# 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:** 4
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2022, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bye-bye-miss-american-pie-it-hit-1-50-yrs-ago-tomorrow/957780/61 "2022-01-23T02:00:10Z")
50 years ago I was a college freshman, and I remember joking with my roommate that we had a magic radio: turn it on, spin the dial, and it plays “American Pie.” I also recall a full-page story in our local paper, decoding the lyrics. Some that I recall: King - Elvis Queen - Little Richard Joker - Bob Dylan. Sidelined (in a cast) because Dylan had a near-fatal motorcycle accident at one point. Sergeants - the Beatles Lenin/Karl Marx…or is it Lennon/Groucho Marx ---
**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 23, 2022, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bye-bye-miss-american-pie-it-hit-1-50-yrs-ago-tomorrow/957780/62 "2022-01-23T02:36:14Z")
I was reading up a bit and supposedly when interviewers ask what “American Pie” means, Don McLean replies that it means he never has to work again. Years ago an English prof went through a bunch of this in class. As I recall… February made me shiver=Plane crashed in Feb With every paper I’d deliver=He was paper boy when it happened This’ll be the day that I die=That’ll be the Day (Buddy Holly) Did you write the book of love (Who wrote the book of love=the Monotones) Helter Skelter=Beatles song, Manson Birds=Byrds…8 miles high Jester=Dylan, in a cast after motorcycle accident …Jack Flash sat on a candlestick ‘cause fire is the Devil’s only friend=Jumpin’ Jack Flash, Mick Jagger No angel born in hell=Rolling Stones at Altamont A girl who sang the blues: Janis Joplin Father son and holy ghost=Buddy Holly, Richie Valens, Big Bopper They caught the last train for the coast=Not a plane, of course Drove my Ford to the fjord, but the fjord was dry… ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2022, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bye-bye-miss-american-pie-it-hit-1-50-yrs-ago-tomorrow/957780/63 "2022-01-23T04:42:31Z")
Chevy and levee, good ol’ boys…,was a reference to the civil rights workers murdered in Mississippi. ---
**Author:** ![CaptMurdock](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/captmurdock/32/11736_2.png) [@CaptMurdock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptMurdock)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2022, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bye-bye-miss-american-pie-it-hit-1-50-yrs-ago-tomorrow/957780/64 "2022-01-25T19:53:41Z")
> [@lobotomyboy63](#): > > They caught the last train for the coast=Not a plane, of course Supposedly a reference to the music-writing industry (e.g. the Brill Building group) moving out to California in the late sixties. YMMV. ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2022, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bye-bye-miss-american-pie-it-hit-1-50-yrs-ago-tomorrow/957780/65 "2022-01-25T23:49:20Z")
> [@Bullitt](#): > > I can’t imagine anyone hating this song…? I hate it. I didn’t like it when it came out and I like it even less now. It’s too rhymey and, honestly, takes itself too seriously. When really it just nicks a bunch of other song’s refences. And it’s too damn long for what it is. But maybe that’s just me… ---
**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 26, 2022, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bye-bye-miss-american-pie-it-hit-1-50-yrs-ago-tomorrow/957780/66 "2022-01-26T02:20:32Z")
OK no problem. I figured there’d be some. It’s simply a matter of numbers - if you get a group of people large enough, some are bound to dislike this song. I venture a guess that more people like it than dislike it, though. Yes it is a long song. And you make points that are valid for you, and that’s cool. ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2022, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bye-bye-miss-american-pie-it-hit-1-50-yrs-ago-tomorrow/957780/67 "2022-01-26T06:23:34Z")
Thanks for that. I was having a shitty day at work and probably was harsher than I intended. I do strongly dislike the song but I should have tempered my response. Apologies. ---
**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 26, 2022, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bye-bye-miss-american-pie-it-hit-1-50-yrs-ago-tomorrow/957780/68 "2022-01-26T06:44:09Z")
Apologies not necessary, but accepted. No offense was taken at all. Hey if you don’t like the song, I’m not going to argue and it’s OK with me. Sorry you had a shitty day at work. I must admit, though, that for my first reply to you I thought of adding at the end, “What we have here… is a failure… to communicate.” 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![74westy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/74westy/32/3950_2.png) [@74westy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/74westy)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2022, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bye-bye-miss-american-pie-it-hit-1-50-yrs-ago-tomorrow/957780/69 "2022-01-26T13:46:25Z")
> [@Bullitt](#): > > “What we have here… is a failure… to communicate.” There. Now everybody eat 50 eggs and make up. ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2022, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bye-bye-miss-american-pie-it-hit-1-50-yrs-ago-tomorrow/957780/70 "2022-01-26T13:51:06Z")
