“The Don” & “American Pie”

Donald McLean III, born October 2, 1945, is an American singer songwriter, his main focus centers around folk rock drawn from his earliest inspirations, particularly the Weavers’ 1955 “Live at Carnegie Hall”. He made early connections that promoted his music career by befriending Eric Darling and Fred Hellerman of the Weavers.

One of the loveliest things about the man is his continuous loyalty to his style of music, making sweet and modest work over the course of nearly 5 decades!

Don’s father passed away in 1961, don was 15 years old at the time. After spending some time at Villanova University in 1963, he started working his apprenticeship for “Harold Leventhal Management”. Thus a six year period started where he performed in many well known venues in New York, Washington, L.A and at many colleges as well.

He financed the recording of his first album “Tapestry” in 1969 in Berkeley, California. It was released by MediaArts, later purchased by United Artists. Although receiving good reviews it only got wide public recognition once it was re-issued after the success of his second album. It then managed to reach #111 in the USA and top-15 in the United Kingdom. The album includes two of his most famous songs: “Castles in the Air” And “I Love You So”.

Live performance of Castles In The Air:

And I Love You So:

This song was later recorded by Perry Como, it got to top-5 in the UK, top-30 in USA and was nominated for a Grammy award. It was beaten by the hit song “Killing Me Softly with His Song” which funnily enough was written by Lori Lieberman, inspired after seeing Don M’clean singing at a concert.

Dons international stardom came with the release of his second album “American Pie”. The first single of the album, with the same name rocketed to #1 in the USA, and thirty years later was voted number 5 out of 365 “best songs of the century” compiled by the Recording Industry Association of America and the National Endowment for the Arts.

another interesting piece from the album is “Babylon”, taken from Psalms 137:

And since mentioning Zion, I’ll add this note from the Jerusalem Post’s review of his June 2018 concert in Tel-Aviv (which I sadly missed):

“McLean was the consummate professional in presenting his master class of the Great American Songbook”

Of course how could I not mention the second single from the album, the beautiful “Vincent” also known as “Starry, Starry Night”. It was inspired while reading a book on the famous artist Vincent Van-Gogh, observing a print of his painting The Starry Night:

Dons third album, titled “Don McLean” includes a the song “The Pride Parade” giving an insight into Don’s immediate reaction to stardom. other top singles from the album are “Dreidel” and “If We Try”.

He told a magazine in 1973 that “Tapestry” was an album by someone previously concerned with external situations. “American Pie” combines externals with internals and the resultant success of that album makes the third one entirely introspective.

Don said he felt the third album was quite depressive whereas the fourth gave a feeling of “Wow, I just woke up from a bad dream”.

His fourth album “Playin’ Favourites” is a covers album emphasizing his folk roots, featuring amongst other classics, Buddy Holly’s “Everyday”.

Although the albums after American Pie didn’t get the same popularity, Don was already a highly rated performer. Throughout the 1970’s, he remained very much in-demand for concerts. In 1975, 85,000 fans attended his London Hyde Park concert.

In 1978, Don’s career began again in Nashville where he worked with Elvis Presley’s backing singers, “The Jordanaires” and many of Elvis’s old musicians. The result was “Chain Lightning” and the UK Number 1, “Crying”.

He then didn’t record through the mid 80’s until in 1987 he recorded the album “Love Tracks”, aiming at country audiences, which produced “Can’t Blame the Wreck on the Train”, written by Terri Sharp. The single got to 49 on the US country chart.

Since the 90’s, apart from cover and holiday albums and new studio versions of his older classics, Don released two albums with original songs – 1995’s “The River of Love” and “Addicted to Black” in 2009.

The 21st Century has seen a number of new honors for Don McLean and his music:

In February 2002, “American Pie” was finally inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.

In 2004 Don McLean was inaugurated into the National Academy of Popular Music Songwriters’ Hall of Fame.

Don McLean wound up the 20th century by performing “American Pie” for President Clinton at the Lincoln Memorial Gala In Washington D.C.

It is still possible to catch a live show of His (and very recommended).

Don performing at one of the biggest music festivals in the UK, Glastonbury:

Of “American Pie”:

To start, I feel I need to add the lyrics, long as they are, for the sake of those who aren’t familiar, you can play the song on the next page and read through the lyrics here:

I felt this particular song deserves some extra attention, not only because it’s the biggest hit of The Don, but as one of the songs which lyrics have been analysed many times for the meaning behind them. the 8:36 long single is the story of America, the evolution of it’s politics and popular music, from the idealized 50’s till the bleak 60’s. It was inspired partially by the deaths of Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J.P. Richardson in a plane crash in 1959. the repeated phrase “The Day The Music Died” refers to that event. In 1978 Don said the lyrics are also somewhat an abstract take on his life from the mid 50’s until late 60’s when he wrote the song.

Throughout the years the song has been recorded and re-released many times, hitting high on the charts each time. It has also gotten many renditions made by artists, such as the famous one by Madonna. It even got successful techno version made.

Here’s an interesting piece of video from an interview with the man himself (from 0:50 seconds is the part worth watching):