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Contents
Epic: an extended narrative
poem ("American Pie" was over 8 minutes long) in elevated or dignified
language (God, Satan, Kings and Jesters populated it) celeebrating the
feats of a legendary or traditional hero (Buddy Holly and others such as
Elvis, Dylan, the Beatles, and the Stones). [back to
text]
Allegory: a
story or poem which has several levels of meaning, the things of the surface
level having a symbolic meaning on her level. The jester (surface
level) here is obviously Bob Dylan (second level). The relationship
between surface meaning and deeper on gives clues to the author's theme.
A jester in the medieval court was both fool and prophet: he spoke what
others could not. Dylan is portrayed the same way . [back
to
text]
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Don McLean's song "American Pie" is not just a simple rock
tune; it's a poem. But it's not just a poem; it's an epic
poem. But it's not just an epic poem; it's an allegory.
Furthermore, it's a personal story of Don Mclean's growing up and his nostalgia
for the music (and innocence) of his youth. And even that falls short
of what this piece of literature is. Most of all, it is a tribute to Buddy
Holly, one of rock and roll music's creative geniuses and true good guys.
As an epic, the legendary hero is Buddy Holly, a 50s rock
and roller who experimented greatly with chords and beat. He played the
rhythm guitar, a form of guitar playing that consisted mainly of chords.
He was a clean-cut, fundamentalist Baptist choir boy who wasn't afraid
to be himself right down to the horn-rimmed glasses.
Holly was, according to The Rolling Stone magazine, a true
rock and roll pioneer. He wrote his own music, used the recording studio
for double-tracking, popularized the two guitars, bass, and drums lineup,
sang falsetto, and recorded a host of extremely popular songs. All that
by the age of 21, only two years after he began recording.
He directly influenced Bob Dylan, the Beatles, and almost
every important rock and roller to come after him including a young Don
McLean who was growing up in New York. Indeed, the Beatles' name
was inspired by Holly's group, the Crickets.
When Holly recorded "That'll Be the Day" McLean was 11 years
old. When Holly's plane went down in an Iowa cornfield on Feb. 3, 1959,
McLean was just 13, the age he might well have been a newspaper delivery
boy. (But February made me shiver with every paper I'd deliver.)
The tragedy occured while Holly was on a winter road trip
with a collection of performers. They had been travelling from city to
city in the cold northern plains by bus and it was getting old. Once the
bus broke down and one of the performers got frostbite while waiting for
help. Holly was tired after a performance at Mason City, Iowa and wanted
to go ahead of the troupe to the next stop in Fargo, North Dakota. So he
hired a young pilot to fly a small plane with Holly and two others on board.
Originally, it was to be Holly, Waylon Jennings, and Tommy
Allsup but when J. P. Richardson, aka "The Big Bopper," heard about the
special flight, he talked Jennings into giving up his seat. Allsup then
allowed his seat to go to Richie Valenz after agreeing to let a coin toss
decide (Valenz chose "heads;" it was heads).
The pilot, Roger Peterson, was not certified to fly instrument
flights; he was a visual flyer only. But that night the clouds rolled in
and, in 18-degree weather with light snow, the plane took off. Peterson
was forced to use a gyroscope to navigate but it was 180 degrees reversed
from the ones he was familiar with in flight school. As he tried to climb,
he instead plummeted the plane earthward. All four men died instantly.
When McLean says he "can't remember if I cried when I read
about his widowed bride" it's more factual than you might think at first
glance. Holly's marriage was not only brief, but it was secretive.
Holly met Maria Elia Santiago, a Puerto Rican, when she worked
as a receptionist for a recording company. On the June day he met her in
1958, he proposed. They were married on August 15 of the same year. The
marriage was kept a secret because of their race difference and general
public skepticism of rock marriages, especially coming on the heels of
news of Jerry Lee Lewis' marriage to his 14-year-old cousin.
The marriage lasted 6 and a half months. Maria Elena was
certainly still a bride when she heard the news of her husband's death
(she heard it over the radio). And it was only after his death that the
marriage became public.
Many rock and rollers have died young; what was it that made
Holly's death so important to Don McLean? Obviously, as he tells us in
the prologue, these were the formative years for him. He was an aspiring
musician after Buddy Holly's ilk, "that music" that used to make him smile.
The tragedy probably meant more to McLean than most kids
because an idol and role model was lost. What he didn't consciously realize
at the time but came to see later, the simple rock music he loved also
began to die as the rest of this song chronicles.
But something touched him "deep inside" that day and that
something is the subject of this song.
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