '60s rock band The Byrds. A fallout shelter is a euphemism for a drug treatment center, which one of the band members checked into after being caught with illicit substances. 22. ‘Eight Miles High And Falling Fast’ Eight Miles High is the title of a 1966 album by The Byrds. It is considered one of the first real trippy records. The sound of the album was influenced by plenty of experimentation with acid. 23. ‘It Landed Foul On The Grass’ Referencing the counterculture's overt use of the weed. 24. ‘With The Jester On The Sidelines In A Cast’ In 1966, Bob Dylan (the Jester), was in a very bad motorcycle accident which had him laid up and in a cast. He didn't want to go to a hospital so he moved in with small town doctor, Doctor Ed Thaler and his family, staying in the third-floor bedroom of their home, until he healed. 25. ‘While Sergeants Played A Marching Tune’ The Beatles released their album "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" in 1967. It was an album where they changed their style making traditional "rock n roll". Experimenting with different soundscapes, introducing instruments such as brass horns and sitars. 26. ' 'Cause The Players Tried To Take The Field / The Marching Band Refused To Yield’ Talking about the protest movement that seemed to peak in the late '60s and early '70s, from Chicago protests at the Democratic National Convention to the one at Kent State in Ohio where the National Guard opened fire on a bunch of students. 27. ‘Oh, And There We Were, All In One Place’ Woodstock. The 1969 music festival in Bethel, NY, which brought together more than 400,000 people in one weekend. Many of the most well-known rock musicians of the time performed, including Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix. The festival is viewed as the height of American hippie culture. 28. ‘Jack Be Nimble, Jack Be Quick / Jack Flash Sat On A Candlestick’ A mashup of the "Jack Be Nimble" nursery rhyme and the 1969 song "Jumpin' Jack Flash" by the Rolling Stones released on their album "Live'r Than You'll Ever Be". The album sold poorly, so this could be read as an insult to the Stones for not coming up with a good comeback to the Beatles' album "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band". 29. ‘Cause Fire Is The Devil's Only Friend’ The Devil seen to be represented by the Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger. The Rolling Stones music potraying rebellion and estrangement, and the pull away from a more innocent time perceived earlier in the '50s and early '60s music as well as the world in general. 30. ‘No Angel Born In Hell / Could Break That Satan's Spell’ "Angel" refering to the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club, which started a riot at the 1969 Altamont Free Concert in California. They were hired to provide security during a performance by the Rolling Stones, and an 18-year-old Black man was stabbed by a member of the motorcycle group (some say for trying to pick up on a white girl). The events of the day are considered by some to be the day the "free love" movement ended. 31. ‘I Met A Girl Who Sang The Blues’ The "girl" could be Janis Joplin, the rock singer with a very bluesy voice who perished from taking illicit substances in 1970. Her hits "Piece of My Heart" and "Me and Bobby McGee" were considered anthems for the hippie generation. 32. '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’ Don McLean is possibly talking about the loss of interest in '50s music at record stores. When he released the song in 1971, perhaps he was suggesting no one cared about music from this bygone era anymore. 33. ‘And In The Streets The Children Screamed’ In recent years leading up to the song's creation, thousands of young people across the country were involved in various protest movements, which led to confrontations with law enforcement or other groups. 34. 'And The Three Men I Admire Most / The Father, Son, And The Holy Ghost' Since Don McLean was raised Catholic, bringing religion in at the end of the song makes sense. The sacred holy trinity he speaks of, however, catches "the last train for the coast," likely a sign McLean believes America lost its moral foundation in 1959, the year of Buddy Holly's plane crash.
The reason why his hands were clenched in fists of rage is because he witnessed the murder of a black gentleman who was killed trying to get onto the stage at a rolling stones concert. The rolling stones had employed Hells Angels for security at the show and the Hells Angels started attacking black people in the crowd because they were racist. This deeply angered Don Mclean who was in the crowd and witnessed a black man being killed in front of him.
Love hearing these classics, when people give interpretations that are sincere but totally out in left field. Lol. Great explanations in the comments. Good work folks! 👌💪
I remember being in a bar in Morgantown W.Va. called the Cave just off High Street, while in grad school at WVU and the hole bar would sign along with this song
the king (Elvis), the jester (bob Dylan), the Beatles, the girl who sang the blues (Janis Joplin) and Jack Flash (the Rolling Stones). there have been college classes dedicated to analyzing this song.
Actually the first mention of the king is Jerry Lee Lewis. He was at one point called that. The reference to looking down was that he married his 14 year old cousin. That destroyed his career.
According to Don himself, most of the interpretations are wrong. It could be that by keeping it unknown he's keeping the debate and convo going, but he said that if he meant a specific person he would have used their name like Lenin/Lennon, James Dean etc he claims he would have said Bob Dylan if he meant Bob Dylan but who knows. I personally always took it to mean that this was the day the music died for him, but not for everyone, therefore the lyrics are purposely left vague so that we can insert a personal meaning/interpretation for ourselves. You can look at every decade of music from the 60s till now and the lyrics apply. To a 30 year old, the girl that sang the blues could easily mean Amy Winehouse. That's why the song is so brilliant. The lyrics, for the most part, are completely subjective yet everyone can relate.
@@dazed1nyc❤
Some one asked Don McClean what this song meant.. He said it means I'll never have to work another day in my life !
he only said that after he already answerd the questiosn many times over and got tired of the same question
Im not sure if you mentioned this but this was written meaning the day the music died was about the plane crash in 1959 that killed Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and The Big Bopper
Glad this was mentioned saved me from typing lol
your welcome
ruclips.net/video/bLEUlvRi8m8/видео.htmlsi=92FtkBxCLJfsBu-S
I'm old school and I was not sure about the meaning until I seen your comment! Got to have those lyrics on certain songs. The stones "can't always get what you want" those lyrics are deep. Good day.
