# Bye Bye Miss American Pie — it hit #1, 50 yrs ago tomorrow **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** music\ **Created:** [January 14, 2022, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bye-bye-miss-american-pie-it-hit-1-50-yrs-ago-tomorrow/957780 "2022-01-14T15:31:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![XOldiesJock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/ec9cab/32.png) [@XOldiesJock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XOldiesJock)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2022, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bye-bye-miss-american-pie-it-hit-1-50-yrs-ago-tomorrow/957780/41 "2022-01-15T12:46:28Z")
This is one of those songs that quietly disappeared on radio after its initial run. For years it was rarely played. It got brought back with the advent of “Oldies” formatted stations on FM, in markets big and small, and then was overplayed. I’m quite content to hear it once or twice as year, but it was getting played every day on some stations, and people just burned out on it. The thing that always struck me about “American Pie” is that isn’t really representative of Don McLean’s general musical style. Songs like “Vincent” were closer to what you’d find on his albums, and I have about a half-dozen of them. He was a really good singer-songwriter, but had it not been for “American Pie,” he wouldn’t be remembered today. Once asked if he “hated” the song, McClean said (paraphrasing): “Why should I? It made me a millionaire overnight.” ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2022, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bye-bye-miss-american-pie-it-hit-1-50-yrs-ago-tomorrow/957780/42 "2022-01-15T14:52:47Z")
“Vincent” is a beautiful song. I like the entire American Pie album, but I don’t have any more of his music. ---
**Author:** ![lobotomyboy63](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobotomyboy63/32/2900_2.png) [@lobotomyboy63](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lobotomyboy63)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2022, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bye-bye-miss-american-pie-it-hit-1-50-yrs-ago-tomorrow/957780/43 "2022-01-15T17:11:09Z")
> [@Bullitt](#): > > I like the entire American Pie album, but I don’t have any more of his music. This one is quite good. > **[Don McLean (album)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_McLean_(album))** > > Don McLean is the third studio album by American singer-songwriter Don McLean, released in 1972, peaking at number 23 on the Billboard 200 chart. It was reissued by BGO Records in 1996. The photo on the cover of the album was taken overlooking the Village of Cold Spring, NY. > Record World said of the single "Dreidel" that the "intelligent lyrics sustain interest." > Record World called the single "If We Try" a "ballad beauty." > All tracks composed by Don McLean, except where indicated. This one is quite bad. > **[Love Tracks (Don McLean album)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Love_Tracks_(Don_McLean_album))** > > Love Tracks is the ninth studio album by American singer-songwriter Don McLean, released by Capitol in 1988. > Two singles were released from the album. You Can't Blame the Train reached No. 49 on the US Billboard Hot Country Songs in December 1987, while "Love in My Heart" reached No. 65 in August 1988. > Upon release, Cash Box commented: "The man who was the great hope of folk music a decade and a half ago is back but not nearly as eye-opening. Now he's a bit countrified and more than a little co... I should pick up a greatest hits for “Crying” and some of the others. ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2022, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bye-bye-miss-american-pie-it-hit-1-50-yrs-ago-tomorrow/957780/44 "2022-01-15T17:26:00Z")
Thanks for the tip @lobotomyboy63 . I just bought the album and am listening to it now. Many years ago I would do a lot of driving at night and I’d listen to the entire American Pie album. I really like it. Now on long road trips I like playing it still, especially at night. _Long, long time ago_ _I can still remember how that music used to make me smile_… ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2022, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bye-bye-miss-american-pie-it-hit-1-50-yrs-ago-tomorrow/957780/45 "2022-01-15T17:35:19Z")
> [@lobotomyboy63](#): > > This one is quite bad. > > [Love Tracks (Don McLean album) - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Love_Tracks_(Don_McLean_album)) I bought that one cheap and listened to it a few times. The “Critical reception” comments in that link are pretty spot-on. It’s not _bad_ bad, but it is bland and not a good representation of McLean’s talents. ---
