Newcastle Herald – Don McLean has finally revealed the meaning behind his 1971 hit American Pie, one of the most enigmatic songs in pop history, and made public a previously unpublished lost verse.
In notes accompanying the sale of his original manuscript, which was auctioned for $US1.2 million ($1.57 million) in New York on Tuesday, he described the ballad as a morality song that charted the decline of America and its loss of innocence.
SKIP
He said the lyrics reflected the way the world had declined in the years since it was written.
“I was around in 1970 and now I am around in 2015… there is no poetry and very little romance in anything any more, so it is really like the last phase of American Pie,” he said.
American Pie
Long long time ago, I can still remember,
How that music used to make me smile
And I knew if I had my chance,
That I could make those people dance,
And maybe they’d be happy for a while
But February made me shiver,
With every paper I’d deliver,
Bad news on the doorstep,
I couldn’t walk one more step
I can’t remember if I cried,
When I read about his widowed bride,
But something touched me deep inside,
The day the music died
So bye-bye, Miss American Pie,
Drove my Chevy to the levee,
But the levee was dry,
Them good ol’ boys were drinking whiskey and rye,
Singing this will be the day that I die,
This will be the day that I die
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?
And I know that you’re in love with him,
‘Cause I saw you dancing in the gym,
You both kicked off your shoes,
And I dig those rhythm and blues,
I was a lonely teenage broncin’ buck,
With a pink carnation and a pickup truck,
But I knew I was out of luck,
The day the music died I started singing
Bye-bye, Miss American Pie,
Drove my Chevy to the levee,
But the levee was dry,
Them good ol’ boys were drinking whiskey and rye,
Singing this will be the day that I die,
This will be the day that I die
Now for ten years we’ve been on our own,
And moss grows fat on a rolling stone,
But that’s not how it used to be,
When the jester sang for the King and Queen,
In a coat he borrowed from James Dean,
And a voice that came from you and me
Ah but while the King was looking down,
The jester stole his thorny crown,
The courtroom was adjourned,
No verdict was returned,
And Lenin read from the book of Marx,
A Quartet practiced in the park,
And we sang dirges in the dark,
The day the music died We were singing
Bye-bye, Miss American Pie,
Drove my Chevy to the levee,
But the levee was dry,
Them good ol’ boys were drinking whiskey and rye,
Singing this will be the day that I die,
This will be the day that I die
Bye-bye, Miss American Pie,
Drove my Chevy to the levee,
But the levee was dry,
Them good ol’ boys were drinking whiskey and rye,
Singing this will be the day that I die,
This will be the day that I die.
