"AMERICAN PIE"
"American Pie" chronicles the history and decline of rock and roll music from the death of Buddy Holly to the end of the 1960s.
The song begins as a tribute to 1950s rock and roller Holly, a young man who greatly influenced artists like Bob Dylan, the Beatles, and almost every important rock and roller to follow him. Among those was a young Don McLean.
McLean was only thirteen years old, the age of a newspaper delivery boy, when Holly was killed in an airplane crash in Iowa on February 3, 1959 ("But February made me shiver with every paper I'd deliver"). Killed with Holly in the crash were "La Bamba" singer Ritchie Valens and J.P. Richardson, the "Chantilly Lace" singer known as the Big Bopper.
Holly married Maria Elia Santiago, a Puerto Rican recording company receptionist, in August 1958 and kept their marriage secret largely due to their race difference. Their six-month marriage became public only after his death ("I can't remember if I cried when I read about his widowed bride").
In the years following Holly's death, teen idols like Frankie Avalon, Fabian, and Bobby Rydell hit the scene. The youth of America, especially teenage girls, became enthralled by them ("I know that you're in love with him"). He writes about love, as shown by the line referring to the Monotone's "The Book of Love."
But McLean is not like other teenage kids -- they are sock-hopping while he likes rhythm and blues; they are dancing in the gym while he, a "teenage broncin' buck," is driving around alone and out of luck (Marty Robbins' "White Sports Coat (And a Pink Carnation)"). McLean wants to be part of the music scene, but this generic music is not the kind that touches him deep inside.
The following verse begins from the viewpoint of the present (1970) and the ten years, the 1960s, before it ("Now for ten years"). McLean talks about the developing youth culture in America ("We've been on our own"). The theme of "American Pie" is established -- McLean is unhappy with what has been happening in the world of music. Moss growing fat on a rolling stone can be linked to the Rolling Stones, Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone," and the saying "A rolling stone gathers no moss." The music is gathering moss, or growing stale.
Dylan, dressed like actor James Dean in a leather jacket, is the jester ("When the jester sang for the king and queen in a coat he borrowed from James Dean"). When Elvis Presley was drafted into the military, his crown as the king of rock was taken by Dylan's spiritual folk-rock ("While the king was looking down, the jest stole his thorny crown"). Even though Dylan had assumed Presley's place as rock's spokesman, however, the verdict was still out ("The courtroom was adjourned, no verdict was returned").
Hidden in the background at this time, on a distant shore, was a quartet that would change rock music forever. The Beatles were already successful in England and Germany ("The park" is Europe) before their invasion in January 1964, but it was only practice for when they arrived in America ("And while Lennon read a book on Mark the quartet practiced in the park"). But McLean was not happy with this era -- he was singing mournfully removed ("And we sang dirges in the dark").
The Beatles made their legendary appearance on "The Ed Sullivan Show" in February 1964, just months after President John F. Kennedy was assassinated -- America needed some cheering up, and it got it with the Beatles. The Beatles were not the only group that invaded America from Britain: the Rolling Stones, the Byrds, the Animals, and many others arrived.
The social voice that came through in Dylan's folk-rock sound was now full of messages about Vietnam and nuclear war. Related to the social protest songs are summer swelters: riots, the Charles Manson murders -- which Manson claimed were connect with the Beatles' song "Helter Skelter" -- and civil rights and Vietnam marches.
During the mid-1960s era, the Beatles held the biggest influence on rock music. Dylan is the "jest on the sidelines in a cast" -- the sidelines being outside of the rock music scene; the cast referring to a motorcycle accident Dylan claims laid him up. The "halftime air" that was sweet perfume points to the Beatle's landmark mid-1960s ("halftime") album "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band." This was the first theme album, showing great sound experimentation -- even McLean himself appeared to like it ("We all got up to dance").
But it also introduced one of the darker issues that would rule the Beatle's lives and music in the future: drugs are what was "revealed". McLean had traced rock's demise in stages: it was at its peak in the Buddy Holly era, then fell to the Fabian era, then the social protest era, and then to seemingly rock-bottom in the self-destructive era of hippies and drug use.
By 1969, rock music was a medium for moneymaking and dark messages rather than the pure 1950s rhythm and blues. The generation that grew up with rock is now entering young adulthood and gathered in Woodstock ("There we were all in one place"). But McLean though that it was "a generation lost in space [drugs] with no time left to start again."
Woodstock occurred in August 1969, about four months before the Rolling Stones gave a free thank-you concert in California. Public outcry concerning the song "Sympathy for the Devil," which many thought had incited murder, caused the Rolling Stones to drop the song from their tour. Jack Flash ("So come on, Jack be nimble, Jack be quick, Jack Flash sat on a candlestick") is Rolling Stones singer Mick Jaggar, whom is symbolized by a Rolling Stones song and a children's rhyme. The "angels born in hell" refer to the Hell's Angels that were hired by the Rolling Stones as security guards for the concert. The "candlestick" is Candlestick Park in San Francisco, the home to the Beatles' final live concert. The "devil" alludes to the song "Sympathy for the Devil," which features the devil lurking as terrible events occur in the world. McLean thinks there is a devil behind the demise of music -- human greed and corruption.
McLean is, again, an observer standing on the outside, his hands "clenched in fits of rage" because his hope of being one of "those good ol' boys" who could "make those people dance" is slipping away. He never got his chance.
The final verse, like the first, slows down the beat dramatically. Both verses deal with the deaths of rock and roll stars -- the "girl who sang the blues" is singer Janis Joplin. When McLean asked her if there was hope for their music, she just "turned away."
McLean has been growing up throughout the entire song. He is no longer a boy delivering a newspaper or a teenage broncin' buck, not is he standing with his hands clenched into fists of range -- he is a young man with some music to perform.
The music that he asks the man to play at the "sacred store" is this very song, "American Pie." It shows how he tried to get it published -- he goes to the "sacred store" (recording companies) and asks them to buy it, but they tell him that that kind of music will no longer cut it. It is too long, too folksy, too unclear; it was not commerically acceptable.
The most familiar part of "American Pie" is the chorus. It tells that rock and roll, a pure American art form, is dying ("Bye, bye, Miss American Pie"). Another American icon is the Chevy, and one of the founding areas of rhythm and blues was New Orleans, and McLean says he went there but found no more inspiration ("Drove my Chevy to the levee but the levee was dry"). He mentions other lovers of rhythm and blues ("Them good ol' boys were drinking whiskey and rye") and links them to "That'll Be The Day," a famous Buddy Holly song ("Singing, 'This'll be the day that I die, this'll be the day that I die").
"American Pie" is a significant song for many people who enjoy rock music because it details the people and events that contributed to the many changes that rock has had. It does it in a very unique way, using many poetic devices like symbolism and personification. These things helped make "American Pie" one of the most interesting and successful songs in rock history.
Questo in breve.
Poi se ti interessa ancora, c'è un sito
http://understandingamericanpie.com/, tutto dedicato all'interpretazione della canzone 
AMERICAN PIE di Don Mclean
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