**Author:** ![lobotomyboy63](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobotomyboy63/32/2900_2.png) [@lobotomyboy63](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lobotomyboy63)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2022, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bye-bye-miss-american-pie-it-hit-1-50-yrs-ago-tomorrow/957780/46 "2022-01-15T18:29:00Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > It’s not _bad_ bad, but it is bland and not a good representation of McLean’s talents. The phrase that summed it up for me from the review: “more than a little corny.” That’s not what I expected from him. Aiming it toward a country audience? Wish I’d known before I bought. Oh, well. I was reading the reviews of the one I recommended to @Bullitt and I think if it had been released _before_ American Pie, people would have said it fit the curve of maturing, then hitting it big. Have artists ever surpassed their own great albums? Rumours, Breakfast in America, Heartbeat City, Boston (eponymous), Frampton Comes Alive…they put out more good music afterward, but when did the groups score a monster hit album like that again? ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2022, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bye-bye-miss-american-pie-it-hit-1-50-yrs-ago-tomorrow/957780/47 "2022-01-15T21:03:58Z")
> [@lobotomyboy63](#): > > Have artists ever surpassed their own great albums? You could say the Beatles did. And four years after _The Sounds of Silence_, Simon and Garfunkel released _Bridge over Troubled Waters_ ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2022, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bye-bye-miss-american-pie-it-hit-1-50-yrs-ago-tomorrow/957780/48 "2022-01-16T00:36:45Z")
> [@lobotomyboy63](#): > > I was reading the reviews of the one I recommended to @Bullitt and I think if it had been released _before_ American Pie, people would have said it fit the curve of maturing, then hitting it big. That’s a good description. I enjoyed the album, and thanks again for the recommendation, but at times I wondered if the songs were from earlier in his career. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2022, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bye-bye-miss-american-pie-it-hit-1-50-yrs-ago-tomorrow/957780/49 "2022-01-16T00:52:11Z")
> [@lobotomyboy63](#): > > I heard he stopped performing it, thinking it would pigeonhole him or something, but I haven’t found that on line. When I was in high school, in the late '70s or early '80s, I remember a radio DJ mentioning an incident in which McLean was on stage, giving a concert, and he was being interrupted by fans shouting, “Play _American Pie_!” As the story went, McLean, frustrated by fans not caring about the rest of his music, left the stage. If I’m remembering the story right, McLean didn’t tour again for some time after that. But, a few minutes of googling on the topic has failed to find evidence of this, so it may be an apocryphal story (or I may be misremembering). ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2022, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bye-bye-miss-american-pie-it-hit-1-50-yrs-ago-tomorrow/957780/50 "2022-01-16T00:57:28Z")
> [@Askance](#): > > Imagine only knowing it from the Madonna version. Don’t … just don’t. > [@Bullitt](#): > > Oh I’d forgotten she’d done one. Memorable? Not. You lucky, lucky bastard. ---
**Author:** ![lobotomyboy63](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobotomyboy63/32/2900_2.png) [@lobotomyboy63](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lobotomyboy63)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2022, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bye-bye-miss-american-pie-it-hit-1-50-yrs-ago-tomorrow/957780/51 "2022-01-16T01:00:58Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > When I was in high school, in the late '70s or early '80s, I remember a radio DJ mentioning an incident in which McLean was on stage, giving a concert, and he was being interrupted by fans shouting, “Play _American Pie_ !” As the story went, McLean, frustrated by fans not caring about the rest of his music, left the stage. If I’m remembering the story right, McLean didn’t tour again for some time after that. My brother told me he went to a Beatles concert, and the opening act was the Righteous Brothers. They had had success (You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling) but people still booed them off stage, wanting the Beatles. A brief glimpse seems to confirm: > **[Why did The Righteous Brothers quit the 1964 Beatles' tour?](https://www.funtrivia.com/askft/Question136924.html)** > > Why did The Righteous Brothers quit the 1964 Beatles tour - trivia question /questions answer / answers ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2022, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bye-bye-miss-american-pie-it-hit-1-50-yrs-ago-tomorrow/957780/52 "2022-01-16T03:52:20Z")
And [Jimi Hendrix dropped out as the opening act for the Monkees.](https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/jimi-hendrix-drops-out-as-opening-act-for-the-monkees) He may or may not have concluded his final appearance on the tour by giving the finger to the fans screaming for Davy ---