February 3, 1959. Thank you for posting the meaning of this wonderful song. GOD BLESS YOU 🙏✝️
This is the history of American rock and roll. Buddy Holly, The Big Bopper, and Ritchie Valens died in a plane crash on Feb 3, 1959, the day the music died. This effected a young Don Mclean quite strongly. The subtle reference to both American and British Artists is so remarkably done it is as yet unmatched in songwriting. The King mention refers to Elvis, The birds are referring the the band The Byrds who big song was eight miles high. Many references to Bob Dylan, The Poet. The quartet and the marching band are The Beatles (as in Sgt. Pepper's Marching Band). The Jester, Satan (Sympathy for the Devil), Jack Flash (Jumpin Jack Flash) are all referring to the Rolling Stones. The scared store is the record store he used to hang out in. The point is that Don felt that when Buddy Holly died American rock was decimated and made way for the British invasion. There is much more and you can analyze this song for days. And this is just how I hear the song. Others may interpret it differently. A true masterpiece!
The song was an entire metaphor. Each line stood for something else.
IMO: “The three men I admired most, the Father, Son, the Holy Ghost. They took the last train for the coast the day the music died”)…… represents the deaths of JFK (November 1963), RFK (June 1968) and MLK (April 1968), respectively. The “last train” is the Woody Guthrie song, This Train is Bound For Glory:
“This train is bound for glory. Don't carry nothing but the righteous & the holy. This train is bound for glory, this train.
"American Pie" is one of the greatest classic songs of our times. Don McLean is a great songwriter & storyteller. I remember this song growing up. "American Pie" pays tribute to the loss of 3 legends who died so young (Buddy Holly, Richie Valens & The Big Bopper). A lot of references in the song are made to many artists from the early days of music including Elvis, Janis Joplin, The Beatles, Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Byrds & others.
Don McLean did an awesome version with Home Free to celebrate the 50th anniversary of this song. Please check it out.
What Dagmar.6954 said!
Yep ... growing up in Baby Boomer times in the good ole USA.
@@MrJacksonHollyIt's from my teens too because this song was huge here in Ireland too.
I remember when the plane crashed and killed Buddy Holly , Richie Valens ,and the Big Bopper it was a terrible tragedy. I was fortunate enough to see Richie at our local drive in theater in La Puente California during the intermission I will never forget 8:45 and I was very young. Thank you Shon
user, I don't remember the crash. That is so cool that you can recollect this significant day! In the 1990's I was on assignment, working in Mason City Iowa. Was bored one freezing cold Sunday afternoon. And drove out to the tiny airport in either Mason City or Clear Lake, where the plane crashed. Was nearly deserted, But, walked out and spotted some dead flowers bunched up, way in the distance. found a little plaque marker, inset into a paved area at the far end.... that noted that, as the site of the crash. It was a bit ghostly, as the sun was getting low in the sky.
@@marvinbone1379 I never knew there was a marker , thank you for sharing.
So many Easter eggs in this song. To name a few:
“The Byrds flew off with a fallout shelter/Eight miles high and falling fast.”
Eight Miles high was a major hit from The Byrds.
“This’ll be the day that I die.”
That’ll be the Day That I Die was a major hit by Buddy Holly.
“Sergeants played a marching tune” may be a reference to Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.
(Aka The Beatles.)
I count myself fortunate to have grown up in the 70's. The musical masterpieces that are the soundtrack of my youth include this, Imagine, Stairway to heaven, Hotel California, Bohemian rhapsody and Staying Alive. Just wow
I had a few drinks with Don in 2008 before a show in Washington State. He told me alot of stories about his time performing in Greenwich Village and his desire to compose this song. He said that he just wanted to compose a song that came from his heart. We all know the hidden meanings of each stanza, but he just wanted each person to interpret the song on their own level. Spending those minutes with him and then seeing him sing this song brought me back to my college days with my best friends trying to interpret how this may have been the greatest song we had ever heard. Then again back then it may have been the booze, pot and shrooms!! Thank you Mr. McLean for one of the most real and heartfelt times of my life. I was very lucky and you are an American Icon.
❤
This song is pure poetry of a historical element of music and culture. A masterpiece.
Waylon Jennings gave up his seat on the plane for someone didn't feel well. Buddy said "I hope you freeze on the bus" and Waylon said " I hope your plane crashes", this haunted Waylon for years
wow never knew that thank you
your laughing with joy. like we all did. then your face showed sadness. like ours all did. beautiful.
This is why I love to watch reaction videos. This young man in particular has such a beautifully expressive face and a true enthusiasm for the music. He could have been one of my friends, sitting around in someone’s basement, listening to the latest album. 🥰
@@kathiek4239 couldn't have put it better myself!
Just read that Buddy Holly's wife, Maria, is still alive at age 92. Didn't know that. Also, not only did Waylon Jennings give up his seat on the plane to JP Richardson, who was ill, so did drummer Tommy Allsup who lost a coin flip with Ritchie Valens. Wow!
I saw an article that said she was pregnant in 1959 but lost the baby after the plane crash. The entire story is so tragic. We lost so many stars via air accidents!
Talk about fate right?
