In 1971, Don McLean released one of the most famous folk-rock songs, American Pie. It was a huge hit. But no one knew for sure what the song was about.
McLean has always refused to explain the song. When pressed, he once replied, “It means I never have to work again.” But this hasn’t stopped fans from attempting to interpret it.
I saw a VH1 special once where he actually did admit that this song was about the Bopper/Holly/Valenz (sp?) plane crash. It was a few years ago. Couldn’t track it down to prove it if you paid me…
…so I guess I have absolutely no evidence that it exists, and I’m not sure why I’m even posting this. 🙂
For some reason I thought that American Pie was the name of the plane that Big Bopper, Buddy Holy and Ritchie Valenz were on… I guess I’ll have to do some research.
Cool video!
Wow…that brought back some memories; but those were strange times and I wouldn’t care to go back…I don’t even enjoy thinking about them anymore, thus, I don’t listen to the music from that era now either.
Couple of things I didn’t know in there…about Fabian, Paul Anka, Waylon Jennings.
That was interesting. Thanks Jonco.
Just found this about Waylon Jennings on Wikipedia…
During the early morning hours of February 3, 1959, the charter airplane carrying Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. Richardson (aka “The Big Bopper”) crashed outside Clear Lake, Iowa, killing all on board. In his 1996 autobiography, Jennings admitted that in the years afterward, he felt severe guilt and responsibility for the crash; after Jennings gave up his seat, Holly had jokingly told Jennings, “I hope your ole bus freezes up!” Jennings shot back facetiously, “I hope your damn plane crashes!”