Did you write the book of love,
And do you have faith in God above,
If the Bible tells you so?
Do you believe in rock ’n roll,
Can music save your mortal soul,
And can you teach me how to dance real slow?
Oh, and there we were all in one place,
A generation lost in space
With no time left to start again.
So come on: jack be nimble, jack be quick!
Jack flash sat on a candlestick
Cause fire is the devil’s only friend.
Oh, 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.
And as the flames climbed high into the night
To light the sacrificial rite,
I saw satan laughing with delight
The day the music died
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.
And in the streets: the children screamed,
The lovers cried, and the poets dreamed.
But not a word was spoken;
The church bells all were broken.
And the three men I admire most:
The father, son, and the holy ghost,
They caught the last train for the coast
The day the music died.
Hard to say what this song is all about.
It is like a Bob Dylan type song .. there are many ways to interpretate and often mis-interpretate.
But it 'is in the eye and ear and mind of the beholder'
things happen, with good true art and poetry.
So, there is not really such a thing as misunderstanding of
... a Jimi Hendrix, Bob Dylan, The Beatles or this 'American Pie' lyrics.
When you precept a work of art, your experience is personal.
It is a mixture of your current senses information + all those references in your mind's memory.
I have of course my own thinking of what 'American Pie' was written for.
What thoughts were in the mind of Don McLean in that year of 1971,
when he put down this on paper and composed a melody to go along.
The clue, I think, is in THE REFRAIN
.. often so also in the corus of song Bob Dylan puts his key message
.. main thing what he wants to express and
GET THROUGH to the listener:
I started singin’,
"bye-bye, miss american pie."
Drove my chevy to the levee,
But the levee was dry.
We started singing,
"bye-bye, miss american pie."
Drove my chevy to the levee,
But the levee was dry.
And they were singing,
"bye-bye, miss american pie."
Drove my chevy to the levee,
But the levee was dry.
They were singing,
"bye-bye, miss american pie."
Drove my chevy to the levee,
But the levee was dry.
Frequent references to Christian expresions, shows us Don McLean at the time had a lot of such material stored inside him.
Most Probably an upbringing in a christian environment.
He uses the language and expressions, that can mean something to christian people.
And so, he probably is singin this song for such persons.
Many americans could, at the time nraly 40 years ago, relate to such words, messages.
The Title of song is American Pie.
This fact should not be underestimated.
Also the corus:
"bye-bye miss american pie
... but the levy was dry"
are the key elements in this song.
What Levy?
If a levy is dry so what?
In the Bible New Testamente, Jesus often mentions 'levy'.
A levy that will never dry out.
A Holy Living Levy .. of the most pure water.
More Inside information:
Don McLean Official Website:
http://www.don-mclean.com/
http://www.don-mclean.com/americanpie.asp
Don McLean's American Pie
Initially inspired by his memories of the death of Buddy Holly in 1959, ‘American Pie’ is autobiographical and presents an abstract story of Don McLean’s life from the mid 1950s until when he wrote the song in the late 1960s.
Regards
halojoy
🙂