**I'll speak just to the verse about the Satan and angels and flames verse... the rolling Stones did a concert in California back in the day, and they hired the Hell's Angels as security for their concert, and not being from the states and not realizing the ramifications of who the Hell's Angels really were... things went South really really fast during the show and you can look that up and read all about what happened. it was horrible and I believe personally the stones must have been completely emotionally scarred for so long after that
That was at the Altamont Speedway in Oakland, CA....😢
This song had so much relevance for us baby boomers who lived through all the events Don sings about, beginning with the sad deaths of Richie, Buddy and the Big Bopper. Sure appreciate your reaction to these profound lyrics. Your reactions are always spot on. 😢
Some other considerations on the Altamonte concert to maybe help fill out the narrative. The main US organizers were mostly hippies from the San Francisco peace and love scene who had ties to the industry. Laurel Canyon movement etc. The Angels used to party a lot with them and were kind of considered outlaw counter culture. The organizers really distrusted the cops because of the times and figured the Angels would be cool since they did drugs and partied with them. Well they kinda forgot the Angels were basically psychopaths and not used to dealing with large crowds like they had. Just because they partied with the hippies didn't mean they shared the same values. So it kind of inevitably became what it became. In a lot of ways the Altamonte concert was the end of the innocence of that movement. Music started changing again after this as well, becoming more disillusioned and cynical. So this was another way the music died as well as the people at the concert.
@@donpietruk1517thank you for making sure that is explained more accurately than I did.
This is basically a song about American music history through the 60s, starting in '59 with the plane crash. McLean was a young paperboy at the time, which explains the beginning. The widow he talks about is Buddy Holly's widow. Each line after that references a significant artist or an event that took place in the 60s as American music and culture underwent massive changes. You are so right about there being a lot of symbolism in this song. Nearly every line has it. Even today there is debate about what he is referencing in parts of it. McLean has talked about it in general terms, but never specifically went through and explained what each line meant.
ruclips.net/video/bLEUlvRi8m8/видео.htmlsi=92FtkBxCLJfsBu-S
This is what it's about.
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.
Just like with Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" those of us of a certain age grew up knowing all the words to this epic. Both of them just mutated into the blood and became part of us. Great times. Even greater music.
“The Day the Music Died” references the day Buddy Holly (along with Richie Valens and The Big bopper) died in a planet crash in 1959.
He said “when I heard about his widowed bride” refers to Holly’s wife… she didn’t die- she became a widow
Every character in this song was a famous rock 'n' roller. The day the music died refers to the airplane crash that killed Buddy Holly, the Big Bopper (Chantilly Lace, White Lightning) and Ritchie Valens (La Bamba, Come On Let's Go).
Such a terribly sad song, especially to those of us who loved Buddy Holly and the others killed in their airplane crash. Buddy was from Lubbock, Texas so we were in awe of his music...and I'll bet most could tell you where they were when we heard the news on all the national news programs. I have tears now if sadness and joy to know your generation will keep Buddy's music alive. 💜
The Jester is Bob Dylan. The king is Elvis. Satan is Mick Jagger (also a reference to another song is 'Jumpin' Jack Flash') singing Sympathy For The Devil. At the concert, acting as bodyguards, a Hell's Angel killed someone. And Lennon, the Beatle (not the Communist Lenin) read a book on Marx as the Beatles rehearsed at Shea Stadium (the park reference). The players are the guitar players like Jimi Hendrix.
There's no words to describe this song other than a masterpiece
The line “teenage broncin’buck with a pink carnation & a pickup truck” is a reference to the song “White Sport-coat & Pink Carnation” by Marty Robbins. Not a metaphor for something else, just a song reference.
The bride was widowed, which means she survived the death of her husband. When her husband dies, a woman becomes a widow. When a man survives the death of his wife, he becomes a widower.
Can a widows husband marry her sister after she dies? 🥸
The widowed bride is Buddy Holly's wife. They were only married a little over a year. The song is about innocence of the 1950's the simple questions and answers and problems of an average American teenager would have; what they drove, wore and listened to on the radio. Then references to the real world troubles of the decade to come, the 1960's. The reference to father son and Holy ghost was Buddy Holly (22 years old), a singer songwriter in a new phase of rock music, Ritche Valens(just 17 had a hit called LaBamba - a classic) and JD "Big Bopper" Richardson, who had a hit song called Chantilly Lace. All three plus the pilot Rodger Peterson died shortly after their plane had only been in the air for less than 5 minutes after performing in Clear Lake Iowa. Teens loved them. And many musicians were influenced by Holly . It was The Day the Music died".
My friend died after a long struggle with cancer, and a couple years later her husband married her sister and they're still together and happy. A little odd but it worked out well for everyone.
@@jeanine6328😂
@sandrasanders706, the widowed bride was indeed Buddy Holly's wife. She found out about her husband's death on the news. The following day, she had a miscarriage due to the trauma of losing her husband. She was six months pregnant. She survived but her husband and baby were gone.
wasn't the bride who died. it was Buddy Holly. and the good ole boys were 18 year olds who were being drafted to Viet Nam .
I'M SO SO SO SO SO SO HAPPY YOU'RE GETTING INTO THIS GENERATION OF MUSIC!
you're doing a great job --mad respect for you 🧡
Why am I feeling tearful at the end. Great reaction. 😊👍🏾
This is really, a perfect song. It engaged listeners, told a story, catchy... Don McLean was one heck of a poet.
Weird Al did a parody of this called "The Saga Begins". Fun fact Don McLean has actually admitted to almost singing Weird Al's version by mistake at concerts before.
ruclips.net/video/bLEUlvRi8m8/видео.htmlsi=92FtkBxCLJfsBu-S
Lol I have to admit, when this video started playing the song, I almost sang the Weird Al lyrics to it.
Brilliant parody!
Nobody is better than Weird Al!
And we sang dirges in the dark
A "dirge" is a funeral or mourning song, so perhaps
this is meant literally...or, perhaps, this is a
reference to some of the new "art rock" groups which
played long pieces not meant for dancing.
The day the music died.
We were singing...
