Music Monday: Don McLean and American Pie!

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Did You know that yesterday was the anniversary of the event that led to the writing of American Pie?

Yup- it's been 60 years since the night the music died...

big bopper, buddy holly, ritchie valens


For those that don't know- on February 3, 1959, a chartered aircraft crashed in Mason City, Iowa just minutes after takeoff claiming the lives of Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, J.P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson and the pilot, Roger Peterson. The fateful day was coined “The Day The Music Died” by iconic singer and songwriter Don McLean, in his hit song “American Pie.” 

Before the anniversary of the tragic plane crash, McLean was asked about those events that inspired his amazing, timeless song:


“Buddy Holly was only 22 years old when he died on February 3, 1959," said McLean. "By that time he had recorded something like 60 songs, and most were hit records. Even the Beatles can not compare to the magnitude of this contribution. The music he made, he invented himself, with very little help from others.”

So it's NO wonder that the tragedy struck a musician and songwriter so deeply! 

american pie 45 cover




American Pie” was released in 1971 and spent four weeks at No. 1 in 1972. By December of 1972 I think I had worn out at least four 45 records of it already! I know my parents were OH SO tired of hearing the song! LOL. But the emotion and lyrics just resonated with me, as the 3 artists had been SO played in our house, that they felt more like people I knew. It stayed with me, and apparently my peers! When I suggested it for a pop culture class I was taking in college, as a culture definer, we ended up having two week long discussion on it!

In 2001, thirty years later after it's release, the Recording Industry of America named it the fifth greatest song of the 20th century.

So maybe it didn't JUST resonate with little ol' me!
And if you really look at the lyrics, you just might see HOW much of it is still true, 
and maybe it was a bit prescient....



The classic single was  remastered from analog tape by Robert Vosgien and new lacquers cut by Ron McMaster, at Capitol Studios in Hollywood, in 2016, to mark the 45th anniversary of the song, so that it could be heard fresh on vinyl again! So if you're looking for the extra emotion vinyl can give a song, you can hear it!


One of McLean’s four handwritten copies of the lyrics to “American Pie” was auctioned by Nate D. Sanders Auctions on January 26, 2017 with the bidding starting at $100,000. It is the second copy to be offered to the public, with the first being sold in 2015, and the Harvard University Library also has a copy, making it truly a song for the ages!

So if you haven't heard it before, here you go:

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