The Top 250 Hits of the Last 50 Years - #217 American Pie - Don Mclean

"American Pie" is a song by American folk rock singer-songwriter Don McLean. Recorded and released on the American Pie album in 1971, the single was a number-one US hit for four weeks in 1972. In the UK, the single reached No. 2 on its original 1972 release and a reissue in 1991 reached No. 12.
The song is a recounting of "The Day the Music Died" (a term taken from the song) — the 1959 plane crash that killed Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and The Big Bopper (Jiles Perry Richardson, Jr.) — and the aftermath. The song was listed as the No. 5 song on the RIAA project Songs of the Century. "American Pie" is considered Don McLean's magnum opus and his signature song.

Background

Don McLean wrote the song in Cold Spring, New York and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The song made its debut in Philadelphia at Temple University when he was opening for Laura Nyro on March 14, 1971. The song is well known for its cryptic lyrics that have long been the subject of curiosity and speculation. Although McLean dedicated the American Pie album to Buddy Holly, none of the musicians in the plane crash are identified by name in the song itself.
When asked what "American Pie" meant, McLean replied, "It means I don't ever have to work again if I don't want to." Later, he more seriously stated, "You will find many interpretations of my lyrics but none of them by me ... Sorry to leave you all on your own like this but long ago I realized that songwriters should make their statements and move on, maintaining a dignified silence."
Except to acknowledge that he did first learn about Buddy Holly's death while folding newspapers for his paper route on the morning of February 3, 1959 (the line "February made me shiver/with every paper I'd deliver"), McLean has generally avoided responding to direct questions about the song lyrics, such as saying, "They're beyond analysis. They're poetry." He also stated in an editorial published on the 50th anniversary of the crash in 2009 that writing the first verse of the song exorcised his long-running grief over Holly's death.

Charts

Chart (1971)	Peak Position
US Billboard Hot 100	1
US Billboard Easy Listening	1
Canadian RPM Top Singles	1
Canadian RPM Adult Contemporary Tracks	1
Australian Kent Music Report	1
New Zealand Singles Chart	1
UK Singles Chart	2
Norwegian Singles Chart	9
Dutch Singles Chart	10

Parodies, revisions and uses

In 1999, "Weird Al" Yankovic did a Star Wars–inspired parody of "American Pie". Titled "The Saga Begins", the song recounts the plot of Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace from Obi-Wan Kenobi's point of view. While McLean gave permission for the parody, he did not make a cameo appearance in its video, despite popular rumor. McLean stated he was very pleased with the parody. He even admits to almost singing Yankovic's lyrics at live shows, because his children played the song so often.
The City of Grand Rapids, Michigan created a lip dub video to "American Pie" in response to a Newsweek article that stated the city was "dying". The video was hailed by many as a fantastic performance (including Roger Ebert, who said it was "the greatest music video ever made.")
On March 21, 2013, Harmonix announced that "American Pie" would be the final downloadable track made available for the Rock Band series of music video games.