American Pie Introduction

When the song “American Pie” by Don Mclean was first released, there was a version played occasionally which started with a long (about 2 minutes, I think) solo piano introduction. I didn’t hear it too often, probably because pop radio stations at the time were generally programmed for the normal 3 to 4 minute tracks on a typical 45. Can anyone confirm that such a version exists? If so, is it currently available on a CD. Please give label and catalog number. Thanks. By the way, I’ve searched a couple file sharing services and all the versions I’ve found are about 6 1/2 minutes.

Here ya go.

“Almost nine minutes later. . .” That’s the version I have, with the intro that’s often not played.

The album version (8 1/2 minutes) is on the album American Pie: $10.99 on Amazon.