Refrain
(Verse 4)
Helter Skelter in a summer swelter
"Helter Skelter" is a Beatles song which appears
on the "white" album. Charles Manson, claiming
to have been "inspired" by the song (through which
he thought God and/or the devil were taking to him)
led his followers in the Tate-LaBianca murders.
Is "summer swelter" a reference to the "Summer of
Love" or perhaps to the "long hot summer" of Watts?
The birds flew off with the fallout shelter
Eight miles high and falling fast
The Byrd's "Eight Miles High" was on their
late 1966 release "Fifth Dimension". It was
one of the first records to be widely banned
because of supposedly drug-oriented lyrics.
It landed foul on the grass
One of the Byrds was busted for possession of marijuana.
The players tried for a forward pass
Obviously a football metaphor, but about what?
It could be the Rolling Stones, i.e. they were
waiting for an opening which really didn't happen
until the Beatles broke up.
With the jester on the sidelines in a cast
On July 29, 1966, Dylan crashed his Triumph 55
motorcycle while riding near his home in Woodstock,
New York. He spent nine months in seclusion while
recuperating from the accident.
Now the halftime air was sweet perfume
Drugs, man.
While sergeants played a marching tune
Beatles' "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band".
Or, perhaps McLean refers to the Beatles' music
as "marching" because it's not music for dancing.
Alternatively, the "marching tune" could refer
to the draft. (See below)
We all got up to dance
Oh, but we never got the chance
The Beatles' 1966 Candlestick Park concert only
lasted 35 minutes.
Or, following on from the previous comment, perhaps
he meant that there wasn't any music to dance to.
'Cause the players tried to take the field,
The marching band refused to yield.
This could be a reference to the dominance of
the Beatles on the rock and roll scene. For instance,
the Beach Boys released "Pet Sounds" in 1966,
an album which featured some of the same sort of studio
and electronic experimentation as "Sgt. Pepper",
but the album sold poorly because the Beatles'
release got most of the press.
Some folks think this refers to either the 1968
Democratic Convention or Kent State.
This might also be a comment about how the
dominance of the Beatles in the rock world
led to more "pop art" music, leading in turn
to a dearth of traditional rock and roll.
Or finally, this might be a comment which follows
up on the earlier reference to the draft: the
government/military-industrial-complex establishment
refused to accede to the demands of the peace movement.
Do you recall what was revealed,
The day the music died?
We started singing
Refrain
(Verse 5)
And there we were all in one place
Woodstock.
A generation lost in space
Some people think this is a reference to
the US space program, which it might be;
but that seems a bit too literal. Perhaps this
is a reference to "hippies", who were sometimes
known as the "lost generation", partially because
of their particularly acute alienation from
their parents, and partially because of their
presumed preoccupation with drugs.
It could also be a reference to the awful TV
show, "Lost in Space", whose title was sometimes
used as a synonym for someone who was rather high...
but I keep hoping that McLean had better taste. :-)
With no time left to start again
The "lost generation" spent too much time being
stoned, and had wasted their lives? Or, perhaps,
their preference for psychedelia had pushed rock
and roll so far from Holly's music that it couldn't
be retrieved.
So come on Jack be nimble Jack be quick
Probably a reference to Mick Jagger of the
Rolling Stones; "Jumpin' Jack Flash" was
released in May, 1968.
Jack Flash sat on a candlestick
The Stones' Candlestick park concert?
'Cause fire is the devil's only friend
It's possible that this is a reference to
the Grateful Dead's "Friend of the Devil".
An alternative interpretation of the last four
lines is that they may refer to Jack Kennedy
and his quick decisions during the Cuban Missile
Crisis; the candlesticks/fire refer to ICBMs
and nuclear war.
And as I watched him on the stage
My hands were clenched in fists of rage
No angel born in hell
Could break that Satan's spell
While playing a concert at the Altamont
Speedway in 1968, the Stones appointed
members of the Hell's Angels to work security
(on the advice of the Grateful Dead). In the
darkness near the front of the stage, a young
man named Meredith Hunter was beaten and stabbed to
death -- by the Angels. Public outcry that
the song "Sympathy for the Devil" had somehow
incited the violence caused the Stones to
drop the song from their show for the next
six years. This incident is chronicled in
the documentary film "Gimme Shelter".
It's also possible that McLean views the Stones
as being negatively inspired (remember, he had
an extensive religious background) by virtue
of "Sympathy for the Devil", "Their Satanic
Majesties' Request" and so on. I find this a bit
puzzling, since the early Stones recorded a lot
of "roots" rock and roll, including Buddy Holly's
"Not Fade Away".
And as the flames climbed high into the night
To light the sacrificial rite
This could be a reference to Jimi Hendrix
burning his Stratocaster at the Monterey
Pop Festival.
It's possible that this refers to the burial
of Kennedy, but I'm not sure I buy this.
For one thing, it doesn't fit chronologically,
and for another, McLean seems more interested
in music than politics.
I saw satan laughing with delight
The day the music died
He was singing...
Refrain
(Verse 6)
I met a girl who sang the blues
Janis Joplin.
And I asked her for some happy news
But she just smiled and turned away
Janis died of an accidental heroin overdose
on October 4, 1970.
I went down to the sacred store
Where I'd heard the music years before
There are two interpretations of this:
The "sacred store" was Bill Graham's Fillmore East,
one of the great rock and roll venues of all time.
Alternatively, this refers to record stores,
and their longtime (then discontinued)
practice of allowing customers to preview
records in the store.
It could also refer to record stores as "sacred"
because this is where one goes to get "saved".
(See above lyric "Can music save your mortal soul?")
But the man there said the music wouldn't play
Perhaps he means that nobody is interested in
hearing Buddy Holly et.al.'s music? Or, as above,
the discontinuation of the in-store listening booths.