> [@solost](#): > > After a few shorter songs, he chose to sing American Pie. I’ve never been more acutely aware of how long the song is. In college I used to hang out in a basement bar where they had musicians come to play. Usually not a band, just a dude with a guitar. They had two songs banned from their bar, Puff the Magic Dragon, and American Pie. I think that was a fine policy, if only for the sanity of the bar staff. ---
**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 26, 2022, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bye-bye-miss-american-pie-it-hit-1-50-yrs-ago-tomorrow/957780/71 "2022-01-26T14:04:11Z")
> [@Cheesesteak](#): > > They had two songs banned from their bar, Puff the Magic Dragon, and American Pie. Denied! [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/RD1KqbDdmuE/hqdefault.jpg "Waynes World ('92) - No stairway, denied") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RD1KqbDdmuE) ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2022, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bye-bye-miss-american-pie-it-hit-1-50-yrs-ago-tomorrow/957780/72 "2022-01-26T14:21:24Z")
> [@74westy](#): > > There. Now everybody eat 50 eggs and make up. Fine, but I am NOT going to die to prove I can’t be controlled by The Man. What do you think I am, some antii-vaxxing repub? 🙂 > [@Lucas\_Jackson](#): > > I didn’t like it when it came out and I like it even less now. It’s too rhymey and, honestly, takes itself too seriously. When really it just nicks a bunch of … refences. That’s about my exact opinion of Billy Joel’s We Didn’t Start the Fire. ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2022, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bye-bye-miss-american-pie-it-hit-1-50-yrs-ago-tomorrow/957780/73 "2022-01-26T14:34:03Z")
> [@74westy](#): > > There. Now everybody eat 50 eggs and make up. Would this be the time to nitpick and point out there’s no “a” in the line as Strother Martin says it? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2022, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bye-bye-miss-american-pie-it-hit-1-50-yrs-ago-tomorrow/957780/74 "2022-01-26T15:35:27Z")
Didn’t even know the Shea show had an opening act. ---
**Author:** ![Hermione1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/d07c76/32.png) [@Hermione1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hermione1)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2022, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bye-bye-miss-american-pie-it-hit-1-50-yrs-ago-tomorrow/957780/75 "2022-01-26T18:20:57Z")
I think it was the Shea Stadium concert Ron mentioned–he saw it televised/recorded later on. ---
**Author:** ![Hermione1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/d07c76/32.png) [@Hermione1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hermione1)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2022, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bye-bye-miss-american-pie-it-hit-1-50-yrs-ago-tomorrow/957780/76 "2022-01-26T18:21:43Z")
Sure did–in the theater! (I plan to show it in a couple of months at my library, paired with Blinded By The Light, another 2019 movie about a South Asian youth in England influenced by a classic rock act.) ---
**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 27, 2022, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bye-bye-miss-american-pie-it-hit-1-50-yrs-ago-tomorrow/957780/77 "2022-01-27T04:45:36Z")
> [@Bullitt](#): > > Yes it is a long song. As I recall, Pete Townshend was talking about “A Quick One (While He’s Away)” and said basically if you want a 10 minute song, write four parts that are 2.5 minutes apiece and string them together. If you didn’t know that, you are forgiven.😀 What are the other long songs that made it? Bohemian Rhapsody Nights in White Satin No gong at the end, but Frampton’s “Do You Feel Like We Do?” is mighty long [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/RJv2-_--EY4/maxresdefault.jpg "The Who - A Quick One (While He's Away)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJv2-_--EY4) ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2022, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bye-bye-miss-american-pie-it-hit-1-50-yrs-ago-tomorrow/957780/78 "2022-01-27T04:54:46Z")
> [@DKW](#): > > 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 don’t actually think that’s what’s meant in the song. It’s just a recognition that the day they died was a terrible blow to music. Call it poetic license. It wasn’t an old man tirade about how music today sucks. ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2022, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bye-bye-miss-american-pie-it-hit-1-50-yrs-ago-tomorrow/957780/79 "2022-01-29T23:08:34Z")
I liked it, but was surprised by how much other good stuff was on that album. If I played it now, I might skip AP and just get into the other stuff. Just bought for 50 cents and a library sale the album “Classics” which has 2 versions on it (Haven’t listened to either yet, but has a version of Vincent which, IMHO, blows the original away.) ---
**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 30, 2022, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bye-bye-miss-american-pie-it-hit-1-50-yrs-ago-tomorrow/957780/80 "2022-01-30T01:54:41Z")
Wow I love that song, _Vincent_! So the one you have must really be something else. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bye-bye-miss-american-pie-it-hit-1-50-yrs-ago-tomorrow/957780.md?page=3)