Don McLean recorded his all-time classic "American Pie" 50 years ago today—May 26th, 1971 in New York. The song would go hit #1 the following winter.
“American Pie” is one of the more unique songs to ever hit #1.First of all, the song is nearly 8 minutes long which made it a real rarity for chart toppers, and the song’s lyrics are very thoughtful and thought provoking.
Don recently shared what he was singing about in “American Pie.”
He said, "All the other references are not deigned to be referring to any specific person. And the continuous effort on the part of people to turn this into a board game is not something that I have ever participated in. This is a dream. And, when you have a dream, something that you think you understand becomes suddenly something else. Almost like Alice in Wonderland. That was the idea."
Don also said “American Pie” isn’t really a slice of Americana:
"Everybody has a different approach to this song. It's not a flag-waving song. It's a song about the real underbelly of America. America goes from being sock hops to being almost satanic at the end. So this is not a 'God Bless America' type song. It's more of a song that's always evolving as America evolves and moves away from evil and moves toward evil.”
Five decades later, “American Pie” continues to resonate with audiences and on the radio.
[Source: Classic Hits Today]