And in the streets the children screamed
"Flower children" being beaten by police
and National Guard troops?
The lovers cried and the poets dreamed
The trend towards psychedelic music in the 60's?
But not a word was spoken
The church bells all were broken
It could be that the broken bells are the dead
musicians: neither can produce any more music.
And the three men I admire most
The Father Son and Holy Ghost
Holly, The Big Bopper, and Valens
-- or --
Hank Williams, Presley and Holly
-- or --
JFK, Martin Luther King, and Bobby Kennedy
-- or --
the Catholic aspects of the deity.
McLean had attended several Catholic schools.
They caught the last train for the coast
Could be a reference to wacky California religions,
or could just be a way of saying that they've left.
Or, perhaps this is a reference to the famous
"God is Dead" headline in the New York Times.
The day the music died
This tends to support the conjecture that the "three
men" were Holly/Bopper/Valens, since this says that
they left on the day the music died.
And they were singing...
Refrain (2x)
This is the most thorough epic comment ever. Awesome!
Whew,,,,🤪🤪🤪👍
This is the best comment or explanation I have ever read in my entire 63 years!
My mom graduated high school in 1959. She was a huge fan of early rock and roll. The instantaneous loss of Buddy, Richie and the Big Bopper was such a traumatic event, it signalled the end of childhood and innocence for her whole generation. Waking up one morning to find them all gone, all young.......She really liked this tribute song and as I grew up, she played it along with all the early rock.
This has to be the most poetic song of all time. It is sad but, uplifting as well. You cannot be driving down the road and Not turn up the radio and sing along Every Time. Love your reactions, please keep exploring all of our brilliant music 🎶
There's a movie about Ritchie Valens' life called La Bamba that shows part of what this song is referencing. It's a great movie, you might give it a watch.
Rock and roll history 101. Itself a part of that history; a masterpiece.
The day the music died was when Buddy Holly, The Big Bopper and Richie Valens died in a plane crash! Great reaction Shon!
It is a very sad song about a sad event in American Music History.
RIP Buddy Holly, JP “The Big Bopper” Richardson, and Ritchie Valens.
FEB 3, 1959 The Day The Music Died.
One of the absolute best songs ever, and RIP buddy holly, Ritchie valens, and the big bopper!💖🙏🏻
Dude dude dude dude you finally did it you finally did it did you find do you understand all of its history🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
@shon1303, loved your enthusiasm when you reacted to this classic! It's pronounced like "Mc-Lane".
As much as I enjoy reaction videos, American Pie is one song that begs for a tutorial -- an explanation of all the meanings. So, so many meanings & references. It's the history of Rock & Roll from the end of the early days (the day the music died) through the turbulent mid-Sixties / early-Seventies. The Jester is Dylan, who's in a cast from a serious 1966 motorcycle accident. The King is Elvis, who's looking down while in the Army & making fluff movies. The Quartet and Sergeants are The Beatles. Jack Flash on a candlestick / No Angel Born in Hell refers to when the Rolling Stones hired the Hell's Angels for security at an Altamont concert where security killed someone in the audience. A Girl Who Sang the Blues is Janis Joplin. And so on.
You know it's excellent music, when all the lyrics come flooding back.
Fantastic song! Fantastic reactions! I can safely speak for most of the "older" generation who watch your reactions, and say THANK YOU for reacting to the music we grew up with, and still stays strong today -- especially with sites like Shon's site keeping this music alive!
If Don Mclean is not in the R&R Hall of Fame he should definitely be inducted just for this epic song. Rock and Roll history!!
this song was simply perfect! i never get tired of listening to it!
I agree about his referencing the loss of the American dream/ ideal/ innocence .
This song described so many historical Events and Artists and the day the Music died. The day the Music died refers to the Plane crash and deaths of buddy Holly and Richie Valens and the Big Bopper. Elvis is the King and the Jester is Bob Dylan and the Quartet was the Beetles.
The Beetles were also "The Sergeants" he mentions. "Sergeant Peeper's Lonely Hearts Club Band".
The RUclips channel Polyphonic did an amazing video explanation of this song. It’s a must watch!
When I was in boot camp we on KP duty pieced what we could remember of the song. Our Corporal brought a tape....tape of the song for us. Semper Fi
Your reactions are THE BEST!! You listen so intently and sincerely; and you convey your reactions mostly through facial expressions, rather than yapping alot. (And let's face it...not everyone looks THIS good with his shirt off !)
When someone asked him what this song means in an interview he said, "It means I never have to work again" LOL!!!! It was THAT BIG.
they called the day the music died is when the plane crash happened that killed Buddy Holly and Big Bopper and Richie Vallens......please react to the documentary on that stoey....please????
This is such a history of rock and roll music.I think the references to the phases rock music transition through makes this a one of a kind song.Great chorus that sticks in your head.
The first reference is to Buddy Holly dying in a plane crash just as rock n roll was gathering steam ,leaving his pregnant widow behind.Feb. 3, 1959-the day music idols Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J.P. Richardson, Jr. (“The Big Bopper”) were killed in a plane crash near Clear Lake, Iowa
The song is actually about the plane crash on the 3rd of February 1959, that involved, Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and Jiles Richardson (AKA The Big Bopper). Ritchie Valens after that tour was actually going to get married to his high school sweetheart. That’s why he sings the lyric, when I read about his widowed bride. Back, then those three were among the top artists of the time. Sorry, I sound like a history teacher here. LOL. Thanks so much for doing this one. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I like Don McLean. If you want to pronounce his last name, just think of John McLean from all the die hard movies. Please keep up the great work and blessings to you from England.
I think the widowed bride line refers to Buddy Holly's wife.
