Waarschijnlijk is er over het complete oeuvre van Dylan minder geschreven dan over deze ene song van Don McLean. American Pie beschrijft het verval van rock ’n roll én van de VS na de dood van Buddy Holly in 1959 en de moord op John F. Kennedy in 1963. American Pie wordt vaak enthousiast meegebruld door het publiek, maar het is een intens pessimistische song: “I didn’t see America improving intellectually or politically. It was going steadily downhill, and so was the music”.
Het lied wordt vaak gezien als een sentimenteel eerbetoon aan de jaren ’50, maar daar is volgens Don McLean geen sprake van. De jonge Don háátte de omgeving waarin hij in de jaren ’50 opgroeide: “People discriminated about everything…..If you didn’t drive the right car, if you didn’t have enough money, if you didn’t wear the right shoes. I hated those fuckers”.
Het leukste aan American Pie zijn natuurlijk de speculaties aan wie in de song gerefereerd wordt. McLean weigert daarover tot op de dag van vandaag uitsluitsel te geven: “The song means i’ll never have to work again”. Een paar voor de hand liggende suggesties:
- the king=Elvis Presley
- the jester=Bob Dylan (tot woede van Dylan, overigens: “A jester? Sure, the jester writes songs like Masters of War, A Hard Rain’s a-Gonna Fall, It’s Alright, Ma – some jester”)
- Helter skelter in a summer swelter verwijst naar de reeks moorden door de Manson Family in 1969
- the sergeants=The Beatles (een verwijzing naar de hoes van Sgt. Peppers)
- Het vijfde couplet verwijst naar het concert van de Rolling Stones in Altamont in december 1969. Altamont liep volledig uit de klauw en wordt vaak gezien als het symbolische einde van de sixties en de dromen van de Woodstock-generatie.
[Verse 1]
A long, long time ago
I can still remember
How that music used to make me smile
And I knew if I had my chance
That I could make those people dance
And maybe they’d be happy for a while
But February made me shiver
With every paper I’d deliver
Bad news on the doorstep
I couldn’t take one more step
I can’t remember if I cried
When I read about his widowed bride
But something touched me deep inside
The day the music died
[Chorus]
So bye-bye, Miss American Pie
Drove my Chevy to the levee, but the levee was dry
And them good old boys were drinkin’ whiskey ’n rye
Singin’, “This’ll be the day that I die”
“This’ll be the day that I die.”
[Verse 2]
Did you write the book of love
And do you have faith in God above
If the Bible tells you so?
Now do you believe in rock ’n roll
Can music save your mortal soul
And can you teach me how to dance real slow?
Well, I know that you’re in love with him
‘Cause I saw you dancin’ in the gym
You both kicked off your shoes
Man, I dig those rhythm and blues
I was a lonely teenage broncin’ buck
With a pink carnation and a pickup truck
But I knew I was out of luck
The day the music died
[Chorus]
I started singing
[Chorus]
Bye-bye, Miss American Pie”
Drove my Chevy to the levee, but the levee was dry
Them good old boys were drinking whiskey ’n rye
Singin’, “This’ll be the day that I die”
“This’ll be the day that I die.”
[Verse 3]
Now for ten years we’ve been on our own
And moss grows fat on a rollin’ stone
But that’s not how it used to be
When the jester sang for the king and queen
In a coat he borrowed from James Dean
And a voice that came from you and me
Oh, and while the king was looking down
The jester stole his thorny crown
The courtroom was adjourned
No verdict was returned
And while Lennon read a book on Marx
The quartet practiced in the park
And we sang dirges in the dark
The day the music died
[Chorus]
We were singing
[Chorus]
Bye-bye, Miss American Pie”
Drove my Chevy to the levee, but the levee was dry
Them good old boys were drinking whiskey ’n rye
Singin’, “This’ll be the day that I die”
“This’ll be the day that I die.”
[Verse 4]
Helter skelter in a summer swelter
The birds flew off with a fallout shelter
Eight miles high and falling fast
It landed foul on the grass
The players tried for a forward pass
With the jester on the sidelines in a cast
Now the half-time air was sweet perfume
While the sergeants played a marching tune
We all got up to dance
Oh, but we never got the chance!
‘Cause the players tried to take the field
The marching band refused to yield
Do you recall what was revealed
The day the music died?
[Chorus]
We started singin’
Bye-bye, Miss American Pie”
Drove my Chevy to the levee, but the levee was dry
Them good old boys were drinking whiskey ’n rye
Singin’, “This’ll be the day that I die”
“This’ll be the day that I die.”
[Verse 5]
Oh, and there we were all in one place
A generation lost in space
With no time left to start again
So come on, Jack be nimble, Jack be quick!
Jack Flash sat on a candlestick, ‘cause
Fire is the devil’s only friend
Oh, and as I watched him on the stage
My hands were clenched in fists of rage
No angel born in hell
Could break that Satan’s spell
And as the flames climbed high into the night
To light the sacrificial rite
I saw Satan laughing with delight
The day the music died
[Chorus]
We were singing, “bye-bye” Miss American Pie
Drove my Chevy to the levee, but the levee was dry
Them good old boys were drinking whiskey ’n rye
Singing, “This’ll be the day that I die”
“This’ll be the day that I die…”
[Breakdown]
I met a girl who sang the blues
And I asked her for some happy news
But she just smiled and turned away
I went down to the sacred store
Where I’d heard the music years before
But the man there said the music wouldn’t play
And in the streets, the children screamed
The lovers cried, and the poets dreamed
But not a word was spoken
The church bells all were broken
And the three men I admire most
The father, son, and the holy ghost
They caught the last train for the coast
The day the music died
[Deleted Verse]
And there I stood alone and afraid
I dropped to my knees and there I prayed
And I promised him everything I could give
If only he would make the music live
And he promised it would live once more
But this time one would equal four
And in five years four had come to mourn
And the music was reborn
[Chorus]
And they were singing “bye-bye Miss American Pie”
Drove my Chevy to the levee, but the levee was dry
And them good old boys were drinking whiskey ’n rye
Singing, “This’ll be the day that I die”
“This’ll be the day that I die”
They were singing “bye-bye Miss American Pie”
Drove my Chevy to the levee but the levee was dry
Them good old boys were drinking whiskey ’n rye
Singing, “This’ll be the day that I die…”
Uitgelichte afbeelding: Door Alan Howard – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Donmclean_westport_CT.jpg, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4929609