**Author:** ![Ponderoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponderoid/32/19221_2.png) [@Ponderoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponderoid)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2022, 7:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bye-bye-miss-american-pie-it-hit-1-50-yrs-ago-tomorrow/957780/53 "2022-01-16T07:07:55Z")
That story is consistent with the language in [Don McLean’s concert rider](https://www.thesmokinggun.com/file/don-mclean-rider): “If any of Mr. McLean’s compositions are mentioned in the advertising or publicity, AT LEAST FIVE SONGS MUST BE MENTIONED from his list of hits…” He wants to remind everybody he was not a one-hit wonder. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2022, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bye-bye-miss-american-pie-it-hit-1-50-yrs-ago-tomorrow/957780/54 "2022-01-17T01:01:40Z")
That’s hysterical. ---
**Author:** ![DKW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dkw/32/3118_2.png) [@DKW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DKW)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2022, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bye-bye-miss-american-pie-it-hit-1-50-yrs-ago-tomorrow/957780/55 "2022-01-22T05:11:08Z")
I always thought equating three singers, no matter how big or how popular, to “the music” was just ridiculously pretentious. Like, some of us are into 70’s rock and junk? I’m pretty chill about interpretations. Just not worth the effort to hash it out. You’re So Vain is about Warren Beatty? Sure, why not? Pretty much completely fell off my radar after I played Rock Band and discovered [this gem](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhiyKZsAW44). (For the record, my favorite Don MacLean song is Castles in the Air, but I’m not passionate about it by any means.) ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2022, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bye-bye-miss-american-pie-it-hit-1-50-yrs-ago-tomorrow/957780/56 "2022-01-22T05:56:07Z")
> [@DKW](#): > > I always thought equating three singers, no matter how big or how popular, to “the music” was just ridiculously pretentious. Pretentious? It’s just a line from a song, a line meant to capture the moment, or the day. ---
**Author:** ![Hermione1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/d07c76/32.png) [@Hermione1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hermione1)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2022, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bye-bye-miss-american-pie-it-hit-1-50-yrs-ago-tomorrow/957780/57 "2022-01-22T19:55:38Z")
One of the first Beatles books I read (at the age of eleven, in the mid-eighties) was a book called _Growing Up With The Beatles_ by Ron Schaumburg. It was written before John was killed, and was sort of a Wonder Years-like reminiscence of Ron’s own growing-up period against the birth, growth, and breakup of the Beatles. For some reason, it got a lot of scorn in fan circles, but I always liked it–a story about a sheltered eleven-year-old discovering the Beatles, read when I was, well, a sheltered eleven-year-old discovering the Beatles. Anyway, Ron made that same point when watching a broadcast of the Shea Stadium concert: “What a thankless task it must have been to be the opening act for the Beatles. No one was listening, no one cared, the screams were all for the Beatles!” ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2022, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bye-bye-miss-american-pie-it-hit-1-50-yrs-ago-tomorrow/957780/58 "2022-01-22T23:33:32Z")
Did you see that movie “Yesterday”? As a Beatles fan, it’s a good one. ---
**Author:** ![jaycat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jaycat/32/3015_2.png) [@jaycat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jaycat)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2022, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bye-bye-miss-american-pie-it-hit-1-50-yrs-ago-tomorrow/957780/59 "2022-01-22T23:39:02Z")
> [@74westy](#): > > I had that line wrong. I thought it was “The three men I admire the most: Ron Howard, Anson Williams and Donnie Most.” He really says “Johnny Most.” He’s a big Celtics fan. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2022, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bye-bye-miss-american-pie-it-hit-1-50-yrs-ago-tomorrow/957780/60 "2022-01-23T00:12:49Z")
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