@@sadfaery that could possibly be as well but from what I was told by my father, when I was a kid, he told me that it was about Ritchie Valens getting married because he had already proposed to his then high school sweetheart. But you could be right. Cheers for that. Take care.
The song's historical touchstones carry emotional weight, yet they also obscure how phenomenally masterful the lyrics are: "And as the flames climbed high into the night, to moonlight the sacrificial rite, I saw satan laughing with delight."
" Widowed bride" means the woman's husband died.
The song is about the plane crash of several rock stars several decades ago. You have to listen carefully to the lyrics. Big Bopper, Richie Valens , Buddy Holly all died in the plane crash. McLean then sings about the following years as the evolution of rock and roll changed our lives and the events occurring along with it.
I memorized this in 1983 during a boring 5 week TDY to a tech school. The day the music died was a plane crash that killed several musical stars.
This is a great song it is just such a stick in your head kind of a song. His song Vincent is fantastic as well. Thank you.
Everybody always attributes this song to being a tribute to Buddy Holly, Richie Valens, and the Big Bopper and I think it is. But I also think it is a song of self-awareness to growing up and losing your childhood innocence.
Vincent is another one by Don Maclean that's an emotional experience.
I love singing along with this timeless classic....I still remember every single word.
You have logical insight Shon ! I like your reactions ...
Maybe you should do some songs from the three that were killed in that plane crash. Chantilly lace is an excellent song from the big bopper, any song from Buddy Holly, and any from Richie.
Please think about it!
Love your work my man!
This song has been on my all-time favorite list since it came out in 1971. (Incidentally, also the year I met my husband. Not a related event, I'm sure. 🙂) I can still remember how the radio DJs were wondering about "levee" -- nobody seemed to know what and/or where this place was. (They apparently hadn't heard of this weird invention called a "dictionary" yet ...) Anyway, we were lucky to see it performed live once, in the mid-1980s. Don McLean still rocked the venue! Thanks for another great reaction!
I loved your take on this. Most people concentrate on deciphering the events involved but you saw and felt the emotions and the artistry, very nice.
The widowed bride refers to him seeing the headlines of the newspaper and the plane crash that killed Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper (the crash left Buddy Holly’s wife a widow). Don McLean was a huge Buddy Holly fan and the day of the plane crash was “the day the music died” for him. Btw, maybe the greatest song ever written. “The three men I admired most, the father, son and Holy Ghost, caught the last train for the coast”, might be my favorite lyric of all time.
Released in 1971. Until recently, it was the longest song recorded and released 8 mins. 42 seconds. When asked Don about the meaning of the he lyrics he replied, I never have to work again. Lol
My favorite experience in the Uk was being the only American in a packed pub and the entire pub singing this top of the lungs with a band ! I literally cried .
I remember when this song first came out & I love it just as much now, as I did back then ♥️. GOD BLESS BUDDY HOLLY, RITCHIE VALENS, THE BIG BOPPER (J.P. RICHARDSON) & THE PILOT, ROGER A. PETERSON 🙏♥️✝️
Now that you’ve done American Pie, do Vincent by McLean.
As many have said, this is about the plane crash that killed Buddy Holly, The Big Bopper, and Ritchie Valens. Waylon Jennings was supposed to be on that flight instead of Valens, but he gave up his seat.
Piling on somewhat to previous comments, but for Mr. "Shon" to appreciate this song so much without the understanding that it was a tribute to the day Buddy Holly, Richie Valens and the Big Bopper died, i.e., the "day the music died," is a testament to the genius of this song. Very difficult for those of a different generation to appreciate the impact of that loss, but God Bless Mr. Don McLean for immortalizing it in this song.
One of the greatest story telling songs is Taxi by Harry Chapin. I guarantee you will love it.
When I was in High School, we dove into this song in my English class if you can believe it. It's so full of music history it's unbelievable. I am so grateful for having lived when I did, and that at that time, my English Teacher, Mr. Tappan, thought this was worth exploring. I've never forgotten that
Recently Mr McClean rerecorded this with the Acapella group Home Free. He still sounds good 53 years later.
Feb 3, 1959 was the Day the Music died (the plane crash) all the rest of the song is obscured mentions of all the other musical stars or groups.
When I was in junior high, we spent a couple of weeks interpreting the lyrics and meaning of this song in my English class. What an awesome teacher to incorporate a lesson plan into a brilliant teaching moment and one of the few things I actually remember from junior high now that it's over 50 later. It's worth it to research the meaning of every sentence in this song. You really can't appreciate the song fully until you know the history.
😢❤when you say the death of the American dream, I was touched to my soul! As a kid we would sing this walking home from elementary school. I new the deaths of rock stars was his reasoning, but yours was TRUTH❤😢
It is amazing that a song can be so unique the meaning is different for everyone. You don’t have to understand the lyrics to love the song.
It’s about 3 big singers who died in February ‘59. In a plane crash. The start of Viet Nam war. Kennedy’s assignation. Mentioned many different bands and singers of the time. It’s like a history lesson from 1959 to for me 1965. Maybe other years for different people.
I have to say, you are a delight, a pure soul. I absolutely love your reactions to everything!
You were partially right when you said "he as going to sing about things that happened in his life' The partial part is he was singing about what everyone (his age) went through. Starting when Buddy Holly died (the day the music died). The rest of the song is all about the music tat came after Buddy Holly, during the sixties. This song is very difficult for a reactor to react to because so much of it references what he, and his audience at the time, experienced.
Music is the universal understanding of love and life.
This song is basically a history lesson of the baby boomer generation with every lyric representing either a moment of social or musical importance. "The halftime air was sweet perfume" is the tear gas at Kent State. "The Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost" are (musically) the Big Bopper, Ritchie Valens, and Buddy Holly; and (socially) JFK, RFK, and MLK. So much packed into one song.
This song is so great. It gets me every time. So glad you enjoyed it. Great reaction.
So many great references to so many great songs and musicians!!
In the song, the day the music died actually happened three times:
1959: the death of buddy holly
1969: the death at the Altamont Free Concert (the flames climbed high into the night To light the sacrificial rite I saw Satan laughing with delight. The day the music died )
1970: the death of Janis Joplin (I met a girl who sang the blues And I asked her for some happy news. But she just smiled and turned away)
Wow I'm learning so much today. And I had the album when it was new!
Thanks Roy, that was mainlining Americana. Still burning bright all these years later. I liked him singing about the moon shoot.
My personal all time favorite song.. it’s a history lesson and I sang it to my babies and my grandkids…
Roberta Flack's song "Strumming My Pain With His Fingers" is about her seeing Don McLeen in concert. Knowing that piece of info changes the whole experience of the entire song.
This is so deep that college classes have explained each section and the background.
This is a banger. This is absoutly one of my all time favorite songs❤❤❤
This song had a very symbolic meaning and puzzles to it. It is hard to understand at first, but once you realize it is about the music artist who lost their lives, then it makes you feel sad because it seemed like a joyful song, but it wasn't.
This song is about the death of Buddy Holly, the Big bopper, and Richie Valens. In Early 50s when all 3 died in the same plane crash. These 3 musician along with Elvis started Rock n Roll. It's like Jimi Hendrix, Elvis, and the Beatles all dying on the same day. The music died that day.
Studied this song in my creative writing class in college, it's a work of genius...
1. ‘Drove My Chevy To The Levee But The Levee Was Dry’
There was an advertisement for Chevrolet sang in 1953 by Dinah Shore who was a top-charting female vocalist of the 40s and 50s. The fact it was now dry refers to the change in the social climate in the 60s compared to the 50s.
2. ‘Singin' This'll Be The Day' - in the chorus
Likely refers to Buddy Holly's song "That'll Be the Day."
3. ‘But February Made Me Shiver’
Of course refers to the deaths of Buddy Holly, along with singers the Big Bopper and Ritchie Valens, and pilot Roger Peterson, perished in a plane incident February 3, 1959. Their small aircraft went down on a snowy late night after a concert in Clear Lake, IA.
(Made me shiver - plane crashed in a blizzaed_
4. ‘With Every Paper I'd Deliver / Bad News On The Doorstep / I Couldn't Take One More Step’
McLean worked as a newspaper delivery boy. And on February 3, 1959, the "bad news" was Buddy Holly's demise, on the cover of every paper that he delivered.
5. ‘When I Read About His Widowed Bride’
Buddy Holly was married to his young wife, Maria Elena Santiago-Holly, for only six months when he perished.His widowed, pregnant new bride was so traumatized by the news of his demise that she had a miscarriage.
6. ‘The Day The Music Died’
Since there was the loss of all three rock musicians in the same incident was seen as a tragedy, and in McLean's mind, marked the end of a musical era that would never be reclaimed.
7. ‘Did You Write The Book Of Love?’
"The Book of Love" is a famous song by The Monotones, a group from Newark, NJ. The song was released in 1958, topping pop and R&B charts. It must have left an impression on young McLean. As the lyrics to the song go:
"I wonder, wonder who, mmbadoo-ooh, who...Who wrote the book of love"
8. ‘If The Bible Tells You So?’
"The Bible Tells Me So" was written by Dale Evans in 1955 and recorded by a handful of singers the same year. It was a pop(ish) version of the of the Sunday school song "Jesus Loves Me"
9. ‘You Both Kicked Off Your Shoes’
Refers to sock hops. Teenage dance parties in the '40s and '50s that involved playing popular music in gymnasiums or community halls. Kids were told to take their shoes off to protect the varnish on gymnasiums and dance floors.
10. ‘With A Pink Carnation And A Pickup Truck’
In 1957, Marty Robbins released the heartbreak song "A White Sport Coat (And a Pink Carnation)" about a young man "all dressed up for the dance" and "all alone in romance."
11. ‘And Moss Grows Fat On A Rolling Stone’
A year after Bob Dylan released "Like a Rolling Stone" in 1965, he was involved in a motorcycle accident that made him lie low for a year or two at the height of his career. He had just transformed himself from a folk singer to an electric guitar-playing rock musician, which caused a lot of controversy within the American music scene. Some people believe McLean's intention was to highlight the evolution of music between the '50s and early '70s while also pushing the action of the song into the '60s.
12. ‘When The Jester Sang For The King And Queen’
Bob Dylan is the jester, Pete Seeger is the king, and Joan Baez is the queen. Bob Dylan opened for them at the Newport Folk Festival in 1963, where the three of them sang Dylan's "Blowin' in the Wind" together on stage.
13. ‘In A Coat He Borrowed From James Dean’
On the cover of his 1963 album The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan, Dylan wears a red windbreaker similar to the one worn by James Dean in the film Rebel Without a Cause.
14. ‘And While The King Was Looking Down’
Reference to Pete Seeger looking down on the way Bob Dylan experimented with music in the 1960s.
15. ‘The Jester Stole His Thorny Crown’
Bob Dylan the jester became the king, taking the crown when he won hearts with his brand of folksy rock 'n' roll. Some people believe he took the crown from Elvis, the "King of Rock 'n' Roll." Others stick with Pete Seeger.
16. ‘The Courtroom Was Adjourned / No Verdict Was Returned’
Refering tothe JFK assination. After he was slain in 1963 , the man accused of the slaying, Lee Harvey Oswald, was himself slain. Therefore, "no verdict was returned" because no trial actually occurred. Also, the Warren Commission showed no real explanation to the event.
17. ‘And While Lennon Read A Book On Marx’
The popular theory is that he's singing about the Beatles becoming more political with their music as tensions soared in the '60s. The Beatles, adored by American youth, were deemed inappropriate by older generations who thought their music was too rowdy. Also, the Beatles released songs like "Revolution" in 1968, whose message is in line with the Communist writer Karl Marx, known for The Communist Manifesto.
18. ’The Quartet Practiced In The Park’
The quartet is likely the Beatles: Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr.
19. ‘And We Sang Dirges In The Dark’
A dirge is a funereal song of mourning, and there a lot of funerals in the '60s: President John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr., and Robert F. Kennedy among them. The line could also refer to the Vietnam conflict; many drafted service members sent overseas never made it back home.
20. ‘Helter Skelter In A Summer Swelter’
"Helter Skelter" is a song the Beatles released in 1968, a year of political and social turmoil in the United States. The next August, "in a summer swelter," followers of Charles Manson (who called for racial war he refered to as "Helter Skelter") brutally slayed five people, including the actress Sharon Tate.
21. ‘The Birds Flew Off From A Fallout Shelter’
Some fans speculate this is an reference to the '60s rock band The Byrds. A fallout shelter is a euphemism for a drug treatment center, which one of the band members checked into after being caught with illicit substances.
22. ‘Eight Miles High And Falling Fast’
Eight Miles High is the title of a 1966 album by The Byrds. It is considered one of the first real trippy records. The sound of the album was influenced by plenty of experimentation with acid.
23. ‘It Landed Foul On The Grass’
Referencing the counterculture's overt use of the weed.
24. ‘With The Jester On The Sidelines In A Cast’
In 1966, Bob Dylan (the Jester), was in a very bad motorcycle accident which had him laid up and in a cast. He didn't want to go to a hospital so he moved in with small town doctor, Doctor Ed Thaler and his family, staying in the third-floor bedroom of their home, until he healed.
25. ‘While Sergeants Played A Marching Tune’
The Beatles released their album "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" in 1967. It was an album where they changed their style making traditional "rock n roll". Experimenting with different soundscapes, introducing instruments such as brass horns and sitars.
26. ' 'Cause The Players Tried To Take The Field / The Marching Band Refused To Yield’
Talking about the protest movement that seemed to peak in the late '60s and early '70s, from Chicago protests at the Democratic National Convention to the one at Kent State in Ohio where the National Guard opened fire on a bunch of students.
27. ‘Oh, And There We Were, All In One Place’
Woodstock. The 1969 music festival in Bethel, NY, which brought together more than 400,000 people in one weekend. Many of the most well-known rock musicians of the time performed, including Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix. The festival is viewed as the height of American hippie culture.
28. ‘Jack Be Nimble, Jack Be Quick / Jack Flash Sat On A Candlestick’
A mashup of the "Jack Be Nimble" nursery rhyme and the 1969 song "Jumpin' Jack Flash" by the Rolling Stones released on their album "Live'r Than You'll Ever Be". The album sold poorly, so this could be read as an insult to the Stones for not coming up with a good comeback to the Beatles' album "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band".
29. ‘Cause Fire Is The Devil's Only Friend’
The Devil seen to be represented by the Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger. The Rolling Stones music potraying rebellion and estrangement, and the pull away from a more innocent time perceived earlier in the '50s and early '60s music as well as the world in general.
30. ‘No Angel Born In Hell / Could Break That Satan's Spell’
"Angel" refering to the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club, which started a riot at the 1969 Altamont Free Concert in California. They were hired to provide security during a performance by the Rolling Stones, and an 18-year-old Black man was stabbed by a member of the motorcycle group (some say for trying to pick up on a white girl). The events of the day are considered by some to be the day the "free love" movement ended.
31. ‘I Met A Girl Who Sang The Blues’
The "girl" could be Janis Joplin, the rock singer with a very bluesy voice who perished from taking illicit substances in 1970. Her hits "Piece of My Heart" and "Me and Bobby McGee" were considered anthems for the hippie generation.
32. '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’
Don McLean is possibly talking about the loss of interest in '50s music at record stores. When he released the song in 1971, perhaps he was suggesting no one cared about music from this bygone era anymore.
33. ‘And In The Streets The Children Screamed’
In recent years leading up to the song's creation, thousands of young people across the country were involved in various protest movements, which led to confrontations with law enforcement or other groups.
34. 'And The Three Men I Admire Most / The Father, Son, And The Holy Ghost'
Since Don McLean was raised Catholic, bringing religion in at the end of the song makes sense. The sacred holy trinity he speaks of, however, catches "the last train for the coast," likely a sign McLean believes America lost its moral foundation in 1959, the year of Buddy Holly's plane crash.
Right on Man dig your reaction..Keepin it real!
Jack Flash was also a British term for Mainlining Heroin, refering to drawing blood into the syringe, the "Flash" to be sure you are unside the Vein
The reason why his hands were clenched in fists of rage is because he witnessed the murder of a black gentleman who was killed trying to get onto the stage at a rolling stones concert. The rolling stones had employed Hells Angels for security at the show and the Hells Angels started attacking black people in the crowd because they were racist. This deeply angered Don Mclean who was in the crowd and witnessed a black man being killed in front of him.
❤ your reaction! Message is real, loss of some great musicians, coming of age forever, great tune!
Love hearing these classics, when people give interpretations that are sincere but totally out in left field. Lol. Great explanations in the comments. Good work folks! 👌💪
“This’ll be the day that I die” references Buddy Holly’s song “That’ll Be the Day”
I remember being in a bar in Morgantown W.Va. called the Cave just off High Street, while in grad school at WVU and the hole bar would sign